Sanborn Central, SD

When the town of Letcher began using a web site to deliver community announcements by email and text message, Mary Ackman was expecting at least 50 people to sign up in the first two weeks.

The numbers aren’t there yet, but Ackman, who is Letcher’s City Finance Officer, is hopeful that word will spread.

“Somehow we have to get the word out there that this is a service that we’re offering,” Ackman said. “It’s early in the game yet.”

Letcher is one of only a few entities in the state using Nixle.com, a web site that offers local police departments, municipalities, and other agencies a platform to deliver local updates through emails and text messages.

The town became part of the web site when the Sanborn County Sheriff’s Department signed up for the service. The department’s association with the site includes the cities of Letcher and Woonsocket, as well as Sanborn Central School and the Woonsocket School.

According to Nixle, Letcher and the Sanborn County Sheriff’s Department are the only two entities in the state using the system “live.” However, Carl Staico, agency relations and editorial manager for Nixle, said many agencies are signing up for the system.

“There are several other agencies in South Dakota testing the system, but not using it,” Staico said.

The web site reports that more than 800 cities and towns in the nation are either using or testing the system.

In Letcher, Ackman said 23 people have signed up to receive notifications from the web site. After including information in the city’s latest round of water bills, she’s hoping that more people will sign up.

Although it’s been less than a month since the Sheriff’s Department signed up for the service, the city of Letcher has already distributed messages on everything from community events to local obituaries.

At the Sanborn Central School, Superintendent Linda Whitney said no messages have been distributed yet, but she’s looking forward to using the web site to deliver information on everything from parent/teacher conferences and inclement weather to volunteer opportunities.

“It’s going to reach more people,” Whitney said. “They’re more than willing to help, but they just like to be asked.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 4:52 pm and is filed under 05. Leadership: Knowledge and Awareness, 06. Leadership: Skills and Mobilizing, 07. Leadership: Action, 08. Leadership: Structural Change, 09. Community: Knowledge and Awareness, 10. Community: Skills and Mobilizing, 11. Community: Action, 12. Community: Structural Change, Look at Letcher. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.