At its Oct. 21 meeting, the Bonners Ferry City Council unanimously voted to begin using Outifi, a system designed to help cities manage communication in emergencies. 

Its primary purpose is to handle the large number of calls that occur during outages, according to the company’s website. Text alerts can be sent to people within an affected area, notifying them that the city is aware of an outage and is working to resolve it. Outifi also provides a texting platform for residents to report problems to city staff.  

As customers text or call the Outifi number, which can be programmed to any phone number, artificial intelligence filters for helpful information about an outage or any other situation. The goal is to streamline the information received by response crews, to ensure that they are not inundated by information.  

Currently, calls during emergencies usually go to dispatch, who can become quickly overwhelmed, City Administrator Mike Klaus said. 

“What happens during those nights is dispatch gets inundated with a bunch of calls and customers really want to know what’s going on,” Klaus said during the council meeting. “We’ve also had two instances last winter in Moyie where two folks were out of power after 5 p.m., they called in to dispatch and no call was made to any of our linemen.”    

With the council’s approval of Outifi, dispatch may not be necessary in Bonners Ferry, though they will continue to operate in Boundary County. By not paying for dispatch services, the city of Bonners Ferry could save more than $20,000 annually. 

According to Boundary County commissioners meeting minutes from July 1, 2024, the city pays $36,590 for Boundary County dispatchers. The yearly cost for Outifi is $12,600 in the first year and $9,600 each year following.    

Klaus hopes Outifi will be ready for Bonners Ferry by February 2026.  

In a memo to the council, Klaus said the cost of Outifi will most likely be paid by Bonners Ferry utilities based on call volume percentages.