Magnolia approves new mass-notification system for emergency response

According to Chief of Police Kyle Montgomery—who was also appointed as the city’s emergency coordinator during the meeting—Nixle’s interface has also made it difficult to send out mass-communication messages during emergency situations.

“For me at least, the plus side to this is Nixle is not user-friendly,” Montgomery said. “It's really hard when most of the time when I'm sending out some kind of ... alert or some traffic issues, generally, I'm on the scene trying to help out, at the same time I'm trying to do this prehistoric [program].”

Doering said Blackboard Connect will serve as a more efficient platform to reach residents through emails and texts.

The change comes after a February winter storm left Texans across the state dealing with freezing temperatures and mass electrical outages. Due to a loss of water pressure in Magnolia amid the storm, a boil notice was issued to the city Feb. 16 and was lifted nine days later.