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Board hears proposal for $2,000/year opt-in town notification/text service
Summary
Town Administrator presented a commercial opt-in text-notification system priced at about $2,000 per year that would allow residents to subscribe for emergency alerts and event notices; the board asked for demos, uptake data from other towns and information about data privacy before deciding.
Tom described a commercial opt-in notification system that would let residents subscribe to text alerts for emergencies and town events; the vendor price discussed was about $2,000 a year.
"It's an opt in notification system. It's about $2,000 a year," Tom said. Board members raised questions about likely enrollment, whether the town would be the sender of messages (the town would), and where phone numbers would be stored (vendor cloud). Members asked Tom to obtain demos and data on success rates in comparable towns and to provide privacy and data-location details before the board considers a purchase.
No vote was taken; Tom agreed to bring more information and a demo to a future meeting so the board can assess uptake, privacy practices and value relative to current social-media postings and push notifications.
