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Residents Voice Concerns About Town Manager’s Handling Of Issue

In a public comment section of Monday’s meeting, some residents took issue with the Town Manager as well. Neill Haggard noted that Maxbauer did not answer residents’ emails about the siren. (This echoes a complaint cited by residents who’ve tried to contact Maxbauer on other issues.)

At left, some of the residents who opposed putting the fire siren in the neighborhood near the Oriental Woman’s Club. At right, several of the members of the volunteer fire department which also opposed moving the siren from Town Hall.

Art Tierney questioned why the $289,000 Town Hall renovation didn’t include the things necessary for keeping the siren where it had been for half a century.

Referring to the renovation where the Town Manager is both designer and general contractor, Tierneyu said, “My understanding was that it was to replace the existing facility and equipment and make improvements. The architect and general contractor were remiss in replacing what had to be replaced.” Had the wiring for the siren been included, Tierney suggested, “we wouldn’t be sitting here” at the meeting.

Town Manager Bob Maxbauer listens as a resident speaks at Monday night’s meeting. To his left, Laura Penninger, the project assistant the town hired for the Town Hall renovation project on which Mr. Maxbauer is the general contractor.

Maxbauer did not directly address Tierney’s complaint but quickly gave a response in which he referred to himself in the third-person, “Hearing a comment like that is disappointing to the Manager trying to raise and elevate this community.”

Resident Toni Leavitt meanwhile, took issue with Maxbauer’s claim that the siren on a pole would mar the “aesthetic” of the Town Hall renovation he designed. “You’re worried about the siren mucking up the view?” Leavitt asked, before suggesting that the new rooflines of the building did that.

Resident Toni Leavitt responded to the Town Manager’s claim that returning the fire siren tower to Town Hall would not fit with the “aestehtic” he had in mind for the Town Hall renovation. Leavitt questioned the aesthetic of the new Town Hall’s rooflines.

One resident did speak in favor of moving the siren away from Town Hall. Hugh Grady, who runs the Inn at Oriental on Church Street about 100 feet from the siren, said it was bad for business.

Others at the meeting, including residents including Missy Tenhet and firefighter Danny Foreman noted that those living near the siren would have known about it when they bought their homes. In contrast, said Tenhet, “When we bought in to our neighborhood,” near the OWC, “there was no alarm there.”

Oriental’s Town Board, commissioners Sherrill Styron, Warren Johnson, Mayor Bill Sage, Commissioners Larry Summers and Barbara Venturi.

Firefighter Pete Ritchie noted for the record that the Station 19 fire department might get 24 calls a year. That worked out to the siren going off on average, twice a month.

As the meeting wound down, the Town Board suggested that it wanted to keep the siren at Town Hall and not move it. It asked that the fire department and Town Manager get together to find a solution for wiring the Town Hall that would be far less than the $7,00-$12,000 figure that the Town Manager presented.

The Town Board, at Monday’s meeting, with commissioners Barb Venturi and Larry Summers in the foreground. The two commissioners subsequently met on Tuesday morning with representatives of the fire department and the Town Manager.

Next Morning: Less Expensive Solution Found

The next morning, four of the firefighters met with the Town Manager and two commissioners. The solution they came up with, says Fire Chief Alan Arnfast, would cost approximately $1,500 – not $12,000 earlier cited by Maxbauer. He says that the electrical system will be made to accommodate a three phase generator that could power the siren on those approximately 24 times a year that it goes off.

And the Fire Department is making good on its offer made several months ago to the Town Manager. Arnfast says that the cost of the 3-phase wiring to the siren — the $1,500 for the install and equipment and the $1,000 for the approximately 58 foot long treated wood pole — will come out of the Southeastern Pamlico Volunteer Fire District’s coffers. It will not be paid by Oriental taxpayers.

Siren Improvements

One thing in all of this that has been silent is the siren itself. It was taken down as the renovations ramped up at Town Hall this summer. Firefighters took that opportunity to spiff it up and now, with new coats of bright yellow paint, it’s ready for a reinstallation. (They’ve even nicknamed it Aggie, for one of the sirens in Greek mythology.) A

Arnfast said he did not know know when the siren would be put back up.

The 700 pound fire siren, after its makeover thanks to Bob Dales, Terry Walsh and other members of the Southeastern Pamlico Volunteer Fire Department.

It was noted at Monday’s meeting that the pole for the siren is about 15 feet higher than the one it had been affixed to before and could be about 50 feet in the air when all is said and done. That may be good news for those who live near the siren. One fireman said that putting the siren higher would likely make it somewhat quieter on the ground nearby because the noise would be going straight out and not bounce off of building walls.

Why A Siren At All?

One question that has come up in recent days was why the Fire Department needed a siren at all in this day of pagers and radios. Fire Chief Arnfast said that for the district to get the fire insurance rating it gets (one of the most favorable available) it has to show it has a backup way of alerting the volunteer fire department that there was a fire to fight. That’s where the siren comes in.

What makes it tick. The box that controls the various sirens that go out. As seen at left, this dates from the Cold War and the Civil Defense system set up in anticipation of a nuclear attack.

Arnfast notes that the siren is part of the Civil Defense system set up in the 1950’s. While most Oriental residents are familiar with the sound of its fire alarms — it has two other siren settings as well. One is a warning that a tornado may be coming, the other warns of a nuclear attack.

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Posted Thursday November 1, 2012 by Melinda Penkava