The Grundy County Local Emergency Planning Committee discussed the progress of implementing a viable mass notification system at a meeting held Monday.
The county has communicated with two main companies. The less expensive vendor option would cost $3,500, however, the committee believes it has not been explained or demonstrated well. The other vendor option costs $5,000 annually which would allow multiple administrators to utilize a grouping mechanism to contact specified individuals and groups or to notify persons within a specific geographical area by text or voice messages.
Potential funding partners for the countywide implementation of a mass notification system include Grundy County, Laredo, Spickard, Trenton, Galt, and the Grundy County Health Department.
The LEPC discussed contributing up to $1,000 to the project, but an agreement was not reached on the amount. The topic will be revisited in January.
During the Emergency Management Agency/All Hazards meeting portion, Police Chief Tommy Wright and Fire Chief Brandon Gibler discussed efforts towards a County Communications Plan that would encompass normal public safety as well as emergency communications for critical facilities.
Elizabeth Gibson of the Grundy County Health Department discussed the health department’s work with mass prophylaxis planning for the county. The primary means of exercising a dispensing plan is in the form of a “drive-through” flu shot exercise.
Karla Long with the American Red Cross reported Grundy County Emergency Management’s Shelter Coordinator Cissy Wilcoxson and her husband spent two weeks in Florida conducting damage assessment for the Red Cross.
Long said she was deployed to California where wildfires destroyed more than 7,000 homes. She commended the Trenton Fire Department as being one of the Red Cross’s best partners in the smoke detector installation program.
There was a discussion on the Grundy County Health Department’s flu vaccination clinics and Women, Infants, and Children programs as well as Wright Memorial Hospital’s Home Health Services as vehicles for reaching persons who could benefit from the smoke detector program.
Trenton Fire Chief Brandon Gibler reported the new training facilities are in the master planning stage.
