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Boro switches to new reverse-911 service
(by Karen F. Mrnarevic - July 22, 2008)
At its July 8 meeting, the Montvale Council passed a resolution entering into an agreement with the county for emergency services notification. In February, the Bergen County Board of Freeholders awarded a preliminary $150,000 contract to a Nutley-based company, Citizen Communication Center, or C3. The municipalities of Teaneck, Dumont, Ridgefield Park and Cliffside Park, among others, have already passed similar resolutions to enter into the agreement.
The county will provide the maintenance and licensing of the system at no cost to the borough, and the borough will be able to use the service at any time during the county’s contracted period with C3, through Feb. 28, 2009, with an option for an additional year. The county will also be responsible for covering the cost of installation, testing, and training borough personnel to use the system. The borough will be charged only when calls are placed. Charges will be assessed based on the length of the recorded message and how many calls are answered; no charge will be assessed for calls that go unanswered or are answered by a busy signal.
The Borough of Montvale had previously subscribed to the Bergen County Office of Emergency Management’s reverse-911 service, provided by Swiftreach Networks of Ramsey. On Aug.4, 2007, after a storm cut power to Haworth’s United Water treatment plant, which provides service to many North Jersey communities, the county tried to use its reverse-911 notification system to issue a boil water alert to residents and business owners in affected communities.
Unfortunately, the notification did not reach most residents in a timely manner, since the system was overburdened, and the message the county had tried to send was too long. The county went out to bid on a new service provider, in part, because county officials wanted to avoid a similar situation in the future.
In C3’s letter to municipalities notifying them of the county’s contract, the company states that participating municipalities will have “all custom GIS mapping technology, custom list building, and management as well as complete access to all telephone numbers, published and unpublished.”
C3 can also provide additional services to municipalities who wish to manage the system without county support. In those cases, residents would provide detailed information to their municipal emergency management officials and specify the best way to contact them, whether it be on a house phone line, a cell phone, SMS text messaging or by e-mail. For more information about the company, visit http://www.c3alert.com/
Karen F. Mrnarevic's e-mail address is Mrnarevic@northjersey.com.
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