Lucas County commissioners approved two emergency services memoranda of agreement June 24 that expand alerting capacity for county partners and the public.

Director Buckup described the first item as a cost‑share memorandum of agreement permitting the Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities to use the county’s Everbridge alerts platform for internal employee and stakeholder notifications. The second item authorizes renewal of an agreement to access the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), enabling critical public alerts via the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts.

"This is a cost share program for access to the Lucas County alerts to the Everbridge platform for Board of Developmental Disabilities to use it for internal notifications to employees, stakeholders for emergency and non emergency internal notifications," Buckup said. He explained the IPAWS renewal allows life‑safety emergency messages to reach the public via cell phones and broadcast media.

Commissioner Cabecki thanked staff and noted the importance of including the developmental disabilities board, saying the service helps a community that sometimes gets overlooked. No dissent or recorded amendments were made; commissioners voted yes on the motion to approve.

The approvals permit the county and partner agency to proceed with the technical and administrative steps required by both platforms. The board did not attach additional funding or implementation deadlines during the meeting.