Summit County Executive James B. McCarthy and Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic today announced that they are joining forces in a cooperative effort between the county and the city to operate a countywide Emergency Telephone Notification System.

“Recent events have taught us that we need to use every means available to us to reach as many people as possible when an emergency situation develops,” said McCarthy.

Mayor Plusquellic noted that in August, when Akron was instructed by the Ohio EPA to issue its first-ever “boil-water-alert,” that many residents claimed they knew nothing about it. “We live in a time,” Plusquellic said, “when many residents don’t see a daily newspaper, when city residents prefer more than 25 different radio stations as their ‘favorite,’ and when television news is fragmented among dozens of cable stations.” Plusquellic said that with many homes favoring satellite TV reception, even the use of Time-Warner’s citywide Emergency Warning System did not reach many residents.

Mayor Plusquellic and Executive McCarthy met the press at the County’s Emergency Operations Center located in the basement of Akron city hall and announced that they would combine efforts to issue a Request For Information (RFI’s) from vendors of Emergency Telephone Notification Systems.

The systems, sometimes referred to as “reverse 9-1-1," will permit officials to target an audience of telephone customers and broadcast an emergency message quickly into their households.  This type of notification system is the most effective tool for communicating with a large population in times of emergency and can be used to alert the public of impending danger or a need for protective actions.

The County has been studying this type of telephone call back system since February 2001 at the recommendation of the Summit County Emergency Management Executive Committee.

“With such a system in place,” McCarthy said, “ our city police or county sheriff departments can isolate which area of the county or city they need to notify, and quickly send a digitally recorded message to all telephones in that area.”

Some systems can broadcast to as many as 1100 homes every five minutes. Some vendors offer a constant update of the city and county’s 9-1-1 database, so that information about telephone households is current.

“There are a number of uses for such a system,” Plusquellic said. “We have met with our police and fire officials, our health department, public utilities, and public service divisions, and all of them see potential uses in a situation that may endanger lives or property.”

In some cities, the Emergency Telephone Notification System is linked to the “Amber Alert” program to broadcast messages where a child abduction has been reported to police. 

Summit County and Akron have each selected a representative from their communications departments to put together the joint RFI and to receive proposals from vendors of systems. The proposals will be reviewed and selection of a vendor is expected before the end of 2003. The federal Department of Homeland Security has identified public emergency notification as an area that qualifies for grant money awarded to the County. 

“The County’s Emergency Management Agency will administer this system and it will be available for use by all communities in Summit County,” McCarthy said.