Mission residents will now find it easier to report concerns to the city with the launch of their own 311 app, an interactive civic engagement app.
The city unveiled the new app, called MyMission311, earlier this week which will enable Mission residents to report municipal issues.
The app was developed by GOGov, a company that specializes in software of local governments.
Kevin Strauss, vice president of sales for GOGov, delivered a presentation on the app and its capabilities to the Mission city council on Monday.
“Essentially what we’re providing is a software that has aspects both citizen and staff-facing to help track and manage citizen requests and concerns,” Strauss told the council over the phone.
The citizen-facing aspect centers on the app itself which is available for free on both Apple and Android devices.
“The purpose of the app really is three main things that we’re going to be able to have citizens do once they download it. The first one is to get all sorts of useful information at their fingertips,” Strauss said.
That information includes details about elected officials and a city calendar with upcoming events.
The second use is the ability for residents to receive messages and alerts from the city.
“So the city is going to have the capability to draft up messages for things like road closures, COVID updates, event announcements, public meeting announcements and send those out via push alert to any citizen that has the app on their device,” Strauss said.
The app’s third capability is the ability for residents to report problems or concerns they may find throughout the city.
“Whether that’s a road and streets issue, a code enforcement concern, I need help getting my garbage or some brush picked up — whatever it happens to be, I will be able to do that,” he said.
Through the app, residents will be able to submit service requests for those types of concerns and will also be able to submit photos of the issues with the request, Strauss explained.
After submission, residents will also be able to track their request via the app.
“The way that this gets set up, I mentioned there was a staff-facing component, is that based on the specific type of thing that’s being reported, there is a pre-determined staff member who’s going to get assigned that when it gets submitted,” Strauss said. “So this ensures that when citizens report things, it goes then, quickly and easily, directly to the folks that handle and work on those. And then there’s the staff software to go ahead and track and manage the various different things that are submitted.”
When the issue is closed out by city staff, the resident who submitted will be notified by a push alert. Clicking on the alert will take them to the app where it will show that the request was closed out and where there will be an explanation of how the issue was resolved.
“We wanted to develop another avenue for civic engagement using a technology most residents already possess—a smartphone,” Mission Mayor Armando O’Caña said in a news release issued Tuesday. “The introduction of this new interactive city app, will make it easier for our citizens to report issues that are affecting them like illegal dumping and it also helps us to engage more with our residents.”
City Manager Randy Perez said they wanted residents to have the ability to upload photos from the camera gallery on their smartphone and shorten the time it takes for the city to address complaints.
“Now it only takes seconds to generate a case reference number for the reported issue, we improve communication and the department is notified immediately that an issue has been submitted,” Perez stated in the release.
The app is now available to download.
Those seeking more information on the app or how to download it can call (956) 451-0303.
