The Town of Sexsmith will soon be upgrading its emergency information platform, as a new provider has offered up a wider variety of options.
The current app is updated in real-time, but for detailed information, residents would have to click their way through the municipal website, which isn’t mobile responsive.
Mayor Kate Potter says with a plethora of ways people can be reached, council decided it was time decided to look at some other options.
“Let’s say there is a road closure or an emergency, or we are doing snow clearing…you can get a notification via any social media, texting, a real phone call recording with that information,” she says.
“It cost us a little bit more, but at the end of the day we want to make sure our residents get the information they need,” she adds.
Potter says the additional costs, raising from a base price of $3,995 a year to $4,995 a year, is something that did raise a concern. However, she believes that the associated costs are well worth the peace of mind it could potentially provide.
“Every cost is scrutinized significantly… but when you’re in an emergency situation of course you want to make that move as quickly as possible, and efficiently as possible,” she adds.
No timeline as to when the new mobile-friendly website will be rolled out.