Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Communication topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Hubbardston group weighs mass-alerting, prewritten messages and social‑media outreach
Summary
Town emergency planners reviewed mass‑alert options including WEA (Wireless Emergency Alerts), reverse‑911 and social media, agreed to draft prewritten messages and explore regional opt‑in systems to speed notices during outages and severe weather.
S1 told the committee that the town can issue mass alerts through WEA but that a selectboard member or the town official must provide the message to WEA for transmission. "We have to contact WEA with the message," S1 said, "and then they will send it out." The group discussed the benefits and limits of WEA (which can override phones for major declarations), map‑based reverse‑911 systems that require opt‑in, and the role of social media and town Facebook pages as complementary channels.
The committee reviewed a draft communications policy produced after a recent after‑action review and table‑top exercise. S1 said the policy aims to create "clear, consistent, evidence‑based messaging" for both the public and partner agencies and recommended preparing prewritten messages so officials can quickly plug in details and send alerts. "All we have to do is plug in the date and time," S1 said of a proposed template approach.
Participants noted practical constraints: Facebook or Instagram posts require account access and may be slower if staff lack remote access; reverse‑911 relies on residents opting in; and WEA is limited to certain types of emergency declarations. The committee also discussed redundancy for outages — keeping multiple copies of the crisis plan and contingency methods to notify vulnerable residents when power or cell service is down.
Next steps: S1 will draft prewritten alert templates and gather documentation on WEA and regional reverse‑911 options for review at the next meeting set for April 7.
