The City of Chester app would be a free download in the Apple and Microsoft stores and will be developed by New York-based GOGov.
Delaware County Council unanimously approved the $13,860 funding that had already been allocated by the Delaware County Interactive Gaming Revenue Authority.
Casinos, such as Harrah’s Philadelphia in Chester, are required by state law to allocate a percentage of their proceeds to the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, which then distributes it to authorities such as the Delaware County Interactive Gaming Revenue Authority.
Residents of Chester will soon have an app that allows them access to city government.
This authority allocates projects, such as the Chester app, to receive the funds. However, county council must also approve these allocations to be distributed.
In this case, the $13,860 will pay GOGov to develop an app for residents and businesses to access Chester government.
“As mayor of the city of Chester, I’ve been committed to increasing and streamlining communication between residents and their local government,” Chester Mayor Stefan Roots said. “To that end, a mobile app for Chester residents would be a high-impact low-cost tool that I would like to create and launch in 2025.”
Residents will be able to access important city information on the Chester City app.
The mayor explained that the app would provide multi-channel communication, including phone notification, e-mails and social media, texting, service request tracking and reporting and analytics for citizens’ requests.
The app will have pages for important city information, contact information and forms. They are hoping to build a community calendar on it so that events across the city can be submitted by residents or organizations and then be displayed after approved by the city.
There’s also the goal to include a citizen request management component so that residents can submit and track progress on issues such as potholes, dumping and other quality-of-life issues.
Other municipalities have expressed satisfaction with the GOGov app for their towns.
“The Town of Benson needed a way to connect with their citizens that allowed for two-way communication and GOGov has made that happen,” Kimberly Pickett, Benson, N.C., town manager, said. “We are able to push event notifications; but most importantly, with a click of a button, citizens are able to report problems, equipped with GPS, and we can respond back to let them know when the work is completed. GOGov was a simple implementation and very easy to navigate through.”
Erik Hopwood, Asset Management Specialist of Oregon City, Oregon, shared similar sentiments.
He explained that GOGov helped the town design, test, and deploy a branded mobile app for Oregon City to accompany its already existing GOGov website form.
“Our citizens can now utilize their preferred communication technologies to inform Public Works, Code Enforcement, and other city departments of issues and make requests,” Hopwood said. “The simple app interface, integrated FAQ section, and automatic geolocating based on photo metadata means that our crews can see the issue and where it is, plan the repair, and bring all required equipment without timely site visits or trips back to the get parts.”
He added that the city staff is also getting better details from citizens while their citizens appreciate the tool.
Roots was appreciative of the funding being approved, so Chester residents can have this at their fingertips.
“As the city of Chester continues to work through bankruptcy, although this is a low-cost tool, our operating budget is incredibly tight, making it challenging to take this step on our own,” he said. “In fact, it wasn’t even in our budget. Thank you … for funding this potentially transformative software package for the city of Chester this year.”
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