HOWLAND — The Trumbull County Council of Governments received updates about the county’s emergency services following last week’s county fair — as well as a reminder that a service for emergency alerts is free for the entity’s governments.

John Hickey, executive director of the county’s Emergency Management Agency, told members at Wednesday’s meeting that he “shook his head” when he learned one local community approved paying for a CodeRED system, a cloud-based public alert and residential safety product that sends geotargeted alerts to people who have registered for it.

“Guys, I am paying for this for you to use; take advantage of it. I know Mayor (Deidre) Petrosky does in Cortland; Girard … there are many municipalities that use it,” Hickey said.

“You can have your own log in; if you have water breaks, boil alerts, road closures. The weather stuff I do, everyone gets that, but simple stuff — if you have a detour, anything like that.”

Hickey said the sanitary engineers’ office does not use the program, although he’s offered it to them in the past.

Former Brookfield trustee Gary Lees recalled his township having a CodeRED system. He said that when their representatives talked to him, they said the price was based on an area’s population.

“How that came about, I looked at Springfield Township, one of the largest townships in the state of Ohio — they had that system,” Lees said. “What was good about it at that time, we were having issues and problems in the school systems; it could be X number of things that would alert the parents by that phone.”

Lees asked if Brookfield could be involved with the program if their police chief reached out.

Hickey said Champion Local Schools already has the program through his agency.

He said he renewed the program in April, and only five companies provide a program like it. For a county of their size, Hickey said the estimated cost was $52,000, but they were able to get it for $13,500.

Howland Trustee James LaPolla asked Hickey about siren systems. LaPolla said that people in Austin, Texas, had flood warning sirens that looked “relatively new.”

LaPolla said officials were told the township’s system “may be archaic or going archaic” and that parts were unavailable for the siren already in place.

He added that he wasn’t speaking for the township, however, as they haven’t discussed it. However, he was curious as to whether new sirens were compatible with the present system.

Hickey said the township would have to upgrade, and a new siren is $30,000. He said the ones in place now were activated in 2005, although there are ones older than that active — dating back to 1985.

“Unfortunately, FEMA, they do not provide a grant for a siren anymore because they consider it to be old technology,” Hickey said.

LaPolla said they’ve received feedback in the township that there are senior citizens who do not want to use cellphones, which Hickey said he understands.

“Unless you have $30,000 to replace sirens, I can’t provide that for you,” Hickey said.