Oakland County emergency notice agreement

By Dana Casasdei

In a 6-1 vote, the Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees approved the motion to enter into an interlocal agreement with Oakland County to have limited access to their emergency notification system which will send out emergency notices to those within the township.

The township currently uses a fee-based system called Code Red to notify residents of any hazardous situations. Code Red has proven to be difficult to navigate and not always dependable when it comes to implementation, according to officials.

Developed by Oakland County, the emergency notification system grants permissions for local municipalities to issue emergency notifications to the public quickly and effectively. 

“This would be a great, new opportunity and would reduce our cost,” said trustee Valerie Murray. 

This program will be free for Bloomfield Township to send emergency notifications and is part of a five-year contract between the township and Oakland County. If Bloomfield Township decides down the line they wish to expand to full access of the program, that request would once again have to gain approval from the board of trustees and would come at a cost for the township.

Originally part of the evening’s consent agenda – where the board makes one motion without discussion on grouped agenda items that are considered routine and non-controversial – trustee Mark Antakli asked for it to be taken out and brought to the board for discussion. 

Antakli asked about how long township data would be retained in the system, and if it would be retained in a third party system as well. He also wanted to know what exactly that type of data would be collected.

Supervisor Mike McCready did not have answers to his question at the ready during the meeting, which led to Antakli voting against the measure. Police Chief James Gallagher, who also could have addressed Antakli’s concerns, was not in attendance during this agenda item. 

Despite Antakli’s no vote, the motion still passed 6-1.