Government
BY MELISSA ENJAE & NICHAELA SHAHEEN
Stop Overpaying on Property Taxes City officials said the current system—described as difficult to use and limited in how much infor- mation it can share—has led to confusion when alerts go out with too little context. Police Chief Kyle Montgomery told council the existing platform requires staff to manually rewrite and post separate messages for email, text and phone notifications, as well as social media, and limits messages to 200 characters. He said the new software will allow staff to write a longer message once and push it out across multiple channels at the same time. Magnolia upgrading emergency messaging Residents in Magnolia could soon see more detailed, targeted emergency alerts after City Council approved a new mass notification system aimed at improving how the city communicates. What we know
Pct. 4 to create mental health dashboard Harris County Precinct 4 has partnered with researchers from the University of Houston to create an interactive dashboard of mental health providers in ZIP codes with limited resources. The agreement between local researchers and policymakers aims to help residents in underserved portions of Katy, Cy-Fair, Tomball and the Memorial area connect with licensed providers, which could serve as a blueprint for addressing mental health needs countywide. More to come Policy advisor Larisa Barreto said the interactive dashboard of service providers will be made public by June. She said Pre- cinct 4 plans to continue holding workshops to teach residents how to use the tool.
New emergency messaging system
$6,995 first-year cost; $20,995 five-year total
No character limits for messages
"Geo-fence" capabilities, allowing for targeted notifications to specific areas
Set up in April , going live after 1-2 weeks of internal configuration
SOURCE: CITY OF MAGNOLIA/COMMUNITY IMPACT
A closer look In addition to longer alerts, the new platform will allow the city to “geo-fence” messages, mean- ing officials can target notifications to a specific area, such as a defined radius around a gas leak or other localized emergency, Montgomery said. Montgomery said the new software costs about $800 more per year than the current system, but the added capabilities would provide a better return when emergencies happen.
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Sources: https://www.ownwell.com/trends/texas, internal Ownwell data.
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TOMBALL - MAGNOLIA EDITION
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