Item 8E v
STAFF REPORT
City of Atlantic Beach
Commission Meeting
AGENDA ITEM: Code Red Emergency Notification System
DATE: October 31, 2006
SUBMITTED BY: David E. Thompson, Chief of Police/DPS
BACKGROUND:
AGENDA ITEM # 8E
NOVEMBER 13, 2006
In the event of an emergency, one of the most critical components in an effective
response is the City's ability to communicate quickly with its citizens. This is important
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in addressing public safety issues including missing/abducted children, weather
emergencies, evacuations, serious crimes, gas leaks, emergency water notices, and
similar incidents. When these events occur, the ability to communicate quickly and
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effectively helps to protect Lives and property in Atlantic Beach.
Currently, this communication is very limited. The City's primary mechanism to reach
large segments of the population is through the local news media. Although the various
news organizations provide invaluable services in keeping people informed, there is a
,,,, delay in the time between the event and the reporting of the event. Additionally, many
people do not read newspapers, or watch the local news, or listen to local- radio stations,
or check the news on the Internet. As a result, the established mass communications
~„ with the public may not be as effective and timely as necessary in the event of an
emergency.
~,, Most Atlantic Beach residents/families have telephones or similar devices to accept calls
and messages. If the City could communicate through the telephone systems, then the
City would be able to reach large numbers of people very quickly.
The Code Red Emergency Communications Network will allow the City to target a
specific area of the community, and provide a voice message to all of the telephones
~,. registered in that geographic area. Cellular telephones and pagers can also be included in
the database for communication. This system is capable of sending out approximately
60,000 calls per hour. With Code Red, the City of Atlantic Beach will be able to send
telephone messages to citizens throughout the city, or to specific areas within the city
within a matter of minutes.
~. Code Red is essentially a service provider. To utilize their services does not require the
purchase of capital equipment. Once access to the system is secured, the City of Atlantic
Beach will have the ability to:
1. Define the calling list using the Code Red internet mapping tool;
2. Record the message; and
AGENDA ITEM # 8E
NOVMEBER 13, 2006
3. Launch the calls.
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The website for this company is www.coderedweb.com.
The cost for these services is based on the population size of the community. For „~
Atlantic Beach to acquire these annual services, the cost will be $7,500.
BUDGET: This expense was not included in the 2006-07 budget. However, with .,~
Commission approval, the expense will be charged to the existing Public Safety budget.
RECOMMENDATIONS: I recommend that the City of Atlantic Beach contract with ,~,
Code Red to provide emergency communications in the event of an emergency.
ATTACHMENTS: Quote from Code Red for Services
REVIEWED BY CITY MANAG R:
A NDA ITEM NUMBER:
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Emergency
Communications
Network
AGENDA ITEM # 8E
NOVMEBER 13, 2006
David E. Thompson, Chief
'~" City of Atlantic Beach
850 Seminole Road
Atlantic Beach, Fl 32233
Dear David:
~, Thank you again for your time to talk about the CodeRED® Outbound 911 Emergency
Messaging System. As you could see we are very proud to be able to offer state of the art
technology coupled with thousands of digital telephone lines for emergency message delivery at
the rate of over 60,000 calls per hour.
I am pleased to offer the City of Atlantic Beach not only complete access to your own secure
CodeRED® website but also our most current residential database at NO COST for the initial
'~"' load. Complete maintenance of your website as well as the most recent version of the CodeRED
software database update are also provided to you at NO COST. With CodeRED® there is NO
capital expenditure or maintenance cost for equipment or telephone lines. No additional
~.. personnel cost or fixed point for operating the system. You can access your secure website from
any Internet connection around the world with your secure pass codes.
CodeRED® has been developed over the last seven years and with hundreds of hours of
consultation with Emergency Managers, Police Chiefs, Fire Chiefs and others from all over the
United States and some foreign countries. The entire thrust of this effort has been to help people,
like yourself, fulfill your responsibility to help save and protect lives and property.
I think you can see there is NO Emergency Message System on the market that can compare with
the flexible, technology, security, speed or price of the CodeRED® system. I look forward to
~„ working with you and your Emergency Management team in implementing your own
CodeRED® system.
Respectfully,
David C. DiGiacomo
~" Vice President of Operations
Emergency Communications Network, Inc.
9 Sunshine Boulevard
,~, Ormond Beach, FL 32174
888-848-6337 x 166
Emergency Communications Network, Inc. • 9 Sunshine Blvd • Ormond Bch, FL 32174
PH: 386-676-0294 ~ FAX: 3&6-676-1127 • www.CodeREDweb.com
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Emeirg®ncy
Communications
Network
Brief History
Emergency Communications Network, Inc.
ECN specializes in providing high-speed emergency communication services to Governmental
agencies, Business and private individuals through its two flagship services: CodeRED® and
ThunderCallTM.
AGENDA ITEM # 8E
NOVEMBER 13, 2006
The CodeRED Emergency Telephone Notification System is an extremely high-speed telephone
communication service available for emergency notifications. CodeRED employs aone-of-a-kind
Internet mapping capability for geographic tazgeting of calls, coupled with a high speed telephone
calling system capable of delivering customized pre-recorded emergency messages directly to ~""
homes and businesses at the rate of up to 60, 000 calls per hour. CodeRED subscribers control
their emergency broadcasts from anywhere in the world via a secure Internet Portal.
ThunderCall is an early warning system designed to deliver severe weather warnings to +•
subscriber's telephones within seconds after warning bulletins are issued by the National Weather
Service. ThunderCall subscribers receive recorded message alerts anytime severe weather
threatens their local azea...24 hours a day, 365 days per year. i
Emergency Communications Network, Inc. (ECN) servers have been providing high-speed
messaging since 1996. It wasn't until the terrible fires that burned ferociously across Florida in
1998 that the true power of this system was fully recognized nationwide. Since then ECN has
been growing it's networks and client base across the nation state-by-state. Most of ECN's new
clients come from direct referrals by current CodeRED system clients.
The hurricane season of 2004 proved once again that CodeRED's high-speed telephone network
is a powerful and reliable tool for notifying residents of critical emergency information. Even
under the most stressful circumstances CodeRED was successfully used by numerous cities,
counties, and municipalities to inform, educate and protect Florida's residents during the
devastating hurricane season of 2004. CodeRED's high-speed telephone network was used to
place nearly 6,000,000 storm related emergency calls to residents across Florida. And for these
communities, having systems in place in the midst of a dangerous, volatile, and large-scale
emergency was not aluxury - it was a vital necessity.
October 2005 ECN continues to prove they are the leaders in high-speed telephone notification.
Fast moving Hurricane Wilma stretched her long bands across Florida affecting millions of
households. Once again CodeRED proved to be a valuable means for local government to deliver
a wide variety of critical pre and post-storm messages to the masses. An amazing 7,000,000+
emergency calls were launched through the CodeRED system for Hurricane Wilma related
incidents. This unprecedented massive call volume proves once again that CodeRED is truly the
leader mass telephone notification.
ECN provides CodeRED as the backbone for a national missing children program and serves
numerous emergency management offices, emergency councils, police departments, sheriff's
offices, and schools across the United States.
Emergency Communications Network, Inc. • 9 Sunshine Blvd • Ormond Bch, FL 32174 2
PH: 386-676-0294 • FAX: 386-676-1127 • www.CodeREDweb.com
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Emergency
Communications
Network
UH 11 CM ii 2Sh
M13ER 13, 2006
Highlights
Introduction -Emergency Communication Network, Inc. (ECN) is proud to offer
CodeRED, a state of the art Emergency Telephone Messaging System, to the City of
Atlantic Beach.
The CodeRED Emergency Telephone Messaging System is a service providing clients
'"' with the ability to deliver customized, pre-recorded in your voice, emergency messages at
a rate of up to 60,000 calls ner hour.
What makes CodeRED Unique?
• There is no CodeRED specific hardware to buy, no dedicated telephone lines to
lease, no maintenance costs, no need for additional personnel. The only cost for
the service is for the actual calling minutes used. Calling minutes are pre-
purchased, with discounts for larger quantities purchased.
• Authorized clients have access to the system 24 hours aday - 365 days a year
from virtually anywhere in the world via their secure CodeRED Internet portal.
• Calling populations can be selected via a geo-coded map interface and/or from
pre-determined calling lists.
• CodeRED uses patented Rea1Ca11'T' technology to ensure emergency messages are
delivered IN FULL. (Reference U.S. Patent No. 6,324,262 Bl)
• CodeRED attempts to deliver your custom message to each phone number up to
three times to ensure high delivery rates.
• Call statistics are provided in real time and allows you to view the results for
every call record.
• Multiple layers of redundancy for CodeRED system access and secure robust
dialing locations in multiple states.
• 24/7/365 Technical Support
• Previous FEMA reimbursement for CodeRED use by eligible entities.
* All references to call rate in this proposal are based upon a 30-second message. Messages of a
shorter duration will increase call rate and subsequently, longer messages may decrease the call rate.
Emergency Communications Network, Inc. • 9 Sunshine Blvd • Ormond Bch, FL 32174 3
PH: 386-676-0294 • FAX: 386-676-1127 • www.CodeltEDweb.com
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Emergency
Communications
Network
Cost Proposal
(Pricing good for 90 days [rom 11!1106)
There aze no set-up fees, no dedicated telephone lines to lease, and no special equipment or
facilities to buy and maintain. The only item the City of Atlantic Beach would be responsible
for providing, at any location requiring access to the CodeRED system, is a computer to access
the CodeRED on-line application and atouch-tone phone capable of dialing atoll-free number.
The computer can be any existing computer with Internet access, running Internet Explorer 5.0 or
higher. After the CodeRED Service Agreement is signed the setup process usually takes 30 days
or less.
*All of the costs associated with running the CodeRED service are calculated into the minutes
used to deliver calls (billed in six-second increments). System minutes are only deducted from the
Prepaid System Minute bank per delivered calls. Minutes must be pre-purchased at the rates
identified below:
The cost for a one (1) year contract with renewals would be as follows:
18,750-system minute package over aone-year period:
*Calls will be billed in 6-second increments. Atypical call equals a 30-second message.
EM # 8E
13, 2006
• CodeRED system Setup =Included
• Initial ECN in-house residential database upload =Included
• Up to 5 CodeRED user pass codes =Included "•
• Additional user pass codes = $150 per pass code/per year
• 500 Testing and Training Minutes = NO CHARGE
• Initial CodeRED system distance training = NO CHARGE '"'
• Design and web hosting Residential Database Update Page = NO CHARGE
• 24/7 Technical Support =Included
One year City of Atlantic Beach discounted total = $7,500
Annual contract renewal option offer at = $7,500/year
Renewals will be offered during the current service period. The CodeRED System Minutes will
be replenished to the original system minute balance every year at the time of the renewal.
If the minutes available are exhausted during a project, the project will continue to completion
and the minutes will automatically be replenished at the same quantity and rate of the original
purchase.
'Thank you for the opportunity to submit this proposal outlining ways we can help you improve
your emergency notification system. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me 888-
848-6337 x 166.
Thank you,
David DiGiacomo
Vice President of Operation
Emergency Communicafions Network, Inc. • 9 Sunshine Blvd ~ .Ormond Bch, FL 32174 4
PH: 386-676-0294 • FAX: 386-676-1127 • www.CodeREDweb.com
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