By Kristyne E. Demske
C & G Staff Writer

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — Bounding into the 21st century, the township will not only be sending out alerts via traditional media, they will also notify residents via texts and e-mail, if they want.

Residents don’t always follow local news on television or in newspapers anymore, said Chris Ronse, a network engineer with Netarx. Netarx recently acquired Analysts International, Shelby’s IT provider. He said residents were missing out on information about situations like boil-water alerts, Amber Alerts and snow emergencies because they weren’t tuned in to traditional media.

Supervisor Richard Stathakis said he asked Ronse to look into it after a July boil-water alert.

“I got a few calls of people wanting to have more information quicker,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a fine program for our citizens.”

Ronse said they looked at several options, but those that included Shelby Township hosting and sending out the alerts were troublesome because the system would fail if the township was without power. Instead, they found a Web-based service, Nixle, which sends out alerts to those who register free to government agencies.

“They subsidize their service through their … commercial side,” he said. “They’re doing this as a free service to government and a lot of communities are starting to get on it. All the information is totally 100 percent secure on their servers.”

Ronse said the company also pledges not to sell residents’ information.

To sign up for text message or e-mail alerts, residents just need to click on a button on the bottom left-hand side of www.shelbytwp.org. It will go to Nixle’s Shelby Township page, and it’s there that residents sign up for what type of alerts they wish to receive.

The service is completely voluntary, and anyone who does not wish to receive text or e-mail messages needn’t sign up.

Ronse said the only hang-up is that when residents enter their address, they must write Utica instead of Shelby Township because many online mapping tools do not recognize townships. But he said they will be able to send out alerts as specifically or broadly as they wish.

“We can do location-based alerts,” he said. “From a direct location to a 20-mile radius. Or we can send out a full community broadcast, too.”

The partnership is in the “very early stages,” according to Ronse, and they’re still investigating how else Shelby Township can take advantage of the tool.

“Right now, it’s going to be the big things. We’re working with the Police Department to see if they want to come on board,” he said.

“It’s just something that I think will improve our community readiness to respond,” Stathakis said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kristyne E. Demske at kdemske@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1041.