Clay County, Fla., Consolidates Services to a Single Touchpoint

A new mobile app launched in Clay County, Fla., offers constituents an improved digital government experience.

The app, called Clay Connected, was launched at the end of November to provide residents with an efficient way to get information, request services and report problems.

State and local government agencies in the past decade have begun turning to mobile applications as a way to offer a smoother customer experience for digital services. An improved digital government experience, something that has become more critical through the COVID-19 pandemic, can be a way to build public trust and make services more accessible.

According to the county’s Communications Director Laura Christmas, the app and its corresponding online platform were created to centralize processes of reporting issues, which previously differed by individual department.

“We wanted to launch this app and the corresponding online platform to give residents just one more way to be able to report issues, get information and let us know of any needs they might have regarding our services,” Christmas stated.

It allows residents to take various actions, from reporting a pothole or other issues in the county to making a request for recycling bins.

For residents who don’t have access to Internet-enabled devices or high-speed Internet, the other avenues of reporting such issues and getting information — like department phone numbers — are still available, but the app offers another method for those with Android or Apple devices to have convenient access to their county government.

The county has a full scope of data collection for the platform, none of which includes personal information, Christmas explained. This will allow the county to understand how many people are using the app, what they’re using it for and any improvements that might need to be made.

The county contracted services with a company called GOGov to create the new touchpoint, which saw its initial soft launch in August 2022. The soft launch approach enabled the county to make tweaks before integrating all departments on the platform. The app is currently live for users, and the county expects all departments to be integrated by the end of this year.

“I think [our residents] like having the opportunity to do this right on their phones,” Christmas said. "The majority of folks are using their phones for everything, and so it’s just one more way that they can utilize them to get things that they need done or report issues.”

The app will be updated as deemed necessary by the county, and GOGov will support the county in making those updates.