City, county to opt in on mass-notification system

Service would be used to alert public during emergency

Cole County on Tuesday agreed to join Jefferson City Council in a one-year contract for a mass-notification system that would allow the Jefferson City Police Department to alert the public in the event of an emergency.

Earlier this month, the Jefferson City Council approved the system for the Police Department, which operates the 911 system.

On Tuesday, the Cole County Commission agreed to pay half of the $22,000 cost to install the Rave Mobility System. The cost includes support and maintenance of the system for a year. There is also an option of four yearly renewals, each year costing $10,000.

Should the city or county want to opt out of the service, they have to give Rave six months notice.

Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman and Western District Commissioner Kris Scheperle voted in favor; Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Hoelscher voted against the system.

Last year, the commission budgeted $18,000 to pay for such a system, but that was a one-time cost and didn't take into account any money for renewals. Auditor Kristen Berhorst said they would have to find a new source to fund the renewal cost, if the county wanted to remain in the system, because that could not be considered a capital improvement.

"We already get a lot of emergency information through social media," Hoelscher said. "People can get used to seeing alerts and they get desensitized to them."

However, Scheperle responded: "People are so busy that they don't pay attention to the news. There's a lot of people that could benefit from the system."

Cole County Emergency Management Director Bill Farr said individuals would opt-in to the service and create profiles that include information they may want emergency personnel to know, such as health conditions, garage door passcodes or spare key locations. However, subscribers would not be required to add such information.

If a subscriber calls 911, an operator would see his or her account and could give emergency personnel information. The system would include a 911 feature where if a subscriber called the police department but was unable to speak, the 911 operator could initiate a texting conversation.

Police officials earlier said Osage and Boone counties, as well as State Technical College of Missouri, use Rave, and Lincoln University is looking to enter into a contract with the company for a similar mass-notification system. Farr noted 5,000 people had signed up in Osage County.

"It's going to have to be incumbent on the sheriff's department, ambulance service and other emergency agencies to get the word out to the public that this service is available," Scheperle said.

Farr said they were looking at ways to do that, and Rave has said they will provide informational fliers that could be put in bills sent out by the county, water districts and fire districts.