The latest local news, weather and high school sports in and around Columbia and Jefferson City

JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- Jefferson City could be in store for some new storm sirens.

The Jefferson City Public Safety Committee discussed the idea at their meeting on Thursday.

With the tornado sirens in Jefferson City being more than 50 years old, the city interim administrator said it's time for some new ones.

"They're kind of cold war era sirens and the technology has changed quite a bit,” Jefferson City interim administrator Nathan Nickolaus said. “The sirens that we have are mechanical and the modern sirens are all digital."

The current sirens spin around letting the noise fade in and out.

The new ones will broadcast in all directions at the same time and they'll also reach a lot further.

Jefferson City resident Judy Young thinks it's a good idea.

"Of course this is on everybody's minds right now with what has happened in Joplin and Alabama and other places so if there can be an improvement i think that it's a good thing to do," Jefferson City resident Judy Young said.

"We're probably looking at changing the locations of them, the ones that are there kind of reflect the way Jefferson City was laid out in 1950 and we really need to change maybe where some of them are , some of them will stay the same, some of them will move," Nickolaus said.

Over the last 50 years the sirens have gotten some wear and tear, they're rusting and they're looking pretty bad.

Nickolaus said not only will the new technology help the city, but the new sirens will be more aesthetically pleasing.

"We're looking at changing them from steel poles to wooden poles," Nickolaus said.

"As long as they work and as long as they help protect the citizens, that's what's important to me. but of course the better looking they are the better they would be," Young said.

Nickolaus believes the biggest difference in the new digital sirens is you can broadcast messages on them.

"So rather than it just being the siren that people hear we might, if we needed to do a test, we could say this is a test, so you'd hear the voice saying that, rather than the siren," Nickolaus said.

Nickolaus said the sirens could be put into place within the next year or two.

The committee is also looking into getting a telephone warning system.

Nickolaus said since a phone warning system is less expensive than the sirens it could be put into place within six months or so.