Heads Up March 11, 2022

City launches new emergency alert system; does not require prior opt-in by community members

I am pleased to share with you that the City of Boulder now has a new emergency alert capability that will allow our police and fire departments to send Integrated Public Alert Warnings, including Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), to the public. These messages will light up all enabled cell phones in a specific geographic area with sounds and text, similar to Amber Alerts and National Weather Service emergency notices, without requiring users to opt-in or subscribe to the service in advance.

These alerts will significantly enhance the city’s ability to alert the public to emergency situations and hazards. When possible, these alerts will include direction from emergency responders on what steps to take.

Until now, Boulder’s alert and warning capability was limited to landlines and to any cell phones that had been registered in advance in a mass notification system called Everbridge. The phone owner had to specifically opt-in and request alerts by a specific address or addresses. While the city still strongly encourages individuals do this for the most targeted emergency messaging, the use of WEA will allow officials to reach out-of-town visitors, unhoused individuals, and people outside of their opt-in addresses during a life-threatening emergency.

I am delighted that we are among the first local governments in Boulder County to be taking this equity step.

The city-county Office of Disaster Management holds the administrative responsibility for the WEA service, which can be activated by individual jurisdictions that are part of sender groups. In Boulder, the sender group is led by the 911 Communications manager with input from Public Safety PIOs and other communications staff.

A newly developed city policy spells out the use cases and requires specific training through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Everbridge. The group is also expected to participate in monthly trainings and practice scenarios.

It is important to know that the length and level of detail in a WEA message will depend on what type of cell phone a user has. Some older phone models will receive shorter, potentially truncated messages of 90 characters; others can receive up to 360 characters. Emergency alerts will be written with this limitation in mind, putting the most urgent information at the beginning. Many phones will also have the capability to receive messages in both English and Spanish. ODM and city dispatch are working to develop a bi-lingual protocol soon.

City Communications plans to push out a press release early next week to inform our community about this new service.

For more information, please contact 911 Communications Manager Brad Riggin at rigginb@bouldercolorado.gov, or ODM Director Mike Chard at chardm@bouldercounty.org.

Update on hybrid meetings, work and city building reopening

Since March 2020, the City of Boulder has been responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. To keep our elected officials, employees and community safe, most public meetings and many city services have been virtual. For the last two years, we’ve had a mix of approaches to serving the community. Many city employees continued to serve in person amid evolving protocols designed to keep them and others as safe as possible. Others shifted entirely to working from home.

With the ever-changing status of the pandemic, it has been difficult to know when to fully resume in-person operations and services. Current CDC guidance suggests that the pandemic is easing, which means it is time to make that shift.

On April 19, City Council will move to in-person meetings with virtual public participation and attendance. The plan is to shift to a fully hybrid model, meaning the community will be invited to attend and participate in council meetings either in-person or virtually, on May 17. As a reminder, we will remain in a virtual mode for all study sessions.

City staff are still evaluating the impact for board and commission meetings. Hybrid meetings for all these different entities will require significant resources, at least as this new level of service gets up and running. We anticipate being able to provide more definitive guidance and seek your direction about hybrid options for board and commission meetings, including which meetings should be prioritized and a proposed timeline for doing so, in mid-May. In the meantime, we are asking all boards and commissions to remain virtual.

On May 4, most city buildings will re-open to the public, and many services that have been virtual since the pandemic began will be restored to in person. Last September, the city developed a hybrid approach to work, meaning employees whose jobs allow will work partly from home and partly from the office. Hybrid work for employees will begin with a soft launch in April to give staff time to learn about hybrid technology, figure out new routines and make adjustments prior to the May 4 public opening.

You may notice in the policy that we will be requiring hybrid employees to serve the community in city offices at least two days a week. We are excited to be able to continue to provide some flexibility for employees who can work from home. We know this is a benefit that will likely help us retain many talented individuals, and we have demonstrated that for many positions, we can serve the community well from a remote location. This flexibility has also allowed us to re-think our office stock and relinquish some leased spaces, saving money.

At the same time, in-person connection with our teams, colleagues and community members is an essential aspect of our culture, and one that has been lacking these past two years. As a public service organization, our work is inherently connected to the place we serve: the city of Boulder. Serving in our community, and being in person with our customers, community members, businesses and visitors, is the reason we exist as an organization, and I believe we need to be physically present in the city to be truly connected to Boulder.

This will be a learning experience for all of us, and there will be opportunities along the way to test, learn and adjust our approach to hybrid work. I anticipate the need to revisit our plans and policies along the way, and I look forward to this innovative time.

While COVID-19 is still present in our community, case rates are declining significantly. COVID-19 vaccines are widely available and incredibly effective at preventing serious illness and death and our employee vaccine policy has been implemented. As always, community and employee safety is our top concern. We will be keeping a close eye on the pandemic and will respond accordingly if its trajectory changes.

As we prepare for this exciting transition, I encourage you to recognize that we have many employees who have continued to work in person over the course of this health crisis. I am especially grateful to them. For those who have worked from home, they have forged a new path that will continue to be a part of our future. Collectively, our workforce has shown up time and time again for the Boulder community – pivoting to provide top-notch service and never wavering in their support of our community.

I invite you to join me in celebrating this new way of working and ask that you join us in showing grace and appreciation as our employees once again adapt to our changing world.

If you have questions about the launch of hybrid work, please contact Deputy City Manager Chris Meschuk at meschukc@bouldercolorado.gov.

Regards,
Nuria