McKENZIE, Tenn. — Mayor Ryan Griffin walked council members through a project that would give McKenzie five new tornado sirens at the city’s regular meeting on Thursday, October 8.
Work towards the project, he said, had initially started with previous Mayor Jill Holland’s administration under a mitigation grant.
That work produced a map showing the locations of McKenzie’s three current tornado sirens, as well as projections for two additional.
Fire Chief Brian Tucker explained the placement in more detail.
“The original three, located at Maple and Gwin; City Park; and Paris Pike at Eastwood, will be updated, so they’ll be replaced to meet current standards,” Tucker said. “The two new ones will be in the area of Grandberry and Blackburn, and the other will be out on Highway 22 between Highway 423 and Old McKenzie Road. If you look at the map, it completes a full circle around the city.”
The new system would also be fully automated, which Griffin said is a big improvement over the current setup, which requires a dispatcher to manually trigger the sirens after receiving a National Weather Service alert.
The city will post public bids and expects to bring a vote to the November meeting. Financing options of three and five years will both be presented, with Safe Streets funds covering the required $42,000 down payment.
Griffin also proposed including lightning detection systems at City Park, the splash pad, and the new Mulberry Soccer Complex. These would take the judgment call out of the hands of park staff during games.
“Who makes the call when Director Hollowell is not at a ball game?” he said. “This would eliminate that responsibility.”
New Equipment
Chief Tucker also discussed the new TACN radios that the police and fire departments received.
“The quality of the sound, the voice, everything is so much clearer,” Tucker said. “It’s doing well.”
The cardiac monitor purchased jointly by fire and police also arrived this week and should be in service within a couple of weeks.
Councilperson Bobby Young commended the equipment upgrades, and said the county’s struggling ambulance system makes McKenzie’s fire department medical capabilities even more important.
“We’ve had two Friday nights on football fields with pretty bad injuries,” he said. “These guys can come out and get those people stabilized until we can get an ambulance there. That is so important to everybody.
Councilperson Tom Alexander agreed. “A lot of our town doesn’t realize what value we have in you guys. We’ve got something that a lot of other small towns don’t have.”
Rotary Food Pantry
The Rotary Club’s planned food pantry in the old City Hall space is also coming together, with new partners stepping in.
Councilperson Tim McBride reported the fire department has already cleaned out the space, which turned out to be bigger than expected.
The city is waiting on an insurance claim for a section of roof that needs replacement.
TCAT has agreed to partner on the project, potentially sending instructors and students to install the split HVAC units as a hands-on teaching exercise.
Second Harvest, who already partnered with Rotary, may also make financial contributions toward the buildout.
“One little step at a time,” McBride said. “We hope to get everything squared away and have them a place to store and disburse their food before we know it.”
Looking Ahead
Griffin reminded the public about the upcoming Boo Bash on October 22, Christmas Open House on the weekend of November 14-15, and Hometown Christmas the first weekend of December.
Last year’s Boo Bash drew roughly 4,000 people downtown.
The city also expects to hear this month on its application for a $300,000 downtown improvement grant.