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New app enables EL residents to communicate directly with city hall

A vehicle coming down Maine Boulevard dodges a particularly nasty pothole Monday morning. Morning Journal/Stephanie Ujhelyi

EAST LIVERPOOL — The City of East Liverpool is looking to beef up its constituent engagement for the digital age.

Residents and interested parties can now download the GovAlert mobile app, which will allow them to communicate directly with the Powers-That-Be regarding issues of concern.

According to Mayor Ryan Stovall, the app, which comes in both Android and iOS will allow people to report that pesky pothole or blighted property and classify it, including a photo if they wish to demonstrate the need for concern and send it directly to officials.

It not only will eliminate phone calls and walk-ins but provide automatic updates to residents and publicize resolutions.

Stovall took the opportunity late Monday morning to travel out to Maine Boulevard, which has been a bone of contention for many neighborhood residents and motorists for quite some time. As he stood on the side of the road, drivers traversing the road down towards St. Clair Avenue verbally expressed their frustration with the potholes as they maneuvered down the street.

“This road is terrible,” one motorist shouted from her car and Stovall assured the street was on the repair list for resolution in the very near future as he reported it on the new GovAlert app.

The app’s integrated GPS to pinpoint the location of concern before earmarking your report to one of six departments, including police, fire, health, planning or safety-service.

“This app has been nine months in the works here and will allow residents to report abandoned buildings, junk vehicles, weed and overgrown grass complaints just to name a few,” Stovall explained, adding that for immediate police and fire concerns, residents should still call 9-1-1.

Options, for example, under the health department jurisdiction include air pollution, animal bites, hoarding, possible West Nile Virus avian fatalities, foodborne illness and businesses operating without the proper licenses.

Reports about illegal rentals, rodent and cockroach infestation, housing violations and vacant buildings can be directed to the attention of the Planning Department.

Safety-service officials will receive reports, such as requests to remove animal carcass from the road, clogged storm drains, burned out street lights and the dreaded pothole.

The service is part of the city’s contract with GovPilot government management platform, which allows them access to the company’s cloud-based management platform and allows for them to manage and share data 24/7 from any device or location. Think about it as the green alternative, as it switches operations from paper to digital processes and the need for thousands of dollars to be spent on paper and storage annually.

As part of the automatic workflow process implemented with the GovPilot app, the constituent and the designated employee each receive notification of the concern, allowing the clock to start ticking on dealing with the issue.

In the case of potholes, this past winter has been a tough one on city streets due to the temperature changes, and the city had taken measures to provide temporary fixes, said Stovall. However, the cold patch generally finds itself coming up after 30 days, especially if it is hit just right with a snow plow blade, clearing streets.

Under state law, generally municipalities and other government agencies have 30 days after receiving notification of a problem pothole or tirebuster to remedy it before possibly facing other action.

The app also allows city officials to communicate back through email form to the original complainant with updates like “Pothole will be repaired within the next three days.”

Employees also are able to assign the fix to particular employees and detail the cost out of public coffers to remedy the situation in this era of transparency. For example, one may see “filled the hole with tar and gravel” as it details a $30 per hour cost for three hours plus material resulting in a $140 total work cost per an example presented by GovPilot.

Mayor Stovall expects that car craters may be among the largest concerns expressed and vows that with spring coming to see some of those streets, like Fourth Street and St. George, will see some work. “Pothole and street repairs will be the big one… that I am sure of,” he said, adding that he likes how constituents can see their concern travel through the bureaucracy to get possible remedy.

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