Seven Hills City Council President Matt Trafis claims the city's three new tornado sirens have been disconnected for nearly two years.
Trafis and Seven Hills Councilman Tim Fraundorf contacted News 5 about the silent sirens, which cost taxpayers nearly $100,000, over growing safety concerns.
Trafis said he's been trying to get answers from Mayor Richard Dell'Aquila as to why the new sirens are not operating, even though it appears all power and cables have be connected to the units.
"This is a major safety issue for Seven Hills," Trafis said. "We're not getting any answers. All we've been hearing is we'll look into it, we'll get back to you."
STORY UPDATE:
On Dec. 3 and 4, Mayor Richard Dell'Aquila responded to our story on his Facebook page and Fire Chief Michael McConville sent an email to News 5.
Both confirmed the new sirens are not working, however they claim they have only been out of service for about 5 months, due to a series on installation issues.
Chief McConville outline the issues telling News 5 the fire departments email system was hacked in July 2015, when the siren contract was first received by Capital Electronics.
The Chief said there were issues in determining proper siren placement, and difficulty in coordinating multiple contractors, causing delays.
The Chief said Seven Hills is waiting on encoders that are need to make the new sirens operational, critical parts he believes will be sent to the city next week.
Meanwhile, Councilman Fraundorf believes any length of time without warning sirens is too long.
Fraundorf said if the city warning sirens are disconnected, they pose a real safety issue.
"We need these sirens to be operable, because you just never know," Fraundorf said. "All you have to do is look at what's happened in Alabama, Mississippi and most recently in Tennessee."
"The Mayor has given them the responsibility to get these sirens working, and it hasn't happened," Fraundorf said. "He needs to tell them, it needs to happen now."
