Some Topeka emergency system subscribers went unnotified during boil water advisory

Some Topeka subscribers to an emergency notification system went unnotified by that system during last week's boil water advisory, city officials acknowledged Tuesday.

The Shawnee County Emergency Communications Center uses the CodeRED Community Alert System to "notify residents and businesses of critical situations and provide information regarding necessary actions," the city website says.

"With this system, a specific geographic area can be selected to send messages to those within that area" by telephone, text message and email, it said.

The use of the CodeRED system was among topics discussed at Tuesday's monthly news conference by Mayor Mike Padilla and interim city manager Richard U. Nienstedt.

'It was unclear if an alert to all users could be sent out'

The city during last week's boil water advisory tried to send out a widespread alert on the CodeRED system, which is operated by Shawnee County, co-interim city communications director Rosie Nichols told The Capital-Journal after Tuesday's conference.

"It was unclear if an alert to all users could be sent out for non-law enforcement purposes under the existing understanding between the city and county," Nichols said. "Rather than delay the notification, the information was sent to critical Code Red contacts and the city chose to rely on its trusted media partners and social media reach to help notify the public as a whole."

Moving ahead, Nichols said, "City staff will evaluate what needs to be done if, as a community, we want a broader, more widespread notification system to alert the community in instances like these."

Nienstedt and Padilla at Tuesday's conference encouraged those who don't have it to sign up for CodeRED, which Topekans can do here.

Topeka tallying expenses

Topeka's city government is tallying up costs resulting from recent wintry weather to see if the city is entitled to federal disaster relief, Nienstedt said Tuesday.

If there are enough expenses, "then we may be able to afford ourselves some reimbursement from (the Federal Emergency Management Agency)," Nienstedt said.

It wasn't clear Tuesday what the dollar threshold for expenses would be, Nichols said.

Topeka city street workers praised for work on slick roads

Nienstedt and Padilla spoke positively of what each described as an "excellent" job city street workers have done recently preparing for and dealing with recent winter weather, including slickened streets.

"It was not too bad getting around," Nienstedt said.

He said he hoped the public appreciated the job street employees did working long hours, including all night.

In response to concerns that ice remained present on Topeka streets, Nienstedt said workers "can't do much" about ice "until the sun comes out and stays around for a while."

'Point in Time' homeless count is Thursday

Padilla spoke positively of the Topeka City Council and Shawnee County Commission for having held a joint meeting last week to discuss efforts to deal with homelessness in this community.

He noted that Topeka's annual Point in Time Homeless Count will be on Thursday and asked the public to help ensure the count is accurate by calling 785-368-0168 if they know of any homeless people or encampments who might otherwise be missed.

Padilla also thanked Topeka residents and organizations for providing warming centers for the homeless during this community's recent cold spell.

"That shows that people are concerned for each other in this city," he said.

City manager's search update provided

Padilla and Nienstedt talked about steps the city is taking to advertise and filling its vacant city manager's job.

"Hopefully, you'll have a new city manager by June, somewhere around there," Nienstedt said.

He added: "My counsel to the council has been: 'Take your time. Don't rush into this. I'm here until you're done with me, but I'd rather see you get the right person for the right community than rush into this and maybe not get that right person. This is an important city in the state. This is the capital city, one of the largest cities, and it deserves the best city management the council can get.'"

Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Notification system failed some Topekans during boil water advisory