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CCMtg12-10-07WSMinLONGWOOD CI'T'Y COMMISSION -~ Longwood. City C'ommiission Chambers 175 West Warren Avenue Longwood, ]Florida WORK SE',iSION MINI[J'1'ES DECEM:BER 10, 2007 7:00 P.PVI. Presen_ t: Mayor John C. Maingot Deputy Mayor H.G. "Butch" Bundy, Jr. Commissioner Brian D. Sackett: Commissioner Dan Anderson Commissioner Mike Holt John J. Drago, City Administrator Sarah M. Mirus, City Clerk Richard Kornbluh, Division M;inagei• of Utilities Craig Dunn, Computer Services Manager Carol Rogers, Director of Financial Services Ryan Spinella, Executive .Assistant Cindy .Carbonell, Fire Department Laurie Mooney, Fire Chief 1. CALL TO ORDER. Mayor Maingot called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. 2. PRESENTATION OF THE CITY OF LONGWOOD'S NOTIFICATION PLAN. Mr. Drago said the City Commission requested this Work Session about ~a month ago to go over a notification plan for Cit,~ emergencies and non-emergencies. He stated they made sure that what they put together was not labor intensive, and did not create any extra expenses. He said.. they tried to take advantage of what was presently available and came up w'i'th a set of methods that can be used in unison with one another or independently. He reviewed each communication method and the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Reverse 911 is standard and there is no expense. to the City. He stated the target audience was residents and businesses with published land-line based telephones or have signed up with the County. It does not contact unpublished i:elephone numbers, cell phones, or some digital phones. The County has a high speed reverse 911 with a fee of $0.25 per successful call. He advised this was the same target market and has the same advantages and disadvantages; only it can be done more rapidly. If all possible residents are reached the expenditure would be approximately $1,350. ~• Mayor Maingot inquired how long it tool. to complete the.calls. CC 12-10-0'7/379 Mr. Dunn advised it would be completed within eleven (11) minutes. He explained this method uses internet.based phone technologies where it creates hundreds of virtual telephone lines in order to be completed so quickly. He said the County system takes six (6) hours using forty-six (46) telephone lines. Mr. Drago said another system was Alert Seminole, also available through the County.~He explained the target audience would be those who have electronic text communication devices such as pagers, cell phones, text messaging, electronic mail, or PDA devices. He reviewed'the advantages and disadvantages. He reviewed Longwood Alert (L-Alert) which would be from a database consisting of residents who sign up for-this .system. It would be for both emergency and non- emergency information provided strictly by e-mail. He reviewed the estimated cost, advantages and disadvantages. He advised this would become public information. He. said there would be a time. delay for people who do not read their . e-mail on a regular basis. He reviewed the Longwood Information Line and the estimated cost of $120 (one-time cost). The target audience would be residents and businesses that would like to call and receive detailed current information regarding events and issues. This would be for both emergency and non- emergency situations. He reviewed the advantages and disadvantages. Another means of communication is to contact the media and-there would be no cost involved. He said you could potentially contact a large number of residents at no expense. However, the media is not obligated to commuriicate the information on behalf of the City and the City has no control on how or when the information is broadcast. Homeowner's Associations would be another means of communication and the target audience would be very specific to those who live in the subdivisions. He reviewed advantages and disadvantages.. Another suggestion is road signs and he reviewed the estimated cost involved. This would target residents acid businesses that travel these areas. He reviewed the. advantages and disadvantages. Door hangers and fliers would be another means of communication. He reviewed the costs, advantages and disadvantages. He stated door hangers and fliers would probably be used in isolated areas. Another means would be using drive-by Public Address utilizing the Police and Fire vehicles.. He reviewed the target audience, advantages, and disadvantages. Mr. Drago reviewed the conclusions to the presentation and said no single method or all of the methods together would ever reach 100% of the population. He said a manual would be put together with a list of all emergency telephone numbers and a procedure on how to activate each plan. Each Department Head would have the capability to utilize each of the methods and. they would be responsible for initiating the notice when needed. Depending on the nature of the event, each communication method may be used independently or in conjunction with one another to reach the maximum number of residents in the shortest period of time. Mayor Maingot said it was good to see all of the options. Depending on the emergency, the plan is to get the notice out as duickly as possible.. Mr. Drago said if would depend on the situation to determine which methods were. ~' to be used. He stated they may use. every option available. He said if there CC 12-10-07/380 ~ happens to be a citywide alert,, he would have no trouble with using the high _I speed reverse 911 system. He state:d this was where the layering came in handy to get the message out by other means. Mayor Maingot said he would warrt eacbi Commissioner to be briefed immediately so they are aware of the sih~ation and the action being taken. He stated the delay in getting the notification out and the late hours of night created aggravation. Commissioner Sackett said he never received the reverse 911 call because he was broadband. He inquired how many homey in Longwood were broadband and said the percentage was pretty big. Mr. Dunn said that if you contact the call center, they will enroll your number in the reverse 911 system. Deputy Mayor Btmdy inquired if t:he number was set up to be blocked if the reverse 911 had technology so they could override the block. Commissioner Anderson said if you block your number, you need to understand youwill miss out on any calls. ~ Mr. Drago said if you have SPAM blockers and you sign up for L-Alert, then you need to add the City's address to be accepted by your SPAM mail. Commissioner Holt inquired about: reader boards. Mr. Drago suggested they could .strategically build reader boards at entrances to the City. He said they were a little pricey, but they could look into this for the firture. Deputy Mayor Bundy said with the reader board signs for something that was going to be citywide, they could check into utilizing various business reader boards. Commissioner Holt said he received three telephone calls for the boil water alert. He suggested using portable signs. He recommended keeping the Commission informed. Deputy Mayor Bundy suggested using Neighborhood Watch Associations also. Commissioner Anderson said layering was the right approach. People may get more than one communication. He stated they needed to make stu•e not to get the. phone number being used for the notification recorded message confused with the Citizen Hotline after hours number that residents can call to report things such as if there is a downed tree or a fire hydrani: leaking. CC 12-10-07/381,. Commissioner Sackett said he likes the layering. He stated you learn from the experience. He said you were not going to be able to reach 100% of the people. ~; Mr. Dunn said if people have broadband, they more than likely to have an e-mail address and could be contacted through L-Alert and Alert Seminole. He stated they also need to notify those who have broadband that they could also contact Seminole County and have their number added to the system. Commissioner Anderson said if they reach at least 50% of the people in• the City, neighbors are going to communicate to neighbors. Commissioner Holt said he has broadband through Bright House and he did receive the telephone calls. He would like to see a short report put together by the City Administrator to give at the, next meeting to make people aware they addressed the matter. Commissioner Sackett inquired if they compared what other cities were doing. Mr. Drago responded in the affirmative. He briefly reviewed what other cities were using. Deputy Mayor Bundy said he did not want to receive the information on Monday evening when it happened on Saturday morning. He reiterated the Commissioners needed to be•contacted with the information. ~~ Mr. Drago said until fiirther notice, in the event of a boil water alert, Mr. Kornbluh would be notified in addition to the people we contract with. Deputy Mayor Buridy said he was not as concerned, with the problem' with the system. He stated anything. can break. His concern was with what occurred after that created the problem and this goes a long ~vay to make sure it will not happen again. 3. ADJOURN. Mayor Maingot adjourned the meeting at 7:54 p.m. ATTEST: 2Gr~ Sari h M. Mires, CMC • City Clerk yor CC 12-10-07/382