Long Grove to get emergency message system

Long Grove residents will soon be getting notifications from the village on important things going on in town.

The board has signed with Connect-CTY to offer residents emergency communication services.

The village will pay $5,224 for a year of messages. The fee takes into account the 2,223 residences and businesses in town.

With the new system, the village has the ability to send messages via e-mail and to household and cell phones. Residents can sign up multiple numbers they'd like to be part of the program.

The board wanted a system that was modeled like the one local school districts use, which allows messages to also be sent to PDAs for residents who aren't home during the day.

"We've been talking about it for a long time, about how to improve communication," Long Grove Village President Maria Rodriguez said. "We see ourselves using it for a variety of communication needs."

In the past, the board has discussed using the system to inform residents of a rash of burglaries in town.

Rodriguez said there once was a crash on Old Route 53 where needles fell out of a truck.

"Any type of Hazmat, any kind of emergency, if there's someone in the area that sees an unusual incident," Rodriguez said. "The good thing is we can tailor this system to communicate with a small group."

Rodriguez said the system may also be used to spread informational messages, but only if the company can make a distinction between those and emergency messages.

Long Grove will have more information on uploading phone numbers after staff has gone through training with the system. Connect-CTY will initially gather household numbers from those listed.

Buffalo Grove has also signed with the same company. The necessity of a reverse 911 system was sparked after the village was put under a boil order in March.