Allen County is considering a new emergency notification system that could provide county employees, dispatchers and law enforcement with real-time alerts and building floor plans during fires, active-shooter situations and other emergencies.
Emergency Management Director Jason Trego brought the proposal before Allen County commissioners at their Tuesday meeting after being contacted by Emergent 3, a Utah-based company.
Under the proposal, Emergent 3 would map county buildings and use existing floor plans to establish a digital layout of rooms and occupants. Employees would have access through a cell phone app and desktop application.
“If there were a fire or a shooter, anything like that, that notification can be made through the app and then everybody else in the building is then notified,” Trego said. The system also could notify dispatch and law enforcement, or a fire department in the case of a fire.
Trego said the system could be customized to cover the courthouse alone or potentially all county-owned buildings. It also could provide an accounting of employees during an evacuation.
For example, if the courthouse were evacuated and an employee was not found in the parking lot, the system could show whether that person had checked in as safe and provide their location on a map.
“It also helps with accountability,” Trego said.
THE FIRST-YEAR cost would be $5,000, including a $1,500 setup fee and $3,500 annual payment for the remainder of the contract. Trego said pricing appeared to be based on the number of subscribers.
Commissioners expressed interest in learning more before making a decision. Trego said the system is becoming more common from a law enforcement active-shooter response standpoint, particularly because first responders can use building floor plans to determine where to go.
Commissioners asked whether the system could be expanded beyond county buildings to include schools and city facilities. Trego said he would provide commissioners with a PowerPoint presentation from Emergent 3 and discuss it further with the company’s representative.
He also noted that Allen County already has digital mapping of school buildings through a Kansas 911 grant. A company mapped local school districts and incorporated the information into the county’s 911 software at no cost to the county.
Trego said he recently met with representatives at Allen Community College and has previously worked with local school districts, although he was unsure what emergency notification systems individual schools currently use.
IN OTHER NEWS, Thrive Allen County Director of Community Engagement Marcia Davis gave a report about a community conversation held Sept. 29 in Elsmore.
Seven residents attended the meeting, where they discussed the community’s strengths, needs and priorities.
Housing was identified as a major concern, along with roads and potholes. Residents also discussed the possibility of adding a vending machine to the community building.
Infrastructure ranked as the community’s top priority. Residents discussed the need to improve the electrical grid, similar to work being done in nearby Savonburg, as well as sewer and road improvements. Cleaning up the community storm shelter ranked second and community involvement third.
