A $30 or $40 weather radio that broadcasts alerts from the National Weather Service is cheaper for county government than a $15,000 investment to expand a phone-based alert system into non-municipal areas during bad weather, according to Warren County supervisors.

Popularity of the devices through radio and television advertising has factored into the county’s discussions on public weather alerts. Costs to buy into a Florida-based company’s weather alert system, in use for enrolled city residents since late January, or upgrading its decades-old network of tornado warning sirens figures to run into the thousands in the long run, prompting supervisors to opt for residents making their own decisions.

“Our suggestion is the radios,” Warren County Emergency Management Director Gwen Coleman said Thursday as supervisors mulled storm alert options following Wednesday night’s 2 inches  of rain that fell on the city, leaving about 600 without power until midday Thursday.

Since late January, 315 residents have signed up to be called for various emergencies, including severe weather warnings, evacuations, boil water notices and missing persons, Vicksburg Emergency Management Director Anna Booth said Thursday. Fifty-seven people signed up Wednesday as of 11 p.m., according to stats made available to the city from Emergency Communications Network Inc. About 50 who have called the city’s action line or logged onto the city’s Web site have been unable to receive the calls because they live outside city limits, Booth confirmed Thursday.

Ken Coleman of the Warren County Information Systems Department — longtime go-to guy on equipment such as the county’s warning sirens — said eight of the county’s 15 warning sirens either do not work or work only sparingly. Grant funds from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency for which the county applied this month could defray the cost, which would be more than $138,000 to replace eight sirens, set up originally to alert the public of emergencies at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station. Equipment costs would be $5,000 extra per siren and would be equivalent to 2001 industry standards under current plans, he said, adding they could still serve a purpose despite smaller technology becoming a preference.

Any participation in a “code-red” service would involve upgrading the mass dialing capability of the E-911 Dispatch Center to meet the service’s standards, he said.

“Because, if you don’t set them off, it’ll be an issue,” he said.

At each location, the sirens are protected by screens resembling wastepaper baskets high atop poles. While supervisors increasingly view the structures as outdated and ineffective during high winds, they seemed less likely to participate in the “code-red” phone alert system because the database is managed by the company and hotlines are available only during business hours.

“We’ve got technology that’s cheaper and better than that,” District 4 Supervisor Bill Lauderdale said, referencing NOAA weather radios, available in handheld sizes to larger, desktop models in use in heavy industry.

“We just have to enumerate the choices and ask people, ‘What will suit your needs?’,” Board President Richard George said.

Vicksburg’s contract with the company lasts through January 2010. If the system is well-received, the city has an option to renew the contract for $10,000 for another year.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com.