Summit County outlines emergency alerts, podcast and neighborhood outreach options

Margaret Conway, a member of Summit County's communications and public engagement team, told the Eastern Summit County Planning Commission the county uses multiple channels to reach residents for both emergencies and routine news. "For emergencies, our first is summitcountyalerts.org. This platform is powered by Everbridge and it really helps us provide critical information quickly," Conway said, recommending residents opt in for calls, texts, email or phone alerts.

Conway described a second, bilingual option: "Summit Alerta," a short text-based opt-in in Spanish. "Residents can text SUMMIT ALERTA to 888777 and receive emergency alerts to their phone in Spanish," Isaac Cortez, a new communications team member, added.

She also described a wildfire-specific line: "SC Fire Info," reachable by texting 888777 and typing "SC Fire Info," for active fire alerts, red-flag warnings and smoke advisories. Conway said those lines are intended as low-entry points that deliver time-sensitive information straight to phones.

For nonemergency outreach, Conway highlighted the county's Notify Me subscription on summitcounty.org and the Summit County mobile app, which lets residents subscribe to topic-specific notices, including an "Eastern Summit County Planning Commission" checkbox to receive agendas and notices. "When you guys post an agenda, someone will get that to their email or their phone," Conway said.

Staff also described the "Summit in 6" podcast, released Fridays and kept short (about six minutes) to summarize council meetings and highlight county news. The communications team said it has been producing occasional longer-form episodes for in-depth topics such as the Kimball Junction EIS project team.

Commissioners asked how to reach residents who do not use social media; one commissioner suggested placing information on monitors at community buildings such as the Camas service building, the library or the health department. Staff said they can pursue sharing content with local media outlets (KPCW and the Park Record) and resharing partners' coverage more proactively.

Several commissioners raised that planning commission agendas do not automatically post to county social channels and asked whether targeted Nextdoor notices could be used for neighborhood-level application alerts. Conway said social channels and Nextdoor are useful in different ways: social media reaches broad audiences while Nextdoor allows neighborhood targeting. She said staff could incorporate more neighborhood-targeted pushes if the commission wants it.

Conway asked the commission what outreach channels they thought were missing for the east side of the county; commissioners emphasized in-person monitors, Nextdoor targeting and better coordination with local media. The briefing concluded with staff offering follow-up on specific suggestions.

The item was informational only; commissioners did not take a formal vote on communications strategy.