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Solvang approves county MOA to join Genesys EVAC mapping and Ready SBC alerts
Summary
The Solvang City Council voted 5-0 to authorize a memorandum of agreement with the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management to join the Ready SBC alerting network and the Genesys EVAC zone-mapping platform, giving the city access to preidentified evacuation zones, a public-facing map and county alerting support.
The Solvang City Council on June 9 approved a memorandum of agreement with the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management to participate in the countywide Ready SBC alerting network and the Genesys EVAC zone-mapping platform.
City staff said the MOA gives Solvang access to two linked tools: an internal mapping and situational-awareness platform for first responders and a public-facing map and mobile app where residents can find evacuation-zone information. "This MOA allows Solvang to formally participate in the ready SBC alert system and Genesys EVAC zone mapping platform," said Olivia Reba Mutal, emergency-management staff in the city manager’s office.
Council members were presented with several operational details and limits. Staff and county representatives stressed that Genesys EVAC is not itself an alerting system; it complements the county'managed Ready SBC alerts that send notices by text, phone and email. "It is not an emergency alert system. We have an established system for that, which is the Ready SBC system," said Stacy Silva, associate director of emergency management for Santa Barbara County.
The MOA establishes that Solvang will retain control of its locality-specific data and that sensitive information about vulnerable individuals will not be exposed on the public map. Staff said system training for designated city users is required and that an internal use agreement covering security, data and ethics will be signed by authorized users. County staff told the council the platform is currently English-only but that the county will include bilingual messaging in the "reason" or description fields that appear in public notices.
Key technical and operational notes discussed in the meeting included: - The Genesys platform uses preidentified zones developed with local public-safety partners; residents may register for up to five zones to receive push notifications when protective actions are issued. - The system is GPS-enabled and will allow visitors and residents who are away from home to receive zone-specific notifications for the area they are in. - Fire-hazard severity maps published by the state are separate from Genesys zone definitions; staff said those hazard layers can be added to Genesys as an optional map layer for situational awareness, but county and field commanders make incident-specific protective-action decisions. - The county was funding the platform with a homeland security grant and county staff said there is currently no direct cost to Solvang through at least fiscal year 2027–28; long-term cost allocation had not been finalized and could be allocated by population or absorbed by fire districts.
During public comment a resident asked whether Genesys and Ready SBC would duplicate one another. County and city staff replied they serve different purposes: Genesys provides a consistent zone map and situational information while Ready SBC performs the official alerting.
Councilmember Infante moved to approve the MOA; the motion carried 5-0.
The county plans a public launch of the platform and an associated bilingual outreach campaign, and staff said the system was scheduled for countywide activation on June 24, 2025.
