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Council authorizes TextMyGov renewal with limited use; staff to finalize contract details
Summary
Columbia Borough Council authorized renewal of the TextMyGov messaging service on Jan. 14 with restrictions on two‑way communication to contain costs while increasing one‑way message capacity for emergencies; staff said a contract and pricing will be circulated to council.
Columbia Borough Council on Jan. 14 voted to renew the borough’s TextMyGov messaging service with “limited and refined” use that favors one-way emergency messaging over two-way interactive features.
Staff described why the renewal was necessary and what changes the borough will request from the vendor: increase annual message capacity (the vendor can raise the borough’s allotment by 25,000 messages in some packages) while disabling or limiting the two-way Q&A subscription that had driven up costs. Staff told council a one‑way emergency-only configuration could reduce recurring costs relative to the borough’s prior usage pattern while expanding the number of outbound messages; staff presented an estimated annual cost of about $27,100 for the one-way expanded package and said they would get a written contract from the vendor for council review.
Council members emphasized the need to avoid using the service for routine or frequent non-emergency announcements, citing past billing spikes tied to large recipient lists and long messages that count as multiple sends. Staff also described options to manage recipients (sending only to opt‑in lists or to broader resident lists when appropriate) and to produce canned messages to avoid long messages that split into multiple sends. The meeting record shows roughly 600+ opt‑ins at the time of discussion.
Why it matters: TextMyGov is the borough’s primary mass-notification tool. Contract terms affect how the borough will deliver emergency alerts, road-closure notices, and other time-sensitive messages to residents.
Next steps: staff will circulate the vendor’s contract to council once received and monitor monthly usage; council asked for continued reporting on message counts and costs so the borough can adjust service levels if needed.
