As funnel clouds approached Braselton during a recent storm, folks keeping their eyes on the sky also had to listen to Atlanta television and radio reports about the severe weather.
And while a tornado didn’t touch ground, the aftermath left Braselton council members wondering if there could have been a better way of communicating to residents in emergencies.
“A lot of people asked me, after they got out of their basements, why they didn’t hear a siren,” Mayor Bill Orr said.
Braselton spans four counties — Jackson, Barrow, Gwinnett and Hall — and each have different methods and approaches to communicating to the public about emergencies.
For example, Jackson County uses an emergency notification system that alerts people by landline phone, cell phone, text message or e-mail about emergencies. Landline phones are automatically registered in the system, while cell phones and e-mail addresses must be registered by a citizen.
During severe weather on Friday, March 2, that emergency system in Jackson County sent notices to phones and e-mails when a tornado warning was issued in the area. There are also tornado sirens throughout the county.
But Barrow County doesn’t have tornado sirens near Braselton and doesn’t have an emergency alert system, according to town manager Jennifer Dees. Officials from Barrow County and its cities are slated to discuss emergency communications this week.
Braselton Mayor Orr said he wants the town to do a better job of communicating with residents its safety plans. The rest of the town council agreed to make it one of its top priorities for the next 12-18 months during its annual retreat, which was held on Friday.
Along similar lines, the town council further agreed to make technology enhancements its top priority for the next year. That may include upgrading an outdated phone system for town departments, revamping Braselton’s website to make it friendly for smartphones and going “paperless” for meetings.
It’s a familiar goal that the town council adopted during its 2011 retreat — when town officials outline their priorities for the 12-18 months, before starting the proposed fiscal year budget process.
Last year, one of the council’s goals included better communication to the public of accomplishments and exploring “higher level” of electronic communication at meetings.
Town manager Dees said Braselton has been using Facebook, Twitter and e-mails to let folks know about special events and announcements. The town has also updated and distributed brochures and rack cards about festivals.
For its 2012 retreat, the council agreed to make a “fiscally conservative budget” that is “lean and strong” one of its other goals, along with improvements at existing parks while planning for the best use of the town’s 71-acre property on Ga. Hwy. 124.
That property along the Mulberry River in Barrow County was donated to Braselton by developer Wayne Mason several years ago. Braselton planned to make it a multi-use area that would include a park and wastewater sprayfields.
The town and Barrow County once had an intergovernmental agreement to build a park with playing fields on the property, but that’s no longer the case. Dees said Barrow County doesn’t have the money for a park.
The Braselton Town Council briefly discussed what it will do with the 71-acre property — such as partnering with another agency or taking part in an economic development opportunity in conjunction with a park. The property is located next to a distribution center and is situated in an area with other warehouses along Ga. Hwy. 124.
Ultimately, the council opted to consider the “best use” for the 71-acre property, as part of its priorities for the next 12-18 months.
Other Items
The Braselton Town Council annual retreat was held all day on Friday at the Braselton Police and Municipal Court Building. Other topics of discussion included:
•purchasing additional automatic license plate readers on police vehicles. Currently, Braselton has one such device — which can quickly pinpoint vehicles with expired tags or vehicles issued to drivers with active warrants. The town’s municipal court anticipates handling more traffic citations stemming from the police department in 2012 because of the new automatic license plate reader. The town council initially discussed budgeting seized drug money for the purchase of more devices, but Dees warned the council that it can’t technically budget those federal funds before police actually seize any money. Instead, the council said it would “embrace” the concept of purchasing more tag readers for the police department.
•improvements in the town’s municipal court to expedite information to attorneys, defendants and prosecutors by purchasing a scanner for documents. The department also asked that Braselton upgrade its online citation payment system in order to trim the number of phone calls it receives for staff assistance. Currently, defendants have to call the municipal court to receive a specified number for their case that is then entered online for payment. A change in software that would be no additional cost to the town would allow defendants to pay their citations online without first calling the court. The Braselton Municipal Court handled 1,100 more citations in 2011 than 2010, which increased the workload for staffers and the need for supplies.
•the possible creation of a stormwater utility to maintain the town’s aging infrastructure. By creating a utility, Braselton would have a revenue stream to maintain and replace the stormwater system components.
•a recent switch to new software for handling the town’s receipts, utility bills and licensing. The change to Black Mountain Software was made on Feb. 1 and Braselton officials expect to continue working on some minor issues over the coming months. Since the town has started online bill payments, the number of overdue bills has decreased significantly, according to Dees.
