City Makes Changes to CodeRED Contract

A change to the CodeRED weather warning service agreement will save the city of Washington about $5,000 per year, Lisa Hotsenpiller, director of communications told city council Monday night.

The plan, through Emergency Communications Network, Inc., originally had unlimited messaging. Only about 500 administrative minutes were used last year, Hotsenpiller said.

The plan was dropped to 37,500 minutes per year.

Any emergency notifications, such as weather or street information, does not use minutes, she said.

With the change, pricing changed from $17,500 per year to $12,500 per year, for a total of $37,500 for the three-year contract. The weather warning package will remain at $6,250 per year.

Only citizens who opt-in to the CodeRED Weather Warning system will be eligible to receive weather warning calls.

Anyone who would like to opt in can visit ci.washington.mo.us, scroll to the “CodeRED” logo, which will link them to the site to register.

One of the new system features is that there also will be winter weather alerts, Hotsenpiller said. Anyone who is already enrolled for weather warnings can receive winter weather alerts, but will need to sign up again.

An ordinance authorizing and directing the execution of a service agreement by and between the city of Washington and Emergency Communication Network, Inc. was passed unanimously.