Prescott getting weather radar

PRESCOTT – It didn’t take long for the Prescott City Council to decide to approve a weather radar for the Prescott water tower.

This was done at the November council meeting Monday evening. Tara Goode, vice president of strategic partnerships with Climavision, told the panel what the city could expect from the radar – real-time information on severe weather conditions. She said Prescott is in the middle of a gap in coverage (between Shreveport, LA and Little Rock), which would be eliminated by the weather radar. She pointed out Climavision isn’t looking to replace what’s in place, but supplement it.

Climavision, she said, uses an X-band radar, which is small, low powered but with a high frequency. The radar, she continued, won’t cause the city any problems at all, nor will it interfere with  other signals. To date, she added, Climavision has installed 22 systems in different cities, the most recent in Dermott.

The idea, she told the council, is to get the information into the right hands so the citizenry can be notified of severe weather on the way with high resolution. Putting the radar on a water tower, she said won’t interfere with the water quality at all, and Climavision will handle all the engineering workup and installation. “We will assume all the risk,” she said, adding everything will be insured. Water tanks, Goode informed the panel, are the most common places for installation, though radars have been installed on buildings as well. Once installed, meteorologists will be sent to train someone in how to use the system.

Goode pointed out this is free to the community, though the average person won’t be able to directly access the data. She added the company does sell things besides radar to fund the radar project. The company, also has radars on order so there’s no backlog problem or extended wait times.

Chris Hopper, street superintendent, followed, talking about limb collection in the city. He pointed out the city has an ordinance stating the city will pick up limbs no longer than six feet nor more than six inches in diameter. However, he said, some residents and contractors have been ignoring this, cutting down trees and expecting the city to clean things up.

When asked about the city’s policy if a tree is felled because of weather, Hopper said the city will pitch in and help as this wouldn’t be the resident’s fault. He added, people and contractors should be responsible for hauling off limbs they cut down or hire to have cut. He pointed out if his crews tell him about people having limbs stacked larger than the ordinance allows, he will talk to the homeowner about them getting the limbs removed. Prescott Mayor Terry Oliver said the problem is those who do this for a living and leave the limbs behind.

The council approved amending the ordinance. The amendment reads, “The City of Prescott will not pick up truckloads of tree trunks or branches over six inches in diameter and no more than six feet in length. The owner must make arrangements to have the non-conforming size limbs and tree trunks hauled off by the hired individuals who did the tree service or by another person(s) of the owner’s choice, not the City.”

At the start of the meeting, Oliver said the city was contacted by a representative of the Attorney General’s office letting them know Police Chief Ann Jordan has been chose as Nevada County’s Officer of the Year and will be honored at a luncheon in December.

Mary Godwin, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office, told the council the sales tax collection for October was up and Leadership Nevada County held its last session. The Leadership graduation banquet will be held Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Senior Center.

She told the council Explore Success had more than 800 eighth grade students from the region attend and learn about good paying manufacturing jobs in the area.

Linda Dixon addressed the council about a problem of barking dogs. She said a man recently moved into her neighborhood from the county and has around 20 chihuahuas that bark a lot and this has been going on for three months. Oliver said he and Jordan, along with another officer, visited the man, with Jordan and the other officer talking to him. Hopper said he’d also talked with the man who rescues dogs and tries to find homes for them. He pointed out there are no laws concerning how many dogs a person can have.

As the meeting ended, the council was reminded Ivory Curry’s Award Banquet will be from 5-7 p.m. Saturday at the Prescott Junior High School cafeteria.