The City of Dickson has launched a new system that can alert citizens to weather and other emergency notifications as well as provide information on city services and events.
The new system is part of the Seconds Matter! campaign launched by Dickson Mayor Don L. Weiss Jr. in 2016 to improve emergency services for city residents. The campaign began with free address markers being distributed to homes and businesses within the city and has grown to include free smoke detectors installed by the Dickson Fire Department, free trigger locks from the Dickson Police Department and child safety seat checks by certified personnel at both departments.
At the Jan. 23, 2025, Finance and Management Committee meeting, Acting City Administrator David Travis and Major Todd Christian of the city’s Office of Emergency Management informed City Council members about the new CodeRED notification system that provides alerts and messages by text, email and/or voice call. CodeRED is a product of Onsolve, which provides multiple international platforms for crisis management.
The service is free and citizens can sign up by texting “Dickson” to 24639, by going online to https://accountportal.onsolve.net/dicksontn, or by scanning a QR code available on the city’s website at www.cityofdickson.com or the City of Dickson page on Facebook.
Administrator Travis said the decision to implement an emergency message service arose from discussion regarding possible installation of outdoor warning sirens.
“When we started talking about the tornado sirens, how to alert our citizens of emergencies and also just regular things going on, we discussed these text apps,” Travis said. “Myself and Todd looked through them and we came up with this CodeRED. It’s actually up and going now, you can sign up for it tonight… You can receive a telephone call, you can receive an email and you can receive a text.”
Citizens can create a free account and choose how to receive emergency and other messages. They can choose to receive messages regarding:
• Severe Weather Alerts;
• Fire Department;
• Police Department;
• Parks Department/Events; and
• Public Works.
The CodeRED system focuses on residents in the City of Dickson and is in addition to the Nixle alert system operated through the Dickson County Emergency Communications District to provide countywide emergency alerts. The CodeRed system can include non-emergency notices about city services, facilities and events.
Messages can include:
• Weather-related messages such as tornado, thunderstorm, flash flood and winter weather alerts:
• Dickson Fire Department messages regarding areas to avoid for fire responses, evacuations or hazardous materials incidents;
• Dickson Police Department messages regarding traffic alerts due to wrecks, areas to avoid due to law enforcement activity, missing persons alerts, fugitive alerts and other emergency situations;
• Dickson Parks and Recreation Department messages regarding special events and activities, changes in facility hours and seasonal opening and closing of facilities; and
• Public Works Department messages regarding services such as sanitation routes, street conditions, leaf and brush services, road work and street closures.
Major Christian said the CodeRED system will automatically trigger alerts for tornado and severe weather watches and warnings and can use geotargeting data to target specific neighborhoods or areas for particular alerts.
“If we have a missing person in a neighborhood, we can just reach those people in that specific neighborhood,” Christian said.
The major said that there currently are about 10,000 local telephone numbers in the CodeRED company’s database that could receive an emergency notification. He said those numbers are collected from other retail businesses that have the numbers and addresses of customers on file. However, the CodeRED system is a voluntary system that requires residents to enroll for messages.
Residents can register more than one phone number and address in Dickson, Burns, Colesburg and Pomona to include their homes and/or workplaces.
Major Christian said CodeRED also includes the option for Spanish-speaking residents to register to receive messages in Spanish.
He said residents can receive calls on a landline or TTY system for the hearing impaired and the system will leave a message on voicemail or an answering machine. If a call is unanswered, CodeRED will call the number again after a few minutes. If a line is busy, CodeRED will attempt to call it again two more times. Residents receiving a CodeRED call can replay messages and missed calls can be returned by calling the 800 number to hear the message.
CodeRED also offers a mobile app for Apple and Android devices that uses geotracking to provide messages and alerts to people traveling through other communities that use CodeRED.
Travis said the city will begin distributing information on the CodeRED service with instructions for residents to enroll.
To request an address marker, visit cityofdickson.com and complete the Seconds Matter! form from the link on the home page. To request a smoke detector, contact the Dickson Fire Department at 615-446-0336 or stop by Station #1 at 101 Church St. during weekday business hours. To obtain a free trigger lock, contact the Dickson Police Department at 615-446-5401 or stop by 202 S. Main St. during weekday business hours.
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