CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. – The American Rescue Plan is setting many plans into motion in communities across the United States, including Cibola County. Due to the way in which the ARP funding will be released, some plans and projects may begin before others. One of the projects that is supposed to be coming into fruition very soon in Cibola County is the Text My Gov program. Cibola County Planning Coordinator Anna Larson said the program could be installed and in active use as soon as in the next month or 45 days.
According to Larson, the program is currently in the procurement stage, meaning it is in the process of being paid for. However, Larson did say the program did not have to be paid for right away. Overall, the program will cost a total of $7,000 for the City of Grants, Village of Milan, and Cibola County combined. Text My Gov prices are dependent on the number of residents in the community.
Larson also added that the city, village, and county are each going through the process of assigning a person or two to be tasked with working with Text My Gov, discussing/reviewing the needs of the communities, and establishing what the different text options will be. Once Text My Gov is established, these designated city, village, and county employees will also be the ones who may handle Text My Gov and responding to texts in a more involved way.
Once Text My Gov is ready to go, Cibola County residents may participate in the program by texting a specific number to opt in and receive alerts from the program through the City of Grants, Village of Milan, Cibola County, or even all three if they wish. Each of the three agencies will have their own specific Text My Gov number for community members to utilize. However, community members do have the option of simply texting the number to make a request or ask a question, while foregoing the option of opting in to receive alerts.
Some of the examples that Larson gave for possible Text My Gov exchanges included citizens being able to ask what city, village, or county office hours are, when trash pick-up days and times are, where they can go to pay their water bill, or reporting a water leak, a pothole, or a pet on the loose, et cetera. The simple questions, such as regarding office hours, will be pretty simple and easy exchanges, but the more complex requests/questions and the citizen reporting will require more of an involved ex change, most likely including follow-up questions from the agencies, explained Larson. These more complex exchanges and scenarios are what officials are working on now.
As far as alerts go, for those who choose to opt into that aspect of the program, community members may receive alerts concerning anything from evacuations, fires, water being shut off in certain areas, to simply updates on community events and activities.
According to Larson, Text My Gov will be different from programs like Code Red in the way that it offers a much wider variety of service. Code Red only deals with emergencies and sending out alerts about such things. Text My Gov, however, will allow for community members who may not feel like or have the time to call to simply send a text at any time and receive help. Text My Gov will be a twenty-four/seven operating service that goes two ways, rather than just one way out. Its function will go beyond just emergencies and will help to meet the needs of community members in a personalized and involved way. According to Larson, further use of the Code Red program will be determined by the Cibola County Emergency Manager, Dustin Middleton.
“Basically, the technology is available anytime, so they can text twentyfour/seven, which will give them the information they need when they want it,” said Larson of the benefits of this program and how it will assist Cibola County. “There’s a lot of easy access to information for the citizens.”
Coming up very soon will be trainings for city, village, and county officials who will be working with Text My Gov, as well as more data and information that will give those officials and their agencies a better idea of how Text My Gov will best operate within Cibola County.