Woodstock's Mass Notice System

Is your telephone number already in Woodstock's new Mass Notification System?

If you have a published telephone number, you're in. You don't have to do anything to "get" in. All you need is a "published" telephone number from the phone company.

While I didn't ask, I presume this means from "the" phone company. What's it called now? AT&T? Not sure what happens if you get your landline service from a different provider, or can you even do that?

If you change numbers or get a new number, it might take 30 days for the new number to get into the system. Remember, the Mass Notification System is operated by a vendor to the City.

A resident may enter additional contact data, such as for cell phones, text information, additional phone numbers (for adult children living out of Woodstock for example), e-mail addresses, and the primary phone number, if unlisted.

If you use a cell phone for a primary (or, perhaps, your only) telephone, it will not automatically be in the MNS, and you'll need to go to the homepage for the City of Woodstock and register your phone.

Multiple entries for the same individual will be combined. Only one call should go to the listed phone number. The individual may, however, receive multiple calls or messages, because a message may be sent to his listed phone, cell phone, e-mail, listed phone number, etc.

There are times when the City may notify all the contact numbers, rather than just the primary number. That is determined by the "level" of the message, not by whether a contact has already been made to one of the contact numbers/e-mail addresses. The City has the capability of sending the message only to the primary number or to all methods of contact. If the message is sent to all contact numbers/info, the system will attempt to do just that; i.e., to send to all provided numbers/e-mail addresses, whether the primary number has been reached or not.

If there is a fire on the north end of town, the MNS would not need to notify residents on the south end of town. However, if a train of tanker cars loaded with chlorine gas derails at the Calhoun Street railroad crossing, maybe everybody in town needs to be notified on all contact numbers.