Forwarded from Jody Stones <recorder@woodlandhills-ut.gov> Subject: A change in how you will get City Information Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2021 20:27:46 +0000 The City is changing how you will receive information regarding City news, events, snow and road conditions, water line breaks, and public meetings. ----- Community of Woodland Hills City Report Prepared by the Woodland Hills Transparency Committee February 20, 2021 NOTE: Opinions and information published by the Transparency Committee are not official City positions. They represent the perspective of the Transparency Committee, and of the person(s) quoted or interviewed. While we strive to publish the most accurate information possible, plans and decisions can change quickly as new information is acted upon by City officials. Accordingly, the following information is accurate as of the date of publication, but beyond that time some details may become outdated. The city will soon replace its emails with Everbridge to communicate with residents. * What is Everbridge ? Everbridge is an internet-based communication system maintained by Utah County. It was originally designed to issue emergency alerts. It now provides that and more, and is used by cities countywide to inform their residents on everything from traffic alerts to community events. Once Woodland Hills has signed on for announcements from Everbridge, it will allow residents to go in and select exactly which kinds of city information they want to receive. They can opt to get their information via email, text or both. * Why replace email communication with Everbridge ? There are several reasons. To begin with, email communication has inherent problems. Constantly updating email lists and sending messages costs the city time and money. What's more, to control spamming our email provider puts a daily limit on the quantity of messages we can send. With the number of recipients we have, we can reach that limit fairly quickly. At that point the emails automatically stop sending without specific notification. When that happens we have no way to know who has been messaged and who has not. For this and a variety of other reasons, emails inevitably fail to reach all of our residents. Another problem is that not everyone wants the same level of information. Some residents want to know about everything. Others get annoyed when their mailboxes are overloaded. Everbridge solves this problem by allowing residents to customize what they receive themselves, rather than relying on city employees to try to manage everyone's information stream. * Is Everbridge the same system some residents are already using to get emergency alerts? Yes. Everbridge offers multiple sign-up options to participating communities. Some time ago, we signed up to receive emergency alerts only. This time we are signing up for a full range of announcements, with residents individually managing what announcements they receive. * Will this change cost the city more money? No. We have been paying a nominal fee for emergency alerts for some time now. The new sign-up option comes at no additional cost. In reality, it will save us money. Not only will communication be more efficient, but the city recorder will no longer have to spend time and resources sending emails, maintaining and updating lists, or fielding calls from residents who have failed to receive the information they need. * How and when will the city make the transition? The city will phase our new Everbridge option in gradually. The plan is to begin posting city information there on February 20. But to give residents time to sign up, throughout the months of February and March the city will continue to deliver announcements via email too. Then on March 31 we will discontinue emails and move exclusively to Everbridge. However, even after emails are discontinued, city information will still appear on our website and Facebook page. * How do I sign up for Everbridge ? Sign-up is simple. Just paste this into your browser to go to the website: alerts.utahcounty.gov Once you're there, click Sign Up, then follow the prompts to set up your account, select the info you want and choose how you want to get it (email, text or both). And just a heads up: If you have signed up within the last 30 days, the categories have changed. Some categories you originally signed up for may have been eliminated. So be sure to go back in and double-check your account, or you may not receive all the announcements you would like. * If you'd like, you can click on the following link for a two-minute video that will step you through the sign-up process: https://youtu.be/Bwpex-aaMAg This report and accompanying video were authored by Glenn Anderson for the Woodland Hills Transparency Committee. Music for the video was provided by Bensound. ---------------------- Jody Stones City Recorder City of Woodland Hills 801-423-3900 office 385-448-7838 cell recorder@woodlandhills-ut.gov