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    Sunday, November 10, 2024

    Stonington expands communication with residents through smart phone app

    Stonington — The town has begun using technology to make community information readily available to residents when they need it.

    In August, the town quietly rolled out a smart phone application intended to bridge the information gap between the town website, social media and the emergency reverse-911 system.

    The app, with about 1,000 active users, allows the town to send push notifications directly to users’ smart phones and contains a pared-down version of the town website with features such as a municipal meeting calendar, links to town departments, resources, social media pages and a map.

    Emergency Management Director and Stonington Police Capt. Bryan Schneider said he initially began exploring the concept as a way to disseminate important information that did not warrant the use of Everbridge, the town’s mass-notification, reverse-911 system.

    As an example, he pointed to hurricane preparations that had been underway in Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton, noting that the application can be used to share road closures, detours, emergency shelter information, weather alerts and other essential information, rather than overburdening Everbridge.

    He said the public may tend to become desensitized to Everbridge alerts or may disenroll from the system if the notifications start coming in too frequently, making it harder to disseminate essential emergency information.

    Schneider said that when he took the idea to the town, it was very well received, and department heads began to see the broader potential.

    Ultimately, the $14,000 cost to purchase, install and maintain the application for the first year was split between town department budgets. Each additional year of maintenance will cost $4,000.

    “There seemed to be a bigger interest than I expected, beyond emergency management,” Schneider said.

    The application can be used by the solid waste department to notify people of changes to trash pickup, he said. Public works can notify people of road closures or construction that will increase their travel time, or the First Selectman’s office can use it to notify people of upcoming town meetings or public hearings.

    Schneider said the application is a work in progress, and as users provide feedback, the content can be adapted to suit the community needs.

    Eventually, the town would also like to incorporate a back channel for employees for communication, information regarding benefits, town policies and even the onboarding process for new employees.

    “That’s an option in the future that we can use it for, so that’s another interesting portion of how to use the app,” he said.

    The Town of Stonington app is available to download for free on Apple devices in the App Store and can be found on Android devices at Google Play by searching “Town of Stonington, CT.”

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