During the recent election my opponent Lucas Cioffi suggested that the town implement a 311 type of operation – to better track work orders. He also suggested a citizens request tracking system. These are constructive ideas that are worth pursuing. I sent Lucas an e mail last night inviting him to be part of a technology committee that can work with us as we use technology to make government work more efficiently for you.
During the past two years the town has been moving forward on a plan to enable departments and citizens to better track complaints brought to our attention. The DPW is in the midst of software review for our work order system. A function of this system, when implemented, will also enable an on line work request system. Further out into the future, we have a vision for DPW communications for a 311 type of operation. We hired a consultant firm Woodard & Curran over a year ago and will be inviting them to meet with a citizens technology committee in the near future to give us an update. You’re invited to participate if you would like.
We already own something to track issues. It came with the CIvicPlus software. It will take time to implement and there will be a "manpower" issue on our end to make sure it's successful.
The module is called "Citizen Request Tracker". See below:
Overview
The Citizen Request Tracker™ (CRT™) is used as a reporting and tracking tool to report problems in a community. Once a problem is submitted it gets routed and emailed to the correct department or person (this is set up when the category/form is set up).
The department or person can reply to the citizen about the problem they submitted through the CRT™. The CRT™ will keep a date and time history of the communication.
The CRT™ can also keep stats on departments, problems (Ex. street light out, stray animal, etc.), and individuals to see how many problems were submitted, how many problems are still opened, how many are closed, and the average time it takes to close or fix a problem.
Functions
• Organized citizen requests by category
• Create specific form names for specific request needs
• Provide follow-up communication to the citizen that place the request
• Assign requests to specific users
DO YOU HAVE A TECHNOLOGY BACKGROUND? WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP US WITH IMPLEMENTATION OF OUR CITIZEN REQUEST TRACKER INITIATIVE?
A few years ago I formed a technology committee. Members of the committee are asked to review technology related issues on an as needed basis. I plan to ask them to meet with the Commissioner of Public Works and other town officials to discuss an implementation plan for our work order system and citizen request tracker initiative. If you would like to be involved in the effort and have a technology background, please advise by e mailing me at pfeiner@greenburghny.com. Inasmuch as there are many components to this initiative and it could be costly – I will ask the committee to study the need, how extensive we want to go with the initiative, how it would be used and by whom and the value.
Your thoughts are welcome!
PAUL FEINER