The court approved the purchase of AlertSense, a public alert system that Emergency Management Director David Sunn said he believes could ultimately be a money saver for the county.
In the event of a critically dangerous event such as a hazardous material spill, the fire department, Sunn said, would be able to use AlertSense to determine a certain radius around the spill and send automatic phone calls or text messages to residents within the radius. That's important, he added, since the county includes vast portions of rural land where communication can be scarce.
AlertSense, he said, can be used for a variety of different functions, however. Officials could use it to alert members of a water district of a water boil advisory, for example, he said.
The Local Emergency Planning Committee studied AlertSense with Sunn and determined that it was the most suitable and cost-effective program for the county. The committee will pay the $4,750 fee for the first year of service at which point Fiscal Court will begin paying the yearly figure.
McLean County Judge-Executive Kelly Thurman said it can be very difficult to contact about 10,000 people at a time with the limited resources of the county. AlertSense, he said, assumes the responsibility of collecting landline phone numbers for individuals in the county. It will be up to the county to input cell phone numbers. It's something the county obviously wants to pursue but no decisions have been formally made yet as to how the collection process will be conducted.
©2016 the Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, Ky.)
Visit the Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, Ky.) at www.messenger-inquirer.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
