Galena staff reports meter-replacement push and Code Red outage; city will use manual notifications for emergencies

City staff briefed the Galena City Council on Jan. 12 about utility and notification operations, saying the city has launched a meter-replacement program and that its mass-notification vendor remains recovering from a cyberattack.

Matt, a city staff member, described a systematic meter-replacement program intended to improve water-accountability measurements. He said the public-works employee Phil Schuler, a licensed plumber, will perform many of the replacements and the city expects to complete about four to eight meter replacements per week during the winter.

On emergency communications, staff said the Code Red system used for countywide public notification has been offline since November because of a cyberattack on the vendor’s software. Until the vendor restores the system, emergency management and city staff will rely on manual measures such as door-tagging and posts on Facebook and other outlets to notify residents about water main breaks and other urgent incidents.

The council also heard brief remarks about staffing: a member urged the council to revisit a proposed staff reorganization and to consider support for the engineer position that remains vacant as the council develops the upcoming budgets.