Sulphur mayor pushing city’s automated alert system
Last Modified: Monday, June 18, 2012 5:17 PM
By Johnathan Manning / American Press
SULPHUR — Mayor Chris Duncan continues to urge locals to sign up for the city’s automated alert system, Blackboard Connect.
Last weekend’s water main break, which resulted in low water pressure for parts of the city, highlighted the need for people to sign up for the program and keep their information current, he said.
He was preaching his message all week, first at Monday’s City Council meeting then at the West Calcasieu Association of Commerce meeting Thursday.
“This is going to be the notification for disasters,” Duncan said. “This is the technology that the city is going to. This is going to be our means of communication.”
Duncan said that when the water main broke on June 10, the system placed 7,979 calls, 2,648 of which were not delivered. He said 1,624 calls were unanswered, while the others went undelivered for various reasons.
He said 488 emails and 285 text messages were sent out — but Duncan pointed out that a large number of the text messages were likely sent to city workers. The city employs about 200 people, and most of them receive text alerts, he said.
Duncan said both residents and businesses should register for the notifications, which can be tailored to specific areas of town. Most landlines are entered into the system, he said, but cellphone numbers have to be manually registered.
Registration is available on the Sulphur website, where residents and business owners can enter the manner in which they wish to receive alerts.
“It’s real easy,” Duncan said. “There’s the button right on the front page. Click on it, boom, register as a resident, register as a business.”
Online: www.sulphur.org.
Posted By: Nancy Tower On: 6/18/2012
Title:
Proud of the City for increasing communications efforts. I hope people sign up.
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