By Josh Troy, Clarksdale Advocate
Clarksdale residents will soon be able to file their complaints with the city online. The Board of Mayor and Commissioners approved hiring Granicus to provide an interactive service that will allow citizens to file their complaints by downloading a mobile app. Granicus has already been working with the city and is expected to provide training on how the app will work in the near future. Then, citizens will be able to download the mobile app.
Ward 3 Commissioner Willie Turner proposed using Granicus to provide the service. “The purpose of this software is to provide quality interactive service to the deserving citizens of Clarksdale,” he said. “It will allow citizens to file their complaints online, and it will hold everyone accountable in ensuring that the complaints are addressed in the order they were filed and keep citizens up to date on where the City is in resolving their specific complaints. Citizens will be able to download a mobile app and upload potholes, reporting exact locations where something is in need of repair. It is my hope that this is another step in moving our city in the right direction.”
Turner talked about how the service will benefit both the City and its department heads. “This will benefit the City in a number of ways; it will free department heads and other staff who receive citizen complaints from a lot of calls and text messages regarding what needs to be done. Everyone connected to this program will be able to see what has been reported,” he said. “And, as I said earlier, it will hold everyone accountable and give some relief to the employees who are generally swamped with calls. They will then be able to redirect their energies to focus on tasks along with their entire team because the software will become the intake tool for the bulk of complaints.
Turner saw the benefits of the mobile app elsewhere and made a similar proposal for the City of Clarksdale. “It was getting frustrating trying to get work done,” he said. “I struggled with watching items getting done that came up after my requests. I know we have gotten a lot of things done during this administration, but this software will help us get our business in order. I saw this work in a neighboring state and thought it would be perfect for our City. The cost will be cheaper than hiring an employee to keep up with the complaints and this frees up employees to focus on the tasks they were hired to do.
“In closing, I highly recommend this software!”
