Swampscott Empowers Residents with New Reporting Tool

Town of Swampscott Announces Partnership with Citizen Reporting Tool

Residents, town officials stay engaged and solve community issues with SeeClickFix

Swampscott, Mass. (July 22, 2011) – The Town of Swampscott announces a new partnership with an online reporting platform that enables residents to submit non-emergency problems and request public services. Powered by SeeClickFix, the place-based reporting platform allows citizens to document neighborhood concerns and improvements alike, ranging from potholes and graffiti to barking dogs and streetlights being out.

“The goal of this partnership is to encourage residents and town officials to stay engaged with what’s happening in our community,” said Town Treasurer / Collector Denise Dembkoski. “We’re hoping to leverage the technology we have – cell phones, iPads, etc. – to not only improve communication between citizens and local government, but to improve our town services overall.”

With the online reporting platform, residents can report quality-of-life concerns directly to the town through custom service request categories via the Town of Swampscott website, SeeClickFix.com, or mobile applications for iPhone, Android and Blackberry. The platform allows citizens to provide additional information about the issue by adding a detailed description or including a photograph in their report. Once someone submits an issue, both the reporter and the town of Swampscott will receive an email notification. The local government can then acknowledge the service request, route it to the proper department, and update the issue page once it’s been resolved. All updates on issues reported through SeeClickFix are displayed publicly, allowing Swampscott to quickly and easily inform citizens of their progress.

“SeeClickFix will empower residents to become an integral part of the identification, prioritization and resolution of quality-of-life issues in Swampscott,” said Dembkoski. “Since the system encourages active participation from both government and citizens to efficiently address community issues, everyone wins. “

In addition to enhanced citizen reporting, Swampscott’s partnership with SeeClickFix also allows residents to view, comment on, and vote to fix problems submitted by others in the community. Citizens can even create their own “watch areas” to receive notifications about issues reported throughout the town or just in their neighborhood, enabling them to follow the progress of all service requests.

“SeeClickFix provides local governments with the tools needed to efficiently and transparently solve community issues, but the fixes come from engaged communities that collaborate to get stuff done,” said Ben Berkowitz, CEO of SeeClickFix. “We’re proud to be partnering with a town as committed to civic engagement as Swampscott and look forward to seeing how our online platform impacts their offline community.”

The SeeClickFix Swampscott website can be found here: http://seeclickfix.com/swampscott and residents can download iPhone, Android, and Blackberry apps here: http://www.seeclickfix.com/apps

About SeeClickFix

SeeClickFix allows citizens anywhere in the world to report and monitor non-emergency community issues ranging from potholes and planted trees to garbage and graffiti. Launched in 2008, it empowers citizens, community groups, media organizations, and governments to work together and improve their neighborhoods. Through mobile web, web, iPhone, Android, and Blackberry apps, the SeeClickFix platform is the most widely-distributed citizen reporting tool in the country. The platform is fun and easy to use for citizens while being inexpensive and easily adaptable for governments. SeeClickFix supports the Open311 standard that promotes improved communication between citizens and their local government. Over 50 percent of issues reported on SeeClickFix are ultimately resolved. For more information or to report an issue, visit www.seeclickfix.com.

Stonington Will Use SeeClickFix to Address Residents’ Concerns

First Selectman Announces Partnership with New Citizen Reporting Tool

Town of Stonington Will Use SeeClickFix to Address Residents’ Concerns

Stonington, Conn. (June 23, 2011) – Today, First Selectman Edward Haberek, Jr. announces a new partnership with an online reporting platform that will enable Stonington residents to submit non-emergency problems and request city services. Powered by SeeClickFix, the place-based reporting platform allows residents to document neighborhood concerns and improvements alike, ranging from potholes and graffiti to tree requests and community murals.

“Through this public forum, we’re hoping to simultaneously engage and empower our residents to assist us with improving the community,” Haberek said. “We like the idea of connecting government with the governed, and the governed with each other.”

With the online reporting platform, residents can report quality-of-life concerns through custom service request categories via SeeClickFix.com, Facebook app, or mobile application, and provide additional information about the issue through the description or image options. Once someone submits an issue, the reporter and the town of Stonington will receive email notifications. The local government can then acknowledge the service request, route it to the proper department, and update the issue page once it’s been resolved.

“SeeClickFix is one way that we can improve our communication with the people we serve while also addressing issues in a timely fashion as they arise,” said Joe Bragaw, director of public works. “By allowing the public to email us issues with pictures, we can quickly assess the priority of the issues and by using this program, we can either ask for additional information and/or send out an email telling the person that the issue has been resolved.”

The partnership allows residents to not only report community issues, but also view, comment on, and vote to fix problems submitted by others. Citizens can even create their own “watch areas” to receive notifications about issues reported throughout the town or just in their neighborhood, enabling them to follow the progress of all service requests.

“Since Gutenberg’s printing press, technology has been used to connect citizens with their government. SeeClickFix extends this tradition by enabling citizens to harness the power of the open web,” said Ben Berkowitz, SeeClickFix CEO. “We’re excited to see how Stonington uses our online technology to empower its residents to take care of their offline community.”

The SeeClickFix Stonington website can be found here: http://seeclickfix.com/stonington and residents can download iPhone, Android, and Blackberry apps here: http://www.seeclickfix.com/apps

About SeeClickFix

SeeClickFix allows citizens anywhere in the world to report and monitor non-emergency community issues ranging from potholes and planted trees to garbage and graffiti. Launched in 2008, it empowers citizens, community groups, media organizations, and governments to work together and improve their neighborhoods. Through mobile web, web, iPhone, Android, and Blackberry apps, the SeeClickFix platform is the most widely-distributed citizen reporting tool in the country. The platform is fun and easy to use for citizens while being inexpensive and easily adaptable for governments. Over 40 percent of issues reported on SeeClickFix are ultimately resolved. For more information or to report an issue, visit www.seeclickfix.com.

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Alpharetta Gets SeeClickFix

SeeClickFix is proud to partner with the City of Alpharetta, GA. Alpharetta recently signed up for a SeeClickFix Plus account and posted a widget on its website for easy access to citizens.

“The cost to adopt SeeClickFix is much less than we would have experienced by building an application from scratch,” explained James Drinkard, Alpharetta’s Assistant City Administrator in a press release on the city's website. “More importantly, the company does not sell or share the personal information of SeeClickFix users, and the application has been proven by use in other communities.”

Citing the opportunity for increased efficiency, Alpharetta's Mayor Arthur Letchas is also excited to start using with SeeClickFix.

“When an issue was reported using our old Citizens In Action Form there was usually not enough information included for us to properly respond to the complaint," said Mayor Letchas. The city would have to deploy a city employee to check out the problem on site.

However, "Using GPS technology and enabling the citizen to include a photograph when they submit the report should allow us in most cases to eliminate that middle man and simply dispatch appropriate personnel to the site,” said that mayor.

We are excited to work with Alpharetta to bring residents there the best possible service and new opportunities for communicating their needs.