SOUTHWICK — Because the town’s current resident notification service CodeRED remains “problematic” after a cyberattack late last year, Fire Chief Richard Stefanowicz is recommending the town switch to a different service.
“It’s been problematic,” said Stefanowicz when describing CodeRED’s software at the Select Board’s recent meeting.
“[CodeRED] was in the process of upgrading their platform, and, in the same time frame, they had a significant cyberattack that forced them to really pretty much close all the functions that they had and kind of come up with a quick solution. And unfortunately, the quick solution was not a good one,” he said.
Because of those ongoing issues, Stefanowicz said he began looking at other providers and settled on a company called GOGov.
“GOGov has a lot of wonderful features. And one of the biggest things is they do have simple notifications like [what] we utilize now, often referred to as reverse 911,” he said.
He said one of the more attractive features of the service is that it creates an app specific to the town or city where it’s being used.
“They create the app for you, [so] you don’t have to do anything, and they take it from there,” Stefanowicz said.
Notifications to residents can come through the app, but it can also be used for two-way communication.
“You can pay bills on it. You can track meetings, you can track the calendar in the town, and it interfaces with the [town’s] web pages. So, for both the town’s Fire Department, Police Department, and the websites. [It does] whatever you want to do … there’s even some social media stuff as well,” Stefanowicz said.
GOGov could be implemented within 30 days, he added.
However, there is one challenge, according to Stefanowicz. The contract with CodeRED automatically renewed in July.
“The attorneys are currently looking at the contract to see what the ramifications are of that, should we decide to move sooner than later. So, we still have to wait on that one,” he said.
After a question from Select Board member Russ Anderson about the difference in cost between GOGov and CodeRED, Stefanowicz said GOGov is initially a little more than the $4,800 annual cost, but after requesting a price comparable to the town’s current service, “it came in around the same price.”
Anderson and Select Board member Douglas Moglin asked about the data that CodeRED has collected from town residents since 2019, when it was initially rolled out.
“They don’t own it. It’s our list. But we would still need to get that list from them,” Stefanowicz said.
That prompted Select Board member Joseph Deedy to ask if residents’ data collected by GOGov would be secure.
Moglin told Deedy that it was a good question.
“[We need] to know they’re not going to rent or sell that data …they should have a duty to protect,” Moglin said.
Town resident and Finance Committee member David Methe also questioned who would own the data collected.
“They possess the data,” Stefanowicz said. “That’s why we want to get clarification on what that really means. What I think that means is they protect the data … but I will get that in writing from them.”
The board held off on a final decision until they find out what GOGov does with the data.
According to its website, it does not share, sell or trade personal information with outside parties.
“Your information is securely stored and accessible only to authorized personnel within our company,” according to the GOGov website.
