There seems to be a lot of
discussion out there surrounding the need to improve the efficiency and
technological capabilities of our government to meet the advancing needs of the
public. We are hearing it in Obama’s
State of the Union Speech, in our daily newspapers and across political party
lines. The old way of doing things, just
doesn’t cut it anymore. We need to
become more efficient to remain more fiscally and environmentally
responsible. Yet during a state of
political unrest at the federal level, it appears to be harder to implement
these themes of change to modernize our government in order to improve
efficiency and transparency. If you’re
starting to get frustrated at the seemingly never-ending delays in this
process, have faith. Just turn to your
local state or city municipality. More and more local governments are starting
to take matters into their own hands and leading innovation
and change on their own terms.
The value of such change is
so apparent that the U.S. Conference of Mayors recently launched a Technology
and Innovation Task Force. The Task
Force, which is lead by San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee, will focus on using
technology to foster innovation and transparency in local municipalities. Some of the major priorities of the Task
Force will be to build public and private partnerships, establish community
engagement and increase access to public data to improve public services. The committee will even outline priorities
and best practices to advise Congress and the Obama Administration. The Technology and Innovation Task Force may
want to take notes from the City of Fontana, which has recently launched an “Access Fontana” application with
PublicStuff to do just that.
The City of Fontana, which
has been highlighted recently in Strong
Cities | Strong State , a resource that highlights city success stories in
the state of California, established the app to further improve communication
and access to public services. Through
the online and mobile platform, residents are able to request a variety of City
services specific to the region including graffiti cleanup, pothole repairs and
dead animal pickups in an easy, efficient manner. The system is powered by PublicStuff, which
has been working with the City of Fontana to strengthen the lines of
communication between the City and its residents and increase efficiency in
responding to public requests.
The “Access Fontna” app will help improve transparency among its
citizens and also allow City staff to streamline their response process through
the PublicStuff professional software management system. The technology even allows for citizens to
track their requests, support requests made by other citizens and receive
status updates. The use of this
innovative system is planned to help increase active community engagement,
streamline the work order process at the City level and enhance public
satisfaction.
To test out “Access
Fontana” visit the following links:
Online Portal: www.publicstuff.com/fontana-ca
iPhone App: www.publicstuff.com/iphone/fontana-ca
Android App: www.publicstuff.com/android/fontana-ca
Do you have an idea of how we can
further improve the application? Provide
us with your feedback.
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