Crime & Safety

City OKs Contract to Provide Emergency Alerts to Residents

The city council approved a three-year contract with CodeRed, a vendor that provides emergency alerts by text, phone and email.

Olivette residents could start receiving emergency updates on their phones and by email as soon as early 2013—alerts about severe weather and other municipal emergencies—after the city council approved a three-year contract with a vendor to provide the service.

The council voted unanimously at this week's meeting to approve the contract with CodeRed that would cost $7,635 in the first year and $9,260 in each of last two years.

City Manager Mike McDowell said the next step would be an information campaign to alert residents that the service is available. That campaign could include postcards to individual households, messages in the quarterly city newsletter and updates on the city website.

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"If you have a landline phone, you'll be automatically enrolled (in the non-weather alert system)," McDowell said. "You will have to register a cell phone, plus any other communication technique (such as text message or email). We obviously don't know what they are."

Residents will have to sign up separately for weather alerts, and can opt out of any of the alerts if they choose not receive them. 

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The system sends updates by voice, text or email to enrolled residents about any incidents that Olivette city staff deems to be urgent or an emergecy. It could be about a gas leak in the area, a spate of crimes or updates on power outages.

The system also provides automated alerts about severe weather that would affect Olivette residents.

The system and the vendor are the same as what is used in Maplewood. In fact, CodeRed has or is considering contracts with municipalities around the country, including ; ; and .

McDowell said the city had no estimates about how often the system might be used, but "will carefully assess the value of this service on a regular basis and report to City Council on its utilization."


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