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El Mirage approves Civic Plus mass-notification system to expand alerts and outreach
Summary
City council approved a statement of work with Civic Plus to add a geotargeted mass-notification system. Staff said the platform will support multilingual messages, IPAWS integration and targeted opt-in communications.
The El Mirage City Council on April 15 approved a statement of work with Civic Plus to implement a mass-notification system intended to reach residents and businesses via text, email and voice. The council approved the contract as presented after staff described the platform
nd its rollout plan.
Amber Wakeman, representing intergovernmental and public relations, said the city convened an internal committee with IT, police, fire and public-works staff to evaluate vendors. Amber said the committee recommended Civic Plus (formerly CivicReady) because it supports IPAWS (the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System), multilingual messages (more than 60 languages), geotargeting for localized incidents, ADA accessibility and opt-in topic selection for subscribers. The system will allow staff to craft one message and distribute it to subscribers and to IPAWS simultaneously, which staff said reduces duplication during emergencies.
Staff proposed a rollout by July 1 after technical work and training, and said the city would use a marketing and outreach plan to encourage opt-in subscriptions and reduce opt-out risk. Amber and staff said the city would use existing channels — utility-bill records and email lists — combined with a multi-channel marketing campaign to encourage residents to subscribe to topics of interest; emergency alerts will go to all subscribers per system settings.
The staff presentation showed costs of $5,509.79 for fiscal year 2025 and $12,750 for fiscal year 2026 for the Civic Plus statement of work. Council members asked about message types (events, road closures, sewer-line breaks, surveys) and how resident data would be gathered and protected. Staff said existing utility and contact records would be used strategically and Civic Plus
IPAWS integration would cover federally routed emergency alerts.
Vice Mayor Parsons moved to approve the statement of work; Council member Winston seconded. The motion carried on an affirmative voice vote. Council members said they supported improving direct resident notification and transparency.
Staff said outreach would be staged to avoid message fatigue and that a marketing plan and staff training were included in rollout preparations.
