At last Monday’s Summerville City Council meeting, Chattooga County EMA/9-1-1 Director Pamela Vaughn presented information to the council regarding a proposed automated, digital communication system for the city.

The mass notification system would be for the city government to communicate with residents in the event of emergencies, such as weather warnings, boil water advisories, missing person lookouts, city evacuations, etc. The system would also allow for alerts internally to just city employees.

Dir. Vaughn said the county had once hired a mass alert company called Code Red at one point, but since some residents were receiving notifications after-the-fact, and the county was paying good money at $10,000/year, the contract was let expire.

Hyper Reach is the company currently preferred by Vaughn’s office, is opt-in based, and is more cost-efficient, she said.

Additionally, a cell-phone based service by Hyper Reach called iPaws would allow the city to send out alerts to any cell phone- similar to “Amber alerts”, and the city can target specific areas, such as the park or a given street. Alerts can also be scheduled to broadcast in advance.

The service also includes social media communication capabilities for websites like Facebook and Twitter, and it offers an app for cell phones.

The 9-1-1 office’s name/number/address database would serve as the groundwork for the mass alert system if the city opted to sign up. Vaughn added that her office had been taxed to answer an influx of calls during emergencies several times in recent years, causing dispatchers difficulty in communicating with law enforcement in a timely manner. That would be greatly alleviated with a mass communication service for the city, she said.

It would cost the city approximately $1,500-2,000. Dir. Vaughn said that county commissioner Jason Winters has arranged for the Water District to bear the better part of the cost.

Trion has already opted in with a $1,000 price tag. Walker County recommended the Hyper Reach to Vaughn, she said, and Dade County uses it as well.

At the end of the presentation, Mayor Harry Harvey asked City Manager Janice Galloway to create a final information package for the council to review at the next meeting to vote on whether to contract with Hyper Reach.