ALERTS & NOTIFY ME For local governments
Text and email alerts for local governments.
Alerts & Notify Me lets residents choose the topics they care about and get a text or email when something happens. Your staff write a road closure or water notice once, and it goes out by email, by text and as a banner on every page of your community's website. Posting an agenda can send a notice on its own.
- Every tool included
- WCAG 2.1 AA
- Works with BS&A
How do residents hear about a closure or water notice today?
Usually by accident. A notice goes on the website, maybe on social media, and residents learn about it when they hit the barricade or turn on the tap.
What residents run into
- People only find out about a boil water notice if they happen to check the website or the right social media page.
- Residents who care about one topic, like trash pickup, get nothing, or get everything.
- Agendas go up without anyone who follows that board knowing.
What your staff deal with
- Your staff post the same message on the website, then social media, then an email list, one at a time.
- The office phone rings all morning with questions the notice already answered.
- Keeping a separate email list up to date by hand is a job nobody has time for.
How does sending an alert work?
Residents choose what they hear about. Your staff write each message once.
Residents subscribe by topic
From the website, residents sign up for the topics they want, like road work, water, trash or a specific board, by email, text or both.
Your staff write the alert once
Pick the topic, write a short message and choose how it goes out.
It goes out everywhere at once
Subscribers get the email and text, and an urgent alert can also run as a banner across every page of the website.
Agendas notify followers on their own
When a board's agenda is posted, residents subscribed to that board get a notice without anyone sending it.
What does Alerts & Notify Me include?
One message, in front of the residents who asked for it.
Email and text subscriptions by topic
Residents pick topics instead of getting every message, so a road crew update doesn't go to someone who only follows the library board. They manage their own subscriptions.
Site-wide emergency banner
For urgent notices, a banner appears at the top of every page of the website, so anyone who lands there sees it whatever page they came in on.
Automatic notices when an agenda is posted
Posting a meeting in Agendas & Minutes can notify residents who follow that board, which keeps people informed without adding a step for your staff.
Built accessible
Alerts and banners built for every resident
An emergency banner has to be readable by everyone, including people using screen readers and keyboard navigation. The banner and the sign-up pages are built to meet WCAG 2.1 AA, the standard in the ADA Title II rule, with clear labels, enough color contrast and no content that flashes. Read more about our approach on the accessibility page.
Questions about Alerts & Notify Me.
Short answers, linked to the law where it applies. Ask us anything else on a demo.
Do residents have to sign up to get text alerts?
Yes. Residents subscribe to the topics they want, by email, text or both, from your community's website. Nobody is added to a list without signing up, and residents can change their topics or unsubscribe on their own, which saves your staff from managing a list by hand.
Is this the same as a Wireless Emergency Alert?
No. Wireless Emergency Alerts go to every phone in an area through FEMA's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, and only authorized alerting authorities can send them (FEMA IPAWS (opens in a new tab)). Alerts & Notify Me is for residents who chose to hear from you about everyday notices.
Can an alert go out when an agenda is posted?
Yes. When your staff post a meeting in Agendas & Minutes, residents who follow that board can get a notice on their own. It's an easy way to let interested residents know about a meeting without sending a separate message.
When should we use the emergency banner?
Save it for notices everyone visiting the website should see right away, like a boil water notice, a major road closure or an office closing for weather. A banner on every page loses its effect if it's always on, so routine news belongs in News & Notices instead.
Do we still need to post the notice on the website?
The same message can go out by email and text and appear as a banner on the website in one step. For notices that need to stay posted for a while, like a hearing, also post it in News & Notices with an expiry date, so it stays findable after the alert goes out.
Want to send a closure notice once instead of four times?
On a demo we'll send a sample alert by text and email and show the banner going up across the website.