SIDNEY -- What started as an announcement of testing warning sirens became a discussion on how severe weather announcements are done.

Region 21 Emergency Manager Ron Leal attended Monday's Cheyenne County Commissioners meeting to announce weekly testing of sirens.

"I'm here to inform you we're going back to weekly on the warning siren test testing. Due to the severe weather this spring, and ongoing, I think its a good idea to do this. I've talked to the villages and cities. They agree to go back," Leal said.

He said the warning season is early spring to early fall.

"The outdoor warning testing, it starts the last Wednesday of March inline with the National Weather Service Severe Weather Weekend event. The last test of the season would be in September, the last Wednesday of September," he said.

Commissioner Phil Sanders said when there was a recent tornado warning in Potter, the siren didn't work.

"It made me nervous; that's why I have Panhandle Alert; that and my weather radio is the only way I knew it was there," he said.

Leal said a new siren that would replace Potter's two sirens is estimated at $23,000.

"One of the things I've got, is Panhandle Alert Warnings. When these warnings go out, if people miss them, it has my office phone number on it; 308-254-7003. They miss them, they call my office. They don't need to call my office," he said.

Commissioner Randy Miller asked how Panhandle Alert works; who pushes the button, he said. He asked how geographically specific are the warnings. Heidi Gillespie, director of the Cheyenne County Emergency Communications Center, said they work with the information they are given.

"If the weather service provides us a specific area, then we provide that specific information. Essentially, We're copying and pasting from the National Weather Service Notification," Gillespie said.