Leetsdale approves 5-year contract for Rave Alert system

Leetsdale officials recently approved a new five-year deal for the use of a messaging system to help alert residents of emergencies and borough events.

Council voted Dec. 14 to approve the continued use of Rave Alert, a mass notification system through Rave Mobile Safety, at a cost of $1,250 a year.

The system can send messages via text, email, desktop, voice, public address systems, social media and more. Residents have to register to get the free alerts.

Council first acquired the service in February.

The borough’s previous alert system only allowed for emergency alerts.

Mayor Sandra Ford said they used Rave to send out numerous messages this past year, including an early trash pickup announcement before July 4 and a boil water alert in the fall in collaboration with Edgeworth Water Authority’s announcements at the time.

“With the Rave system, we can make any type of announcements that pertain to the borough,” she said. “It’s a good tool to reach everyone who lives in Leetsdale.”

The need for a borough-wide messaging system became apparent in December 2022.

“We had an ice storm and the people on Washington Street had no power,” Ford said. “We opened the community room for a warming center, but were not able to announce it very well. We had volunteers going door to door on that street to notify them we had a warming center and come over for hot food and drink. I thought, ‘This should never happen again.’”

The mayor, police Chief Daniel Raible and council talked about how they can improve borough messaging and decided to add Rave.

“It took me months and many calls to Rave to learn how to navigate the system, but finally we are up and running pretty good now,” Ford said.

Council president Maria Napolitano encouraged residents to sign up for the free service.

“I hope that we can conduct more subscription drives to ensure that all our residents are in the system with their preferred means of notification, cell phone (or) email, so that they are notified if anything is happening,” Napolitano said.

Rave Alert has been certified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under the Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technology Act, and is used by various institutions such as Duke University and Ohio State.

Residents interested in more information about the system and how to sign up can email mayorsford@gmail.com or call the borough office at 724-2660-4820.

More information was also posted online under the public safety section of the borough website, leetsdaleboro.net.