Matawan Approves Reverse 911 System

The Matawan Borough Council approved a resolution to enter a one year contract with Swiftreach for a reverse 911 system at their regular action meeting Aug. 2. 

A reverse 911 system allows emergency personnel and government officials to alert residents about possible dangers through telephone calls and email notifications. Alerts can be sent out for road closures, severe weather, power outages, child abductions, crime warnings or for any other reason officials see fit.

The contract with Swiftreach for Swift911 Emergency Notification costs $3,995, which will be taken from the borough's Office of Emergency Management's line item budget of $7,000.

The contract allows the borough unlimited telephone and email notifications during the year.

Matawan Sgt. Thomas Falco, the coordinator of the Office of Emergency Management, on reverse 911 systems at the Council's July 14 meeting.

"The alert system is designed to enable local government officials to record, send and track personalized voice, email, text and social media messages. It allows Matawan government officials, police, fire and the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), through OEM, to get messages out," said Sgt. Falco during his presentation.

At the July 14 meeting, Sgt. Falco recommended that the Council select Code Red as their provider.

The contract with Code Read would have cost $5,960 per year with a three year license. The borough would have 12,500 minutes of service. According to Sgt. Falco, that would allow the borough to handle five to six emergencies a year. The unlimited plan for non-emergencies through Code Red was priced at $6,200 per year with a three year license. The same amount of minutes were available, but any emergency alerts would be credited back.

At the time of the July 14 presentation by Sgt. Falco, this was the best offer with the most available minutes, Matawan Mayor Paul Buccellato explained at the Aug. 2 meeting.

However, after word spread that Matawan was interested in aquiring a reverse 911 system, Swiftreach countered with a contract that costs the borough about $2,000 less and provides unlimited alerts.

According to Mayor Buccellato, Sgt. Falco said both Code Red and Swiftreach are equally reliable.

"He checked with several townships [who use Swiftreach] and they were all raving about it," Mayor Buccellato said.