At the Eatonton City Council meeting on April 21, councilmembers heard a proposal to lease property on Church Street from the Eatonton-Putnam Water and Sewer Authority to develop and build a fire department training facility by using Conex shipping containers to build a “smoke room.”
“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to have an out-of-the-way location for [the Eatonton Fire Department] to do that type of training while still inside the city limits,” City Administrator Gary Sanders said to councilmembers.
After hearing from Eatonton Fire Chief Jamey Williamson, all six councilmembers voted unanimously to approve the lease and advance plans to build the fire training facility.
Also suggested by Ward 2 Councilmember James Gorley in response to recent severe weather incidents was the revival of a tornado warning siren that used to be routinely tested in Eatonton but has not been sounded in several years.
The siren previously was tested on Thursday nights, Gorley recalled, but Sanders added that if readopted, it probably would be tested quarterly with advance notice given to the public each time.
“That’s something we’ll have to do some public education about,” Sanders said. “We did do a quick on-and-off test just to make sure it works … so, we will be getting the word out about testing.
“I don’t know yet if we’d have citywide coverage, but part of the testing is we’ll have people out to see what kind of coverage we do have, the audible range,” he added.
Again, the motion to reinstitute a tornado siren testing regime was unanimously approved by the council.