In a special meeting July 25, Lorain City Council approved spending $35,000 for a citizens' response system that will allow residents to report problems like potholes, a neighboring home that's fallen into severe disrepair or a business that stores junked automobiles on its property.
The SeeClickFix program, as it is called, can be accessed by residents via a downloaded app and web portal and supposedly is simple to use.
One example of using the system would be to report a pothole.
If using the app, the user simply takes a picture of the pothole and then sends it in.
A geolocator in the program will provide the exact location of the pothole for city workers to find it.
That information then will be sent to the city it is logged and assigned to a city worker, in this case, the Public Property Department.
SeeClickFix can interface with software already in use by various city departments.
After the work is completed, the worker can check it off.
Whoever assigned the original work order will be notified the job is completed.
The resident who reported the pothole can be kept up-to-date on the progress of the repair if they want to provide an email to the app before using it.
Council members were given a presentation of the SeeClickFix program during a meeting of the Building and Lands Committee conducted prior to the special call meeting.
The city received a 20 percent discount by going ahead and making the purchase right away.
The contract lasts a year.
"This system has follow-up, including closure, which I believe is important." Lorain's Information Technology Director Dave Comer said.
Comer said that follow-up will allow the city to close the loop when a request for repairs is submitted by a resident.
Currently, the city allows residents to report problems through a link on its website via the Citizen Request Tracker.
Comer said that the program has been in use for years and "has never been a good system from the get-go."
The Citizen Request Track would allow a resident to make a complaint but did not provide internal controls that alerted city workers to assign it to be fixed and then track the progress of the repair.
That created a situation where a resident might report a pothole and then never hear back from the city, Comer said.
"It was a system that had no follow-up," he said. "It had no closure, not reporting.
"When somebody might report something, we didn't answer them. There's nothing worse than taking the time and saying I got a problem and nobody answering them."
According to its website, SeeClickFix "empowers residents to report issues, identify repair needs, share feedback and ask questions of their local government leaders."
In addition, the program, powers efficient and transparent workflows, fostering accountability and trust, the website states.
Hundreds of communities already are using SeeClickFix, according to a spokesman for CivicPlus, the company which owns SeeClickFix.
Council members grilled representatives with questions about the product during their presentation.
They wanted assurances that city workers couldn't manipulate the system to extend work deadlines.
"If it does not get done in (assigned) time, it will start sending out (internal) emails saying this isn't done," a SeeClickFi spokeswoman said
It also will escalate to the supervisor-level so that the supervisor is aware the project has not been completed.
Council also wanted assurances that residents who report problems can do so while remaining anonymous.
"You can be, but you won't be contacted by email." for an update on the complaint, Comer said.
Mayor Jack Bradley said the new program will give the city an extra set of eyes in that residents might see something that city workers overlooked and can report it.
"I think we'll at least be able to have a record of when a pothole or another situation is reported, and the citizen will get feedback when the problem is addressed," Bradley said.
© 2022 The Morning Journal, Lorain, Ohio. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
