Roswell readies continuity plan, Alert Roswell upgrades and summer safety ahead of Fourth of July

Mayor Mary Robisho and Chad Miller, the city’s captain of emergency management, used an episode of the City of Roswell podcast to outline how the city is preparing for the summer event season and the Fourth of July celebration, including a continuity-of-operations plan, an expanded mass-notification approach and household safety steps.

Miller said the continuity-of-operations plan — developed with representatives from 16 city departments over the past year — identifies essential functions and orders of succession so services can continue if a major incident (for example, a loss of power at City Hall) disrupts normal operations. "We've been working on it for the past year since July of 2025," he said, adding the plan was close to final approval.

The plan matters because it sets who does what if leaders are unavailable, Miller said: "...if something were to happen to the fire chief, then who is the successor?" The city used the planning period to test training and exercises so staff and the community know how to operate during outages or disasters.

Miller also described event-specific planning. For large permitted gatherings the city prepares incident action plans weeks to months ahead and staffs a unified command post during events — with representatives from fire, police, special events, parks, 911 and communications — so decisions on medical, law-enforcement or public-information issues can be made quickly.

On mass notifications, Miller said the city has partnered with Fulton County partners who use the Everbridge platform. He described a previous subscription to Nixle that cost the city about $4,000–$5,000 per year and said a county-backed system the city can use offers expanded capability; a working group including police, fire, IT, communications and 911 agreed to build out the county option so Roswell could move away from the smaller platform.

Miller gave residents practical safety guidance for the holiday season and summer weather. On fireworks he urged caution: "Always leave fireworks to the professionals," he said, and added household users should be mindful of drought conditions, choose a cleared open area, keep a charged garden hose and a bucket of water nearby, and dispose of spent fireworks in a metal trash can drenched with water. He warned not to relight a dud: let it sit for about 20 minutes and then soak it before disposal.

For event days, Miller said families should pick a meeting place in case they become separated, stay hydrated and wear breathable clothing. He said the city has started using part of the Alert Roswell system to send targeted notifications during large events. To get event-specific alerts, Miller explained listeners could opt into notifications by texting the event keyword to 888777; the city scrubs event lists after each event.

Miller also walked through basic household preparedness: have a plan, maintain a home kit with at least one gallon of water per person per day, nonperishable food, a supply of medications, cash and important documents, and keep multiple ways to receive alerts (Alert Roswell, the FEMA app, local trusted news and the Roswell Fire and Police social pages).

Mayor Robisho highlighted that Roswell has grown substantially in recent years and noted the city has established a dedicated emergency management position and an emergency management ordinance to strengthen planning and interdepartmental coordination.

The episode closed with a reminder to sign up for event notifications and to follow Roswell public-safety social channels for updates. The podcast directed listeners to the city’s Alert Roswell sign-up options for exact instructions and any current keywords for event opt-in.