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2017/11/10 - Walter's Blog: O'Fallon On Demand

Democracy on the Front Lines
City Administrator’s Blog
Walter Denton
 

November 10, 2017

Last month, I reported about we had won the 2017 Voice of the People Award because of our efforts to solicit feedback from O’Fallon residents. I am happy to announce that we are continuing that goal of being open and transparent with a new smartphone app called “O’Fallon on Demand.” Most people interact digitally with their phones, so we have developed an app that will allow you conduct City business on your phone.

O’Fallon on Demand is available for free in the App Store for both iPhones and Android smartphones. Here are some of the new features:

  • Citizen Inquiries: You can report a problem or a question directly through the app. You can even send us a picture. The inquiry will then be logged into our system, so you can track it and it will be posted on a digital map within the app. This way, your question will not be lost and you will be able to see it in the app.
  • Parks & Recreation: You can sign up for all of our recreation programs and facility rentals through the app. View the recreation brochure, register for a program, rent a pavilion, and reserve a meeting all on your phone.
  • Pay bills: You can pay your water/sewer bill, renew a Business Registration, make an ambulance payment, and pay other local taxes through the app.
  • O’Fallon Public Library: You can search for library resources throughout the Illinois library system and request an item to be reserved for you.
  • City meeting agendas and minutes: You can view upcoming meeting agendas and read minutes from previous meetings.
  • Social Media: You can interact with the various City government Facebook and Twitter pages from City Hall, Police, Fire, Library, Parks, and Economic Development.
  • Website: You can access the entire City of O’Fallon website through app in case you cannot find what you are looking for.

In the first two weeks since we launched the app, we have already seen a lot of use. In particular, we are receiving many responses from alert residents who have noticed malfunctioning street lights. In those cases, we contact Ameren to repair since they own and operate street lights in O’Fallon. Here are the stats so far:

  • App Downloads: 570 (390 iOS & 180 Android).
  • Website visits: 951
  • Service Requests Submitted: 44
  • Average Time to Close Request: 1.061 days
  • Most frequent request type: Street Light (22.7%)

We hope the app will be utilized by O’Fallon residents to communicate with us and to take advantage of City services.