It may have taken a long time, but some Dallas County residents who own weather radios may finally be able to put them to use, says Dallas County Emergency Management Agency Director Brett Howard.

During the Dallas County Commission meeting on Monday, Howard announced that the EMA had been working with Pine Belt Wireless, a communications company, and the National Weather Service in Birmingham in order to create a weather tower in the Dallas County area, something which the county currently lacks.

The two nearest weather towers to Dallas County are in Marengo and Montgomery Counties, towers which are too far away for some residents to receive proper storm signals.

Although there was some news reports saying that WAKA Television News was considering the idea of donating a unused weather tower to Dallas County, Howard said Pine Belt Wireless had offered their tower instead, an offer which Howard said he finally accepted.

The 240-foot tower is located near the intersection of County Road 63 and Highway 22, near the Valley Grande Fire Station.

During the meeting, Howard asked the commission for an approval on an application for a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to fund the building of a transmitter as well as other electrical installation to be done on the tower in order for it to receive weather signals. The commission approved the proposal.

“This will really help a lot of our residents to be prepared for any weather related problems,” Howard told the Times-Journal. “With the tower in place, you’ll be notified [about any bad weather] just as quickly as the television station. It’ll definitely help our area.”

The other bonus, added Howard, is that it “won’t cost the county a dime,” since, he said, Pine Belt has made space on the tower for the transmitter available to the county for free and that the cost of installing the transmitter would be funded by the grant.

Brian Peters, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Birmingham, said the tower would also service other parts of Central Alabama, including parts of Perry, Chilton, Autauga and Lowndes Counties, counties where some residents, who own weather radios, are also not receiving storm signals.

“It’ll definitely be a good thing for Central Alabama,” said Peters, when interviewed by the Times-Journal. “There is great need for it in that area.”

In other business:

– County Commissioner Kim Ballard said he had received from 100

to 115 signatures asking for a new water system to be put in an

area between Wilcox County and Safford. Two communities, with

water systems, that he said may be able to service the area are

Pine Hill, a town in Wilcox County, or Thomaston, a town located

in Marengo County. “Right now, we are still in the process of

discussing it,” Ballard said.