We went to a new system because we found that the Everbridge software provides us a lot
more flexibility, a lot more options.
So when you sign up for Cast Clay Alerts, there's a couple of great flexibility and
benefits that you can have with it.
One is that you can get them via text message, you can get them via email, you can get them
through phone calls or your landline or through mobile apps.
It used to be that you could only have one address associated with you.
With this one, you have the choice of adding up to five addresses.
So like some people like me that might work in West Fargo but live in South Fargo, I may
want to get two different alerts, depending if I'm at work or if I'm at home.
You may also add your children to school.
That way you can get notifications for every place that you might potentially be.
Any community member that can stay on top of what's going on in their community, especially
if it's a situation that affects them or their family, is going to benefit from this.
So it's not just going to be pertaining to storms, whether it be a severe thunderstorm,
whether it be hell coming through, whether it be a tornado.
From a law enforcement perspective, it keeps people informed as to what we're out there
doing in an emergency situation.
And I know personally, I've had people contact and say, hey, why wasn't I notified or why
did I not get an alert?
Why didn't you guys stop by?
And that's the first question I always ask is, are you signed up for the program?
From the engineering and public works side, we've used that previously during flood events
with enhanced capabilities, we'll likely even use it more to get those critical messages
out to property owners.
And so we would strongly encourage people to sign up.
So we are going to switch over to the new system in August here as far as having people
sign up for it.
And then we will terminate the old code red system by the end of August.
So September 1st, we will go purely on the CAS Clay Alerts.
And that'll be the only system that we will send out notifications on.
I think it's just really important to know that even if you were signed up for Code Red,
that you have to re-sign up for CAS Clay Alerts, and that it's just a really good system in
place that will notify you of things that you need to be aware of.
From a health standpoint, from an emergency standpoint, citywide, it's a good idea.
Much like the system that we had in place prior with Code Red, CAS Clay Alerts is only
going to be an effective program if people sign up.
So it's very simplistic from my understanding.
It's obviously extremely beneficial.
And I would just always advise people to take that time, brief time frame that it is,
and sign up for it so you can stay in the know.