EMA makes alert system change

NORWALK — The Huron County Emergency Managerial Agency transitioned to its emergency notification system Saturday. 9-1-1 Coordinator Tacy Bond said there are many reasons that led to the change, but "functionality and overall cost" were important factors in the decision making process. The county will no longer be using Everbridge alerts for its emergency notification system — it has transitioned to Inspiron Logistics' alerting system called WENS (Wireless Emergency Notification System). The cities of Norwalk, Bellevue and Willard worked with the Huron County Commisioners and the Huron County Sheriff's Office to help fund the county's emergency system up to $10,000. The remaining cost is absorbed by the EMA. The EMA cited increased functionality, a more user-friendly process, the ability to merge the existing database of Everbridge users and cost. "The product we were using, Everbridge, the cost was just right over $11,000 this product here for the first year is just over $5,500," Bond said. "So, we are cutting the cost in half, getting better service and it's more user-friendly for the dispatchers and the other entities who are using it. Now, that price does go up next year to right around $6,900, but that's still a sigificant savings that will be spread out to the agencies that help fund it, with each of them saving anywhere from $800 to 1,100." Bond pointed to neighboring counties that already use Inspiron Logistics and being to combine alerts with them in one application as a benefit to making the switch. "The other nice thing about this too, is that a lot of our neighboring counties are using it," she said. "Ottawa, Sandusky and Seneca counties I think are using and Erie County is at least looking at it, I don't know if they have chosen it yet, but they were in our demo, so I know they were at least looking at it. The nice part with that is, say that I live in Sandusky County, but I work in Willard and I want to get alerts for both, I can get them on the same system rather than having to sign up multiple times." Even though EMA was able to merge the existing Everbridge users, they are highly encouraging everyone to sign up for WENS to update their information. In addition to going to Huron County's log in page you can also textt he following keywords and be registered. Box please run keywords and included alerts side by side Keywords: Included Alerts: HuronCountyWeather Weather warnings 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. HuronCountyWeatherAll Weather warning 24/7 HuronCountySnowLevels Snow levels 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. HuronCountySnowLevelsAll Snow levels 24/7 Willard City of Willard alerts Norwalk City of Norwalk alerts HuronCounty Huron County alerts Text the keyword to 69310 to be signed up for each alert or go to the registration page at http://entry.inspironlogistics.com/huronoh.wens.cfm