County approves new emergency alert system

Shawano County residents could soon receive automated alerts on their telephones during tornado warnings and other public emergencies.

The County Board agreed Wednesday to purchase a system that would allow county officials to send emergency alerts to both cellphones and landline phones.

Officials say the system could be useful in reaching the general public to help locate a missing person, to order a neighborhood evacuated, or to warn of a hazardous chemical spill.

Scheduled for implementation in 2017, the system will require telephone owners to register for the free emergency alerts, in a sign-up process that has not yet been established.

Natalie Easterday, the county’s emergency management director, said the notifications would represent an improvement in county efforts to communicate with the public during hazardous situations.

“It’s a tool in the toolbox,” she said. “The more tools you have, the better.”

Members of the County Board voted 24-3 to spend $15,000 acquiring the new system from a vendor, although some opposed the move.

Supervisor Deb Noffke questioned how the county could afford the annual cost of maintaining the emergency notification system without cutting spending elsewhere in the county’s $51 million budget.

“Where do you intend to cut?” Noffke asked. “Somebody should think about that.”

Also voting “no” were Supervisors Bonnie Olson and Mark Bolin.

Although no estimates were offered on the yearly cost, the board agreed to make the initial $15,000 investment. Supporters voiced enthusiasm for the idea of improving communication with residents who might otherwise be unaware of life-or-death emergency situations.

“You can’t put a price on life, and this certainly could save some lives,” Board Chairman Jerry Erdmann said.

Other scenarios in which officials said the system could be useful include alerting farmers in the field, campers in the woods or anglers out on the lake.

During severe weather or other emergencies in the county, officials from police departments and other public safety agencies currently attempt to reach the public through social media websites and through local news outlets such as newspapers and radio stations.

Easterday said a telephone alert system could work better by reaching a bigger audience more quickly. Depending on the type of system purchased, she said, the alerts could arrive on a typical cellphone via phone calls, text messages or other method.

“We’re going to ask for the biggest bang for our buck,” she told county supervisors.

A marketing campaign will promote the new system once it is installed, encouraging residents to sign up for the emergency notifications.

Supervisor Kevin Conradt, an outspoken advocate for the acquisition, said that an aging severe-weather siren in Navarino probably serves about 200 people and would cost $15,000 or more to replace. For the same investment, Conradt told his colleagues, the county could implement a system with the potential to reach people countywide.

“I feel it’s a no-brainer,” he said.