CERT presenter recommends 60‑day SlickText trial for CERT alerts; vendors, compliance and security considerations outlined

The meeting materials include a presentation recommending SlickText as an economical SMS option for the City’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). Presenter Sue Anderson outlined CERT needs—rapid outbound alerts to hundreds of residents, two‑way replies, segmented groups (General CERT, Block Captains, Warehouse Captains), automatic STOP opt‑out handling and month‑to‑month pricing flexibility. The presentation’s cost example shows a 500‑credit SlickText plan at $29/month that would cover the example scenario (100 contacts sending about two messages per month ≈ 200 outbound SMS). The materials list setup steps (create account, register a local 10DLC sending number, complete A2P compliance prompts, create groups and import opt‑ins), security recommendations (enable two‑factor authentication for admins, least‑privilege roles, avoid storing PHI in contact fields, request vendor SOC 2 artifacts and US data‑residency statements) and governance steps (define who can send alerts, adopt SOP on consent and opt‑out handling, review metrics after two months). The presentation recommends authorizing a 60‑day trial on the $29/month plan, authorizing 2–3 volunteer admin accounts and adopting SOPs for security and reply triage; the packet does not show a recorded motion or final Council action on the recommendation.