City of Macon in Top 10 for SeeClickFix Use

On August 31, 2012, the City of Macon was ranked 5th in the country for responsiveness to community-reported issues using SeeClickFix. On Tuesday, September 4, Macon had moved up to the 4th spot. The rankings can be viewed by clicking here (http://seeclickfix.com/recent_place_stats) and are determined by the amount of activity, percentage of issues fixed, and the average days it took to fix. The ratings are a snapshot of a city or county’s responsiveness to the issues, and the data is updated on a daily basis.

The City of Macon has been using SeeClickFix since April 2012 as a way for people to place service requests and receive real-time status updates through an online and mobile interface. The place-based reporting platform allows residents to document neighborhood concerns and improvements alike, ranging from litter to damaged sidewalks to missing garbage carts. Using this real-time, online reporting system can increase productivity, efficiency, and transparency for many city services and departments.

Currently, the system is being used for issues and concerns that can be addressed by the Public Works Department. This includes issues with streets, garbage, drainage, debris collection, dead animals in the road, graffiti removal, fallen trees, illegal dumping, eviction debris, and more. The Public Works Department was selected due to the high volume of day-to-day issues that they are able to address. Since the program was implemented in Macon, the Public Works Department has reviewed 4,858 issues and resolved 4,204 of those.

The first year of this program is being funded with a $5,000 grant from the Knight Fund for Macon at the Community Foundation of Central Georgia. By funding this effort, it continues the effort to encourage and promote government transparency and civic engagement in Macon and other communities.

Instructions on the ways you can access the SeeClickFix system can be found by downloading the file linked below. Residents without online or mobile capabilities can still report issues to the City by calling the Customer Service Desk at 751-7400.

About SeeClickFix in Macon
With the online and mobile reporting application, residents can report concerns through service request categories via the City’s website (www.cityofmacon.net and selecting the “Report An Issue” button on the left side), custom mobile applications for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry via www.seeclickfix.com/apps, a Facebook App, and SeeClickFix.com. The phone apps are free.

The interface for reporting issues is very user-friendly, utilizing drop down selection menus and simple clarifying questions. When submitting issues via mobile app, for example, residents can select from a list of issues and provide a description, including location and picture. Once the resident submits an issue, anyone ‘watching’ the area will receive an alert. The City can then acknowledge the service request, route it to the proper department, and update the request—and residents following the issue—once it’s been resolved.

The partnership allows residents to not only report community issues, but also view, comment on, and fix problems submitted by their neighbors. Citizens can create their own “watch areas” to receive notifications about all issues reported in their community, enabling them to follow the progress of all service requests – not just the ones they report.