Effective date: August 24, 2026
These Terms and Conditions govern participation in the Marion County ARES-operated MUSTER volunteer notification service. By using MUSTER, an approved member agrees to these terms. MUSTER supports participating emergency-management volunteer partners and is not a Marion County government service.
Purpose and eligibility
MUSTER provides emergency activation notices, availability polls, exercise notifications, periodic system tests, duty-status tools, and related volunteer-coordination information. Membership is limited to volunteers manually approved and added by an authorized administrator. Submission of information, SMS consent, or affiliation with a participating group does not guarantee membership.
Member responsibilities
- Provide accurate contact, affiliation, and notification-preference information.
- Keep login credentials secure and promptly report suspected unauthorized access.
- Use incident and member information only for authorized volunteer purposes.
- Promptly update duty status and availability responses when reasonably possible.
- Do not use MUSTER to impersonate another person, disrupt operations, send unauthorized alerts, or disclose protected information.
SMS program terms
Approved volunteers may separately consent to recurring SMS emergency activations, availability polls, exercises, tests, and service messages from MUSTER. Message frequency varies; a routine test is expected approximately monthly, with additional messages when operational needs arise. Message and data rates may apply. MUSTER does not charge a subscription fee.
- Reply 1 to acknowledge or indicate availability when requested.
- Reply 2 to indicate unavailability when that option is requested.
- Reply HELP for assistance.
- Reply STOP to end SMS messages.
- Reply START to resubscribe after an SMS opt-out.
Consent to receive SMS is voluntary and is not a condition of purchasing any goods or services. An SMS opt-out applies to SMS messages and does not automatically remove a volunteer account or disable separately selected telephone-call or push-notification preferences. To change other preferences, use the member portal or contact a MUSTER administrator.
Emergency and delivery limitations
MUSTER is not a replacement for 911, official public-warning systems, or ALERTMarion. Anyone experiencing or reporting an emergency requiring immediate assistance should call 911. Do not rely on MUSTER as the sole source of emergency information.
Wireless, internet, carrier, device, power, hosting, and other failures may delay or prevent notifications or responses. Delivery, receipt, accuracy, availability, and uninterrupted operation are not guaranteed. A “No Response,” timeout, delivery event, or other system status may not establish that a person actually read or did not read a notification. Volunteers should follow the procedures and chain of command established by their participating organization.
Incident information and public dashboard
Incident details displayed by MUSTER are provided for volunteer coordination and may change. The public dashboard may display incident information and aggregate responder counts. Private member details and individual responses are intended for authorized users and administrators.
Privacy and service providers
Use of personal information is described in the MUSTER Privacy Policy. Notification delivery may involve third-party hosting, authentication, telecommunications, push-notification, security, and support providers. Mobile carriers are not responsible for delayed or undelivered messages.
Suspension, changes, and discontinuation
An administrator may suspend or remove access when a member is no longer eligible, information is inaccurate, security is at risk, or these terms are violated. MUSTER features, participating groups, procedures, and these terms may be changed or discontinued. Material revisions will be reflected by an updated effective date on this page.
Contact
For support, enrollment questions, or notification-preference assistance, email admin@aresmcfl.org.