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Holtville staff move to buy 100,000 emergency notification texts; council discussion on opt-ins and rollover
Summary
Staff moved to purchase the maximum package of 100,000 text messages for $750 to sustain the city's emergency/text-notification program; council and staff discussed opt-in counts, message usage, rollover, geofencing and subscriber controls. The transcript records the motion but does not provide a complete vote tally.
Holtville staff moved to purchase an expanded emergency/text-notification package (100,000 messages) for $750 and described current usage and subscriber patterns to the City Council.
The staff presenter said the city currently has “a little over a thousand” opted-in phone numbers and that a prior allotment (50,000 messages) lasted roughly seven months; staff proposed buying one hundred thousand messages to carry through the remainder of the contract and into the next year.
Staff described operational details of the service: messages can be targeted by drawing a map area, the database is populated in part with USPS mapping data and voluntary signups, messages roll over if the larger package is purchased, and every outgoing message includes opt-out instructions. “If we went ahead with the hundred thousand, those will roll over,” the staff member said.
Council members and staff discussed subscriber hygiene and targeting. Staff said the system shows the approximate location of opt-ins and that the city currently sees concentrations inside the city limits with some numbers outside. Staff and council considered policies such as re‑asking subscribers to opt in after a period (for example, every two years) and potential future vendor features such as geofencing to auto-opt-out devices that appear outside the service area.
Motion and outcome: in the transcript the mover said, “I’d like to move that we do the, the maximum of $750 for a hundred thousand messages.” The motion was seconded, and a partial affirmative response from one councilmember (recorded as “John Yes”) appears, but a full vote tally and final recorded outcome are not present in the provided transcript.
Clarifying details from the meeting: staff reported approximately 900–1,000 opted-in numbers (staff described an initial USPS-imported map and subsequent voluntary signups), that longer messages consume multiple text units, and that targeting by map can reduce total message counts by focusing only on affected areas. Staff estimated the 25,000-message option would have lasted to September under current usage and argued that 100,000 would better cover the remainder of the contract and bridge into next year.
Next steps: staff said they will bring contract-renewal options and cost comparisons back to the council when renewal timing approaches and suggested asking vendors about features for subscriber management and geofencing at the next vendor discussion.
