Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Utilities Customer Service topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council approves $90,000-a-year Doppler contract for outage alerts and call overflow
Summary
Council approved a five-year agreement with Doppler to provide after‑hours dispatch/support, outage heat maps, opt‑in text alerts and daytime spillover support for utilities at $90,000 annually (5% annual increases) and a $30,000 implementation fee.
Utilities general manager Jeff Shanahan presented the proposed five-year agreement with Doppler to provide incident-response, supplemental dispatch and customer communication services. Shanahan described three primary functions: after-hours answering and escalation, daytime spillover for high-call events, and an optional outage map integration tied to AMI meter data.
"We're hoping to alleviate that, and we want to best serve our customers that we can," Shanahan said, describing text alerts, heat maps and spillover support for major outages. The package was priced at $90,000 per year with a 5% annual increase and a $30,000 implementation fee; the outage-map add-on was described as a $10,000 annual adder.
Council members praised utilities staff for proactive planning and approved the resolution to contract with Doppler by a 6-0 vote. Staff said customers will need to opt in for text alerts and that the system will help communicate expected restoration times during major events.
