By Matt Kelly

N.B. rapid alert system causes confusion with unintended recipients

Jul 19, 2016 | 7:00 PM

North Battleford’s alert messaging system extended outside of the city earlier in July, causing concern for those who weren’t supposed to get the messages.

When the drinking water advisory was issued in North Battleford on July 6, messages were sent out to the phone numbers listed in the city’s Rapid Alert System database. However this included 86 numbers in Battleford and the surrounding areas which were people unaffected by the advisory and who weren’t supposed to get the alert.

At Battleford Town Council on Monday, July 18 it was brought to attention Town Hall and other town departments received calls from concerned residents asking about the water advisory they weren’t affected by.

Director of protective services for North Battleford Albert Headrick said two tests had been done on the Rapid Alert System before and after Christmas. During these tests, Headrick said there weren’t any complaints about the alerts going outside of North Battleford.

“When you do a test and nothing comes back stating that there’s an issue, you assume everything is functional. That being said thank goodness it was a water advisory and not a severe emergency where these calls went out beyond our boundary,” Headrick said.

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The City and Headrick began work with Everbridge, the company contracted to maintain and upload the numbers, after complaints about the Battleford residents receiving the calls.

Headrick was told Everbridge updates the addresses in the Rapid Alert system in the New Year using the White Pages, Yellow Pages and manual signups which is how Everbridge believe those numbers were included in the system. All 86 numbers outside North Battleford who received the water advisory alert have now been removed from the North Battleford system using a geographic information system.

According to Headrick, the city has also switched to a human voice instead of an automated voice, so they are able to have more options when voicemails are left.

“Now when we send it out just to be on the safe side, because if I was over there (in Battleford) I’d probably be concerned as well, saying that ‘this is for the city of North Battleford residents and businesses’. So that gives you an update that it’s not reflected within the town itself,” Headrick explained.

Headrick added apologies go out to the residents of Battleford who were affected and he thanked them for their cooperation.

Matt Kelly is battlefordsNOW’s town municipal affairs and community reporter. He can be reached at mkelly@jpbg.ca.