The human touch is still at the heart of politics.
But when it comes to City Hall, sometimes it takes a computer to help average residents get a hand.
Suwanee takes the cyberplunge Sept. 7, when it introduces an "online citizen request management system" it's calling SEE (Suwanee Exceeds Expectations).
The electronic program streamlines all parts of the dialogue between the city's departments as well as between the city and its residents. It cost Suwanee $5,000 to set up and $400 a month to maintain, said office administrator Billie Marshall, who is overseeing the project.
But, she adds, it isn't designed to replace personal contact.
"We're not discouraging people from calling us," Marshall said. "We want them to keep calling. We're not eliminating anything from our customer service options here at City Hall — we want to add more."
Many cities feature "contact us" buttons on their Web sites that allow residents to send an e-mail. But most have no way of letting residents track their request or know when to expect a response.
Programs like the one in Suwanee offer faster feedback. Interdepartmental communication is built in. If you send in a request for service from a specific department, it's routed directly to them, without a middleman.
Suwanee is the second city in Georgia — it follows Lilburn by three months — to put in one of these systems.
Like the 98 other U.S. cities who already have, said Kim Hilsenbeck of GovPartner — the company that sells these kinds of "e-government" software products — they are smaller towns on the move.
"Our kind of sweet spot is the cities with populations between 50,000 to 250,000," she said. "[They're] growing cities with a lot going on, from a development perspective or parks and rec perspective."
Each city adapts the program to meet its particular needs. With Suwanee, for instance, there's a spot to request that police check on your home when you're out of town.
Residents will register one time — Suwanee's Web site, www.suwanee.com, will have all the details — and then log in each time. It will ask how they want to be updated on their requests — e-mail? actual letter? — and then follow up, often within the same day.
In the end, Marshall said, this kind of system makes all parts of interacting with a city easier.
In Lilburn, City Council member Diana Preston said people have expressed appreciation for the "accountability factor."
She said they also like being able to take care of city business with the click of a mouse.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Eileen Drennen
Quelle/Source: The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 23.08.2006
