The notification system for emergencies being used in San Diego and other communities is now available in Malibu. On Tuesday, the city began sending test messages to residential and business telephones through its reverse 911 system known as Connect-CTY. With the system, run by a company called NTI Group, the city can send emergency notification messages to the community through telephone, text messages or by e-mail.
“This is a new and exciting opportunity for us to reach out and touch the residents of Malibu whether they’re on their BlackBerry, cell phones, landlines or their e-mail,” said Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Brad Davis at Monday’s City Council meeting when the system was introduced.
The city has an initial database of residential and business landline telephone numbers. Residents can add their cell phone numbers and other contact information to the database online at the city’s Web site, www.ci.malibu.ca.us, or by calling 310.456.2489 ext. 335. People can also use that phone number to opt out of the program.
When an emergency occurs, people will be notified through this system. Some council members suggested at Monday’s meeting that the system might be useful for other features, including announcing city events and other non-emergency notices. The council will be voting soon on precise rules for the service.
City Manager Jim Thorsen said at Monday’s meeting that if residents and businesses do not receive their test message this week, they should contact the city.
The system will cost the city a little less than $17,000 per year.
Also on Monday, Davis talked about other steps the city is taking to improve its emergency services. The city is in discussion with the City Hall landlord about getting a more powerful generator. During the October fire, the power went out at City Hall, and the generators were not powerful enough to restore all the power. Davis said once those discussions are complete, it would take about 60 days to install a $70,000 generator.
Also, the city has contracted with a company that provides an off-site backup computer system. And the city’s Web site server has been moved to Arizona so that the site and the municipal e-mail subscription service will not go down, as happened in October. And if the system in Arizona ever fails, it has a backup in Virginia.
Also, the city is in discussions with a company that would provide on-call mobile satellite trucks in the event of an emergency, and the system would also provide Internet connectivity at City Hall if the regular connection failed.
The city is creating an emergency preparedness guide, which includes information on what to do in case of an emergency and provides a detailed map of the city, dividing Malibu into zones to easily identify areas. Davis said this would be helpful for out-of-area fire trucks that come to Malibu during emergencies. There were some complaints during the November fire that firefighters did not know where they were going.
Also at the meeting, representatives from Charter Communications said they were donating to the city an emergency system that will allow city officials to place notices on the government Channel 3 from remote locations if access to City Hall is not possible. The Charter representatives said the company is working on its system so cable outages, like those which happened during both fires last year, will be less likely to happen again. The system has already improved, and is scheduled to be improved further by the end of the year.
The council Monday night also approved a proclamation supporting looking into whether a Malibu school district would be a good idea.
Lastly, it was announced the annual One Book, One City book this year will be “California Poetry: From the Gold Rush to the Present,” a collection of poetry edited by Dana Gioia. The program will begin April 12.