Stepping up the use of technology to make government services more timely and efficient, St. Charles Parish government has developed a new online service to report problems with streetlight outages, garbage bins and debris removal.
By automating service requests, the parish’s response time should be reduced from months to days, said Luis Martinez, coordinator with the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Office.
Martinez designed the software for the service.
“We developed everything in-house,” he said. “One of the driving reasons to do this was the contract office was overwhelmed with requests, but this online service streamlines the entire process.”
To submit a request, visit www.scpreportit.com, create a username, confirm the account by email and submit the request to the parish’s Contract Monitor’s Office, which handles these requests.
“The features of this system will make the parish more accountable to our residents and will better organize the way we communicate their concerns to our contractors,” Martinez said.
Requests also become part of an interactive map online.
Once the address has been acquired, the map will automatically pull up the residence with nearby streetlights visible. A user can hover over a streetlight and attach a request and choose a method to be notified. To report a trash bin concern or debris removal, a user can hover over their residence and click. The user can log back in and check the status of a request. The system also allows users to see requests in progress by clicking on “Search and Browse Feedback.”
Residents can provide feedback on major parish projects by clicking on the “Projects” tab.
“The map allows a council member to zoom into a district and see the number of requests, as well as the progress on those requests,” he said.
Martinez said the service provides residents with 24/7 access by allowing them to submit requests at their convenience.
The Contract Monitor’s Office also be able to update and notify a resident about the status of a request as soon as it’s received.
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