Kane County Reporter

The Sugar Grove village board recently decided to continue a community emergency messaging system that was launched two years ago.

The program, Nixel, has been used as a community emergency response tool rather than a simple notification tool. The board talked about how they wanted to keep it as a more emergency alert but not be afraid to use it for less urgent communication as well. Other board members discussed cleaning up the format to ensure that those signed up for texts just get texts while those who want call alerts get those.

The board discussed it further and decide to re-enroll in the program because there was a fair amount of support and approval from community members. They planned to utilize it for events like inclement weather, water main breaks, house fires, or other major events that occur in the village. They discussed how they would fit it into the budget and passed it on for approval by the police and village attorney.

"So we're looking to cover the additional $2,900 for Nixel to continue on with the process," police chief Pat Rollins said. "Staff met on this and still sees this as a valuable item for us to get the communication back to the community and still with us to keep the program moving forward. And there's a couple of options that are available as us to split the cost."

The village board launched the system for the community in October of 2020. It has been splitting the cost with the fire department until this fall when the fire department decided to opt out, so the board had to discuss how to move forward with the program and how it could best benefit the community and be fiscally responsible.