By TONY GUERRERO
Hays Post
Ellis County is introducing a new mass notification system to improve emergency communication.
The Ellis County Commission discussed the Everbridge system during its Tuesday meeting. It is set to replace the previous CivicPlus system, which had low public engagement due to requiring users to opt in.
Jeffrey Ridgway, county communications director, gave an overview of the system and said that one advantage of Everbridge is its ability to send alerts based on a person's location, rather than relying on users to opt in.
"This system will help bridge a gap that we currently have," Ridgeway said.
Ridgway said alerts remain active until they are manually deactivated and anyone entering the affected area while an alert is active will also receive the notification. He refers back to the 2021 four-county fire that swept through Ellis, Osborne, Rooks and Russell counties.
"The City of Ellis was recommended to evacuate due to that fire threat; the only way we could get that notification out was through media and social media," Ridgway said.
Emergency alerts will be sent automatically by using FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert & Warning System. The system also supports sending a single alert simultaneously to multiple platforms.
However, Ridgway said residents will need to opt in to receive non-emergency messages, such as event notices or public announcements.
The commission supports the Everbridge system, as it can also send notifications to county employees. Ridgway said the system can be customized for use by individual departments, allowing them to send their own notifications among staff or the public when needed.
"We've been trying to go through the onboarding process in the last month and hopefully in the next month or so, we will be completely live on it," Ridgway said.