Stray Anderson, an Iroquois County health department official, told the Finance Committee on June 24 that the county can save roughly $5,000 a year by switching its emergency-notification service to a vendor that recently signed a state contract.

Anderson said his department asked for a smaller budget than last year after negotiating with two vendors. "This year, I was able to secure a much lower request because I signed a contract with a new third-party supplier, which was HyperReach," he said, later noting the new vendor offered a one-third price of the prior vendor's near-$7,500 annual fee. "They came in with a number that was a third of what they were." Anderson said the new company agreed to a $2,500 annual price and to defer billing until May 1 of the next year so the county can run both services in parallel.

The cost change came up during the department's budget presentation as Anderson detailed why his overall request is smaller this year than last. He said the vendor also agreed to a 3 percent annual increase written into the contract and that the vendor corrected the contract language to include a no-increase clause effective until 2030 after an immediate email exchange.

The discussion also covered the county's weather-station coverage. A county board member asked whether the single device, located in the county seat area, provides adequate information for southwestern Iroquois County. Anderson said the station supplies current, not predictive, measurements (temperature, wind speed/direction, relative humidity) and that the county relies on nearby sources such as the Kankakee airport or University of Illinois when additional data are needed. "If I had a fire department with an incident somewhere in Iroquois County, they wanted to know what the current temperature, wind speed, direction, relative humidity. Those things are pertinent," Anderson said.

Committee members suggested alternatives to broaden coverage, including sharing data with neighboring emergency-management agencies and exploring private sponsorships (for example, renewable-energy firms providing solar power and Wi-Fi to remote stations). Anderson said he will check whether other county EMAs can share data and that he will explore sponsorship requests to private landowners or companies when the county meets renewable-energy developers.

No formal action or vote on the notification contract was taken at the meeting; Anderson presented the budget and described the vendor switch and operational details for the committee to consider when the board finalizes appropriations.

The county will continue receiving the existing HyperReach service until the current contract expires April 30 of next year while the new vendor allows free integration and deferred billing through the transition period.