BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

ROOSEVELT - The borough's emergency siren will again sound from the center of town.

The Borough Council has authorized the relocation of its emergency siren from atop Well No. 3, located near Eleanor Lane and North Valley Drive, to a 100-foot pole in the wooded area near the amphitheater at the Roosevelt Public School.

The borough removed the siren from the school roof in 2005 due to a state law that prohibits such devices from being placed on top of school buildings.

After the siren was relocated to the top of the well, there were complaints from the borough's emergency services that the new location did not allow for the siren to be heard throughout the entire borough. Officials had since been looking for another area to relocate the device.

Because the siren operation requires three-phase power, former Mayor Neil Marko, who is president of the first aid squad, explained that the borough was limited in terms of the areas where it could choose to place the device.

He also said that the former siren was not made to mount on a 100-foot pole and would therefore require a custom mount if the borough decided to continue to use it.

The borough ended up purchasing a new siren at a cost of $6,000 due to the mounting problem and the device's age. Marko said the former siren is 50 years old and that companies no longer make parts for it.

Marko also said that the former siren was poorly designed and sounded downward, which had the potential to put anyone standing beneath it in danger.

The new location - which Councilman Daniel Hoffman described as "in the woods behind the head," referring to the borough's monument of Franklin D. Roosevelt - is the necessary 200 feet away from the school yard required by state law. The location was analyzed and approved by the borough engineer, according to Hoffman.

When Marko asked the council if the siren would have battery backup, Hoffman said that it would.