Lincoln Township looking at text notification system for residents

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Lincoln Township could soon implement a system to easily notify residents of things happening in the community. Lincoln Township Clerk Stacy Loar Porter tells us the Civic Plus mass notification system could send out text messages, emails, or voice messages about things like water main breaks, library events, or elections.

“It’s a program that would allow us to communicate on the more regular basis with our residents, and they could communicate with us on a more regular basis without having to pick up a phone and figuring out who they need to talk to, what department they need to go to,” Loar Porter said. “They could report issues, they could report ordinance violations, and we’ll also be able to send out alerts, reminder alters for taxes, elections. Anything we can think of, we can send out.”

Porter told the Lincoln Township Board of Trustees this week the city of St. Joseph uses a similar system. She says implementing Civic Plus could also come with a new township website.

“It would help residents access our agendas and our minutes and attachments in a much easier way.”

The newly updated site would also be similar to the city of St. Joseph website. Loar Porter told trustees the alert system alone would come with an upfront cost of $6,300 and a yearly cost of $6,000. If trustees also want the new website, that would be $15,000 up front and $5,700 per year. The board could consider the matter at its next meeting.