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Town Alert System – Everbridge

The Town of Ludlow is pleased to announce the launch of the Everbridge Alert system, our new Town-to-resident notification system. This new system will be replacing the current Blackboard Connect System and residents will need to enroll in Everbridge to continue to receive communications.

What is the Everbridge Alerts Connect service?

Everbridge Alerts is the Town’s notification service that allows residents and businesses to receive important alerts and information during emergencies and other time-sensitive situations. Notifications may be sent by text message, phone call, email, or other available communication methods. The service can be used for emergencies such as severe weather, evacuations, public safety threats, road closures, and other situations where timely information is important. Residents can provide their preferred contact information and notification methods so they can be reached when an alert is issued. Everbridge allows the Town to quickly communicate important information to the community through multiple channels, helping residents stay informed and safe.

Registration Steps

Create/Register Your Account
  • Create your account
    Create a username and password, select a security question, and enter its answer.

    Username requirements: At least 4 acceptable characters. Acceptable characters are uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, period, dash (-), underscore (_), and at symbol (@). No other characters or symbols are permitted.

    Password requirements: 8 to 64 characters, with at least one letter and one number. Special characters are permitted only as: ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ).

    Enter a registration email address. This address is used to send a temporary password if you forget your credentials.

    Accept the Terms of Use by checking the box, then click “Create Your Account.”

  • Complete your profile
    After creating your username and password, you will be brought to a page where you can complete your profile. Enter your personal information, including your first name, last name, and registration email address.

    You may register as a resident or as a business. If registering a business, use your company name for both the first-name and last-name fields.

  • Select your contact preferences
    Choose how you want to receive alerts. Options may include SMS text messages, email, mobile phones, landlines, and a mobile application for Android and iOS devices.

    The order you set for these contact paths is the order the system will use to try to reach you during an emergency.

  • Enter locations you care about
    Alerts are sent based on a geographical location on a map. Enter up to five addresses where you want to receive an alert if that location is affected by an incident or upcoming event.

    Important: If an address is not in the database of known addresses for our jurisdiction, you will be offered other ways to add it, including selecting from suggested addresses or dropping a pin on the map.

    You will not receive location-based alerts unless you provide a complete address.

  • Sign up for alerts you care about
    You will be presented with various alert subscriptions to select. These may include important community alerts, transportation alerts, weather notifications, and other Town updates.

Keep your contact information and selected locations up to date.

Opting Out of Notifications
Residents may manage or discontinue Everbridge notifications at any time.

  • To stop text-message alerts, reply STOP to an Everbridge text message.
  • To stop email notifications, use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of an Everbridge email.
  • To update or remove a phone number, email address, address, or alert preference, log in to your Everbridge Community profile or contact the Town for assistance.
  • To discontinue all Everbridge notifications and remove your profile, log in to the Everbridge Community portal and select Delete My Account under My Profile.

Please note: opting out may prevent you from receiving important Town emergency, public-safety, weather, service, road, or community notifications.

Text-message opt-out

For SMS/text messages, Everbridge recognizes these reply keywords:

  • STOP
  • END
  • UNSUBSCRIBE
  • QUIT
  • CANCEL

Those keywords must be typed as a reply to a received Everbridge text; they are not buttons in the message. Typically, opting out this way stops texts from the organization that sent the message.supportcenter.everbridge

Residents should use STOP ALL only if they want to block text messages from every organization using Everbridge, not just the Town of Ludlow. That could inadvertently prevent messages from another municipality, employer, school, utility, or organization that uses the Everbridge platform.supportcenter.everbridge+1

Email opt-out

For email notifications, residents can usually scroll to the bottom of an Everbridge email and select the system-generated unsubscribe link. The process then asks the recipient to verify the request and confirm “Yes, Unsubscribe.” That typically stops supported Everbridge email notifications for that organization and email address.supportcenter.everbridge

If an email does not include an unsubscribe link, the resident can:

  • Log in to the organization’s Everbridge member/community portal and change notification preferences.
  • Contact the Town and request removal or an update to the email address.
  • Use the Everbridge Community profile to manage enabled subscriptions.supportcenter.everbridge+1

Full account deletion

A resident who wants to discontinue all Everbridge notifications can log into the Everbridge member portal, go to My Profile, and select Delete My Account. Deleting the account opts the person out of notifications across delivery methods and removes the associated profile.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the service work?

Authorized officials record a voice message that is then delivered quickly to individual phones in the notification database.

What types of messages will be sent using the service?

Any message regarding the safety or welfare of our community would be disseminated using the Everbridge Emergency Alert.

Examples would include severe weather warnings and updates, hazardous traffic or road conditions inside the Town or affecting local routes, and any other situation that could impact the safety, property, or welfare of our citizens.

Is my telephone number included in the notification database?

All publicly available “white page” data has been captured in the notification database. It is our intention and hope that every residence and commercial facility in our community will be included in the notification database. For businesses, we only store one main phone number. For residents, we may have more than one number that belongs to you in the database. Additionally, you may request to have additional numbers entered into our database for priority calling.

May I use a cell phone as my notification database listing?

Yes, we can accept cell phones as secondary phone numbers in the database and encourage you to request that your number be included.

What precautions are being taken to protect personal information?

Personal information is protected through Everbridge’s security and privacy controls. Information provided to the system is used for emergency notification purposes and is protected against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or loss through technical and organizational safeguards. Everbridge uses encryption for personal data in transit and at rest, access controls, monitoring, and other security measures. Personal information is not sold or used for advertising purposes, and access to information is limited to authorized users and purposes.

Will there be a way to positively identify incoming calls which are made by the city using the system?

Yes. The Town will use a designated Caller ID number for Everbridge Connect notifications. Residents are encouraged to save this number in their phone contacts so they can easily recognize calls from the Town. Please note that Caller ID is dependent on the telephone carrier and cannot be guaranteed to display exactly as configured.

Will the Everbridge Connect service work if I have a call screening system on my phone?

It may, but call-screening, spam-blocking, or other call-filtering features can interfere with delivery. If your phone automatically screens or blocks unknown callers, you should add the Town’s Everbridge Caller ID number to your contacts or approved-call list. Everbridge specifically identifies call filtering and similar phone settings as potential causes of incomplete or missed calls.

If I have provided more than one phone number, when will they be called?

Everbridge will use the contact information and notification settings established by the Town. Depending on how the notification is configured, the system may contact the available phone numbers according to the established notification sequence. Providing multiple numbers helps increase the likelihood that you receive an important notification.

My primary phone or my second listing is a cell phone with a non-local area code. Will the Everbridge Connect service call numbers outside the area?

Yes. A phone number does not need to have a local area code to receive an Everbridge notification. The system can contact registered telephone numbers regardless of whether the area code is local to the Town.

How does the Everbridge Connect system respond to busy signals or no-answer situations?

If a call receives a busy signal or cannot be completed, Everbridge may automatically retry the call depending on the response received from the telephone network. Everbridge reports that certain voice calls may be retried up to two additional times, for a total of three attempts, generally at 15-second intervals. A phone that rings without being answered for approximately 60 seconds may be recorded as a “No Answer.” Call-screening or spam-filtering features can also cause a call to appear as unanswered.

I am receiving Town notification calls at my fax or my secondary phone line. Can I switch to have the system call my primary phone number?

Yes. You should update your contact information in the Town’s Everbridge registration system or contact the Town to have your notification information corrected. Keeping your contact information current helps ensure that notifications are sent to the phone number you use most often.

I was not able to listen to the entire call. Is there a way to repeat the message?

If you miss part of a notification, the ability to replay or retrieve the message depends on how the particular Town notification was configured. For important alerts, the Town may also provide the same information through other notification methods, such as text message, email, or the Town’s website. Residents should not rely on the phone call as the only source of information for an emergency.

I answer the phone but the “Hello” message repeats. It then hangs up, calls back, and the same thing happens again. How can I hear the entire message?

This can happen when the system has difficulty determining whether a person or answering system has answered the call. It can also occur because of phone settings, call filtering, voicemail systems, or network issues. Try answering the call and do not speak immediately; allow the automated greeting to finish and wait for the message to begin. If the problem continues, check your phone’s call-screening or spam-blocking settings and add the Town’s Everbridge Caller ID number to your contacts or approved-call list. Everbridge notes that carrier and device settings can interfere with successful audio delivery.