County awards two‑year contract for standardized siren maintenance to Emergency Communication Systems

Crow Wing County’s Emergency Management Director, Clayton Bar, told the board the county received five proposals in response to an RFP for a standardized countywide preventive‑maintenance program for outdoor warning sirens and recommended Emergency Communication Systems as the top‑ranked vendor. The vendor already performs work in several county cities and townships, and staff reported positive reference checks.

Bar said the vendor’s proposal included tiered annual pricing to reflect economies of scale: $700 per site for 1–24 sirens, $600 per site for 25–44 sirens, and $575 per site for 45 or more. The county’s approach is to accept the proposal and then seek memoranda of agreement with individual cities and townships; jurisdictions can opt in or join later. Bar said the vendor is aware the program may start with a subset of sites and expand as municipalities sign on.

Bar also described preventive‑maintenance tasks the contract would cover (battery swaps, greasing siren heads, grounding inspections) and longer‑term goals such as pursuing two‑way cellular capability so the dispatch center can confirm siren activation and receive equipment‑health telemetry. He noted some sirens in the county are still in steel cabinets rather than aluminum and that grant opportunities will be explored to upgrade equipment.

The board voted to accept the Emergency Communication Systems proposal for the annual maintenance of county outdoor warning sirens for a two‑year contract from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028. The motion carried; the meeting transcript does not include a roll‑call tally. County staff will seek MOAs with participating cities and townships before services commence.