KINGWOOD — Preston County Office of Emergency Management will soon offer residents a free alert system specific to their address.
Preston OEM/911 Director Duane Hamilton told Preston County Commissioners about the Wireless Emergency Notification System on Monday.
The program allows users to instantly send messages to cell phones, work phones, home phones, answering machines and voicemail. Text or voice messages can be selected. Because the phone numbers are registered with an address, the program allows senders to specify by geographic area which phones will receive the message.
For example, a water system could send out a boil water notice just to those in the area it serves. Or weather alerts could be distributed, such as flooding alerts targeted for specific areas. That means someone living in Florida who has property in Preston County could be alerted of flooding.
Users can select which National Weather Service alerts he or she wants to receive.
“There is a need for something like this, and we’ve been looking for something affordable, something to do what we need to do without a whole bunch of bells and whistles we didn’t need,” Hamilton said.
There would be no charge to those who sign up for the service by registering their phone number and address. The county’s license for the software will be about $3,900 the first year and $5,500 annually in year two and three, Hamilton said.
An unlimited number of people can use the service.
“Hopefully by the end of October, we’re up and running,” Hamilton said.
Users can deactivate their subscription to the service or sign up again at any time. Once it is available, people will be able to sign up on the county and OEM websites.
“There’s responsibility on the citizen if you want notified, you’re going to have to do this,” Hamilton said.
Also Monday
County Administrator Kathy Mace provided commissioners with proposed policies and procedures for those who want to use the courthouse lawn. The policy includes a written application and tells users what is required. If approved, the form will go on the county web site.
Preston County Parks and Recreation Commission asked for $30,000 to match a grant. PCPaRC had to use the $30,000 it saved for the match for earlier projects, Carl Ervin said. Commission President Craig Jennings said commissioners would look at the hotel/motel tax receipts.
Commissioners declared this week West Virginia Associated of Retired School Employees and Preston County Association of Retired School Employees Week.
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