CodeRED returns to Middlebury

#Middlebury #CodeRED

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

CodeRED has returned to Middlebury, and Assessor Chris Kelsey, who heads up the town’s newly formed Public Notification Committee, is asking residents to share their contact information so the town can notify them when necessary. Residents can receive notifications via telephone, text message or email, and messages are shared on social media. Residents also can install the CodeRED app on their smart phones.

To enroll, go to the town’s website, Middlebury-ct.org, and click on the “Community” tab. Then click on the CodeRED logo. Please provide your phone number(s) and text and email information. The town was provided a database of some numbers for residents, but Kelsey said no one should assume their numbers are among those the town already has. Call Kelsey at 203-758-1447 for more information.

Those without computers can go by the assessor’s office or the Middlebury Public Library and get help registering for CodeRED.

First Selectman Edward B. St. John said, “I’m excited to be bringing back a system we once had so we can get out notices that aren’t emergency notices.” The town has been operating with Everbridge, a state program, but St. John and Kelsey both said Everbridge, which is limited to emergency notifications, isn’t as useful to the town as CodeRED will be. It allows the town to provide useful information in the event of road closures, fires, floods, drinking water emergencies and missing children.

Looking back at the many road closures caused by a storm several years ago, St. John said, “We ended up in a public relations nightmare.” That was because downed trees caused Burr Hall and Stonybrook Roads and Washington Drive to be closed, along with a stretch of Route 188 from roughly Benson Road to what is now the Wyndham Hotel, and the town had no way to notify residents because Everbridge didn’t consider the road closures an emergency.

Road closures due to paving also caused headaches for town officials this past summer when bad weather changed the paving schedule. For the initial notifications, Department of Public works head Dan Norton had to get addresses for affected residents and mail letters to them to let them know when their roads would be closed for paving. Then, when rain delayed the schedule, there was no easy way to let residents know of the change. With CodeRED, a simple call to affected residents will provide them with updated information.

Kelsey said CodeRED is a geographically based system. This means he can create what is called an “audience” of people to notify. He already has set up two audiences, one for those in a 1-mile radius from the Towantic Power Plant; another for those in a 2-mile radius from the Towantic Power plant.

Kelsey said this also means people with the CodeRED app on their cell phones get CodeRED notifications wherever they travel. If they are on vacation in Arizona in a CodeRED area, and a CodeRED notification for that area is sent out, it will come up on their phone.

This reporter went to the town website to sign up, choosing a “managed” account, which gives you the ability to go back in and modify your settings if necessary. You can choose to get emergency notifications only or both emergency and general notifications. You also will be notified of severe weather (unless you uncheck those options). We want to know if there is a tornado or flash flood warning, so we left the weather boxes checked.

Residents can add another phone and their email address. They also can add another location, so they can be notified both through their home and through their business.

The following CodeRED numbers will show up on your caller ID depending on the type of call: 866-419-5000 or Emergency Comm for emergency notifications, 855-969-4636 or ECN Community for general notifications and 800-566-9780 or Emergency Comm for CodeRED weather warning alerts. If you would like to hear the last message delivered to your phone, simply dial the number back.