By KATHY PAULSEN
Staff Writer
Welcome to Everbridge.
The switch has been made and Steele and Rice County now have a new emergency notification system in place and operational.
There was a meeting of the minds on Wednesday, August 15, at the Owatonna Fire Department with Deputy Director of Emergency Management, Chris Gannon; Steele County Sheriff, Lon Thiele; Owatonna Police Chief, Keith Hiller; Owatonna Fire Chief and Steele County Emergency Management Director, Mike Johnson; Rice Steele 911 Center Administrator CEM Administrator, Timothy Boyer; City of Ellendale Maintenance/Ellendale Emergency Management Director, Roger Swearingen; as well as area media services.
"Emergencies happen that must be dealt with as quickly and as efficiently as possible,” said Johnson. “If we look at statistics, not necessarily in our area but could possibly happen include tragic shooting sprees, lost child, domestic encounters, floods, gas leaks, and the list goes on. Many things are emergencies that can affect the public safety or health of our area residents and businesses, such as flash floods, weather warnings and spreadable fires.”Everbridge is an unlimited minute package that allows Public Safety Services to use the system for more applications without having to worry about a penalty cost being assessed. In addition, Everbridge will replace an additional software application, Emergin, which has been used by the 911 center to page public safety entities for emergencies.
The cost of this new notification system, $22,500 per year of unlimited use, is paid equally by the Steele County Sheriff, Rice County Sheriff, Owatonna Police, Faribault Police and Northfield Police.
“I truly think that this is the best use of the dollars spent,” said Boyer. “We are able to combine multiple applications into one resource, thus eliminating duplicate maintenance costs and having to rely on outdated equipment and data when contacting emergency responders.”
Anyone interested in the Everbridge notification product for civil emergencies and public safety agencies should check your city or county Web site for links and registration information. Personal information is not shared with anyone and will be used only by public safety officials. If you have difficulty registering, contact your local law enforcement agency.
“This service allows an individual to sign up to receive community alerts by cell phone, work phone, text message and e-mail,” said Johnson. “Land line data is already in the system. It is key to sign up and take time to create that account and update the account of any information changes. The system depends on this information and is only as good as the information you provide.”
Johnson added, "The service probably will not be used for tornado warnings because of the time element, but Everbridge has other purposes like notification regarding critical police activity like warning of dangerous individuals, missing children, and collecting evidence as a need for community help. The system will not be used for trivial matters so the individual will know and understand that the alert is an important message to listen to. There should be savings in cost with the reduced use of pagers because city and county officials can be notified through other venues.”
“Everbridge is an incredibly valuable tool allowing us to contact thousands of people in the very few important minutes that we have to do,” said Boyer.