The Marshall County Board of Supervisors officially turned the page on a 4 ½ year project to install 10 new outdoor warning sirens across the county by passing a resolution closing out the hazard mitigation grant and authorizing the chair to sign equipment transfer forms for nine of them during Wednesday morning’s regular meeting.

Marshall County Emergency Management Coordinator Kim Elder came before the board to explain what closing out the grant meant and noted that along with the sirens themselves, infrastructure was put in place to ensure their proper operations — repeaters and the unit that works at the communications center.

“We have all of that built out so that when we want to add, somewhere out in the county, another siren, we can do that. It’s all ready to go. We just put a siren in,” she said. “It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally to (the) grant closure, which is nice. We’ve met all the guidelines. We’ve finished all the projects. They’ve gone out and surveyed everything that we’ve done, and we’ve got the letter of closure.”

The next step is to transfer the ownership of the sirens back to their individual jurisdictions — Melbourne, Rhodes, St. Anthony, State Center, Ferguson, Gilman, Haverhill, Laurel and Liscomb — placing the responsibility for upkeep on those communities. The siren at Grimes Farm will remain under county ownership, and most of the radio communications aspects will fall under the duties of the Marshall County Communications Commission (MCCC) if any issues arise with transmission.

“If the radio itself, let’s say, got struck by lightning that was inside the siren, then obviously those jurisdictions would be responsible for that. So if it’s just a communications issue, we should be taking care of that, but it would be up to them to replace parts,” Elder said.

She has engaged in conversations with representatives from Blue Valley Public Safety, who told Elder that everything is working and doing well for the most part other than a few radio skips. RACOM is also addressing a communication issue with the siren in Rhodes, and Laurel is having a problem that Blue Valley will be out to address soon.

She also stressed that the sirens are intended to warn people who are outdoors and can’t get another warning. Once the grant is closed out, Elder plans to continue working hand-in-hand with Blue Valley to address any future challenges.

After describing the sirens as “well worth the work,” Elder told the board the project took about 4 ½ years to complete. A motion to approve the closure of the grant and signing of transfer forms passed by a unanimous 3-0 vote.

During the public comment period, Elder spoke again on a pair of topics, expressing excitement about hiring Matt Vogeler as a new part-time assistant in her department and also sharing an update on recent storms and heavy rains in Marshall County. She said she stays up late to track overnight storms and put out as much information as possible, with the caveat that if there’s a tornado warning, she won’t be sitting at the computer.

In response to questions about why she didn’t classify the storms from a few nights earlier as a derecho, Elder said that determination is typically made by the National Weather Service after the weather event has ended. She encouraged residents to stay informed through programs like Alert Iowa.

“It’s been more of an education thing. Especially with everything that’s been in the news with Texas and New Mexico and so many floods that have affected people, don’t rely on just one type of way to get your information,” Elder said.

There is no “all clear” notification and never has been, she added, and she said it’s a matter of paying attention to local radar, local media, other applications and weather radios. The primary damages reported thus far in Marshall County have been downed tree limbs and uprooted trees, but the storms have not been as severe as those in northwest Iowa.

The Iowa River was expected to hit a minor flood stage of 19’4″ on Thursday morning, and Elder told the board road closures were possible if the river reaches a moderate flood stage of 23 feet.

“I just remind people that flash flooding is deadly, so don’t be driving through if we don’t know if that culvert or the roadway is not necessarily strong underneath there, and report it,” she said. “We’ve had some pretty good reporting of water over the road, and I’ve had people say ‘Well, I reported it but nobody came out.’ It’s just a matter of (the fact that) there’s so many places… You can only get there so fast.”

“And we only have so many signs,” County Engineer Paul Geilenfeldt added.

In all, Elder felt that Marshall County has been lucky on wind events so far, but the summer isn’t over yet. Marshall County Conservation Director Emily Herring also told the board that multiple areas are currently closed due to flooding and erosion issues, including Grammer Grove, Arney Bend and Furrow Access, and she suggested avoiding Green Castle Lake as the lake is about a foot higher than normal. Staff is still working to prepare the area for the grand opening of the campground on Friday evening with a hot dog bar, live music and yard games.

“We’d love to have everybody out there,” Herring said.

In other business, the board:

• Approved a zoning variance for Dan Matzinger that was previously recommended for approval by the county zoning commission on July 23.

• Approved the purchase of a 2025 Erskine 960HDXL power angle broom from Central Iowa Farm Store for $9,500.

• Approved a resolution designating voting representatives for the Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC).

• Approved a motion to continue the agreement for actuarial services with The Howard E. Nyhart Company.

• Approved the consent agenda as listed.

• Recognized Jill Brockman for 25 years of service to the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office in the clerical division.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.