Calling system protects city
By Joann Groff joann@theacorn.com

Calabasas' emergency preparedness plan has been expanded to include a calling system that will notify residents with important messages. City officials say they want to be sure that Calabasas residents get the information they need if disaster strikes.

Using ConnectCTY, a citytoresident communications service recently put into place, Calabasas administrators can send personalized voice messages to residents in targeted areas within minutes. The system serves as an emergency preparedness tool but can also be used to convey important information or local surveys.

Authorized civic officials can record a voice message to be disseminated to thousands of numbers immediately.

"It's a way that the city can use to communicate with the residents of the city and in a very short time and in a very easy-to-do fashion," said City Manager Tony Coroalles. "It's extremely powerful."

According to the city, any message important to the safety or welfare of the community will be transmitted through the Connect-CTY service, a service of Sherman Oaks-based NTI Group.

Chad Castruita, a representative from NTI, was on hand at the council meeting to explain the system. NTI has 17,000 client sites in 44 states using ConnectCTY. Most clients are school districts, cities, counties, military based or highereducation institutions, Castruita said.

The call-in information line, (818) 8784225, will still be available, and the city's television station and website will continue to transmit important messages.

Castruita said the system is equipped to deliver up to 2 million messages in under an hour.

"With the size of Calabasas, you could evacuate the good majority of your constituents, and everyone could be reached in a 15minute time period," Castruita said. "You can quickly reach them for road closures, public service announcements, evacuations, water line breaks, power outages."

In a news release, city officials said they hope every residence and commercial facility will be included in the notification database. Businesses are stored under one main number. Residences may have numerous numbers listed. Residents are encouraged to add a secondary number, a land line or cellphone, to the registry.

When a call comes through the Connect-CTY system, caller-ID will display the city's phone number, (818) 8784225. Every message will begin with the following introduction: "Hello, this is (name) calling with an important message from the city of Calabasas."

The system will ring back several times if there's no answer or a busy signal. If a message recorder picks up, a message will be left.

Connect-CTY, a service of the NTI Group, assured clients that it does not sell, trade or loan any data to third parties. According to NTI, confidential information is never transmitted between the company and its customers and the data is hosted in facilities that require photo identification, thumbprint recognition and keyed access and are manned by security 24/7.

Residents will receive a mailer about the new program.

Visit www.nticonnectcty.com for more information or www.cityofcalabasas .com to edit or add additional information.