During the previous Levelland City Council meeting, Levelland and Hockley County Emergency Management Coordinator Cole Kirkland presented an Interlocal Agreement with The Alliance for Community Solutions Ltd and the City of Levelland for public safety notifications and other related matters.
Kirkland explained the interlocal agreement is standard for any jurisdiction to utilize the many systems under the Alliance for Community Solutions umbrella.
Currently, the city and county uses the I-info system for mass notifications, personnel credentialing, registries, and communication dashboard. The county and the city are able to use the system now because the SPAG region has an interlocal agreement in place for mass notification purposes.
This agreement will allow Kirkland to utilize other areas from ACS such as access control, panic systems, autonomous messaging, and notifications.
Kirkland added they he recently received a donation from Oxy for a project that would help purchase a base unit that can integrate into the hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) SCATA system on oil wells that are near populated areas. That integration would immediately notify the appropriate fire department regarding the high concentration of H2S gas at that well site.
This same base unit will also function as a panic button system that can be utilized by the school districts, SPC and other entities we allow on to it. It was also explained that there is no cost associated with the interlocal agreement.
Kirkland gave the group an explanation to his overall plan as he hopes to integrate the system throughout the county and aid additional school within Hockley County join in the future to provide added safety for panic button systems.
Currently Levelland ISD goes through the Raptor System which still requires call to be made to local law enforcement to receive aid in the case of danger. Kirkland explained that the panic button system would immediately notify the proper authorities to cut down on response time if a dangerous situation arises.
The council unanimously approved the agreement and shared their thanks to Kirkland for putting together a process that could aid the entire county in multiple ways.