Holmes County siren project bids rejected, will be rebid
When bad weather threatens, sirens throughout Holmes County alert the respective communities to be on high alert. However, several of the community sirens are not functioning, and after the recent attempt to bid them out was rejected by the Holmes County commissioners, the siren project is being rebid with some key alterations.
Some Holmes County residents will not hear the blaring of sirens when bad weather threatens, at least not for a period of time.
On Thursday, Aug. 29, the Holmes County commissioners passed a resolution rejecting all bids for the replacement of eight tornado sirens and the installation of a ninth one on Wally Road near Loudonville.
The decision to reject the two submitted bids came from a recommendation from Holmes County Emergency Management Agency Executive Director Jason Troyer, mainly because of one key element in the initial proposal that was sent out for bid.
“It’s mostly because companies didn’t think they could fulfill the 60-day date of compliance,” Troyer said. “For me to change that, I would have to rebid it because there was a good chance we might have had other people bid. They may have seen the original proposal and felt that they couldn’t meet that timeline, so they didn’t bid.”
Thus, Troyer will remove the liquid damages out of it, which appeared to be a huge stumbling block for bidders, and repost the bid and open it up again to anyone interested.
The liquid damage portion of the bid said if the company installing the work didn’t hit that 60-day window, they would have been charged $1,000 each day they went over that timeline.
“We totally took the liquid damages out of the proposal,” Troyer said. “We are asking for total completion by March 1 of 2025.”
That will give the awarded company closer to six to seven months to complete the project.
Troyer said there also is a clause going into the new proposal that states the contractor is not responsible for anything that is not in their reasonable control.
Thus, if supply and demand were to go down and they were having issues securing supplies and equipment, the new deal would provide them with some time lenience.
“We’re hoping that this will provide us with some additional bids,” Troyer said.
The new bid proposal will be posted in the Sept. 7 issue of The Bargain Hunter, with bids due back in by Sept. 23 by 10 p.m.
The sirens that are either not working or only working sporadically are located in Holmesville, Killbuck, Glenmont and Walnut Creek while Troyer said the remaining sirens are all aging and rapidly approaching life’s end if they aren’t already there.
“We have very old sirens throughout the county that have reached or are reaching end of life expectancy,” Troyer said. “Some of them may be as simple as replacing a battery, but the ones we are replacing are end of life.”
In the meantime Troyer said the EMA will present a series of educational pieces for residents stating the aforementioned communities will not have severe weather sirens functioning, but they will have access to other communication means including cellphone warnings.
Troyer said the commissioners would continue to develop a plan moving forward on how to best provide upkeep on the sirens.
He said EMA directors in surrounding counties have been sharing similar concerns, and one director is currently compiling data he will share with anyone who would be able to glean any value from the compilation.
“It will be interesting to see how other county EMAs are approaching these struggles,” Troyer said.
Commissioner Dave Hall said removing the liquid damage portion of the bid should help generate more and less expensive bids, adding it will be nice to get the bids in as quickly as possible.
“We know the importance of having these sirens replaced and in working order,” Hall said.
Troyer said the sirens have played an integral role in notifying communities when damaging storms are imminent.