(KLZA)-- Richardson County Commissioners met with Highway Superintendent Steve Darveau Jr. and Emergency Management Agency Director Brian Kirkendall Wednesday discussing the damage to public property including county roads and public buildings during the May 18 storm event to determine if there was enough damage to declare an emergency disaster.

Following the discussion it was decided there was not enough damage to public property to warrant an emergency disaster declaration.

Later in the meeting the Board met with Kirkendall reviewing the activity during the storm event on the 18th. Commissioner Bobby Campbell said he received messages and calls regarding the sounding of the outdoor warning sirens.

Kirkendall explained how the sirens operate and that on the 18th, there was a problem with sounding the sirens as the generator at the Courthouse was not operating and the system that runs the outdoor sirens was running on battery backup, which quit with the second round of tornado warnings that were issued in Richardson County.

A repair crew traveled through the storm and arrived in Falls City that evening to assess the situation with the generator and believe that lightning had damaged the generator during a storm the previous weekend.

Discussion was then held in regards to having a small generator to be used as a back-up to run the computer system that signals the outdoor warning sirens. No action was taken.