18 June, 2013
Secretary of Administration and Finance Glen Shor today joined officials from the City of Boston and local officials from participating municipalities to formally launch the Commonwealth Connect app used by 54 cities and towns across the Commonwealth.
The smart phone application is based on the Citizens Connect app developed for use by the City of Boston and allows residents to report quality of life problems, such as graffiti and potholes, in real time directly to their local government for resolution.
“The Patrick Administration is committed to providing communities with tools and resources to improve the delivery of services our citizens want,” said Secretary of Administration and Finance Glen Shor. “Commonwealth Connect is just one more example of how we are creating innovative ways to empower the people of Massachusetts to build stronger and safer communities."
Since its early release in some communities in January 2013, over four thousand service requests have been submitted from 40 different participating cities and towns, over 1,300 issues have been reported by residents via the mobile app, and nearly 3,400 service requests have been completed. Already, over 2,400 people have downloaded the mobile app, which works on both iPhones and Android phones.
“Commonwealth Connect makes it even easier for residents and government to partner on creating great neighborhoods,” said Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. “I am appreciative of the Commonwealth’s leadership and support on this project, scaling an approach that’s working well in Boston to municipalities across the State.”
Commonwealth Connect is made possible by a Community Innovation Challenge (CIC) Grant provided by the Patrick Administration awarded to the City of Boston. Launched in the FY12 budget and administered by the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, the CIC Grant program invests in innovations that have the potential to lower costs and improve critical services through regionalization, new uses of technology, and improved management practices.
To use Commonwealth Connect, residents with smart phones download the app, snap a photo of a problem and submit it to their local government. The residents get a tracking number for their case and can see when their issue is resolved. Nearly half of the municipalities also use Commonwealth Connect as a feature on their website, making it easy for residents to report issues on-line as well.
Commonwealth Connect was developed in partnership between the City of Boston and its vendor SeeClickFix. Based in New Haven, CT, SeeClickFix is one of the pioneers of apps and services that allow residents to act on issues they see in their neighborhoods.
Participating municipalities include Andover, Ayer, Barnstable, Bedford, Boston, Braintree, Brookfield, Chelsea, Chicopee, Chilmark, Clarksburg, Eastham, Easton, Everett, Fall River, Fitchburg, Framingham, Franklin, Halifax, Haverhill, Holliston, Hopkinton, Lexington, Lowell, Malden, Medway, Melrose, Middleborough, Nantucket, Needham, New Bedford, Newton, North Adams, North Andover, Northampton, Orange, Quincy, Randolph, Revere, Royalston, Saugus, Seekonk, Somerville, Sudbury, Swampscott, Taunton, Wakefield, Ware, Watertown, West Boylston, Westborough, Whitman, Woburn, and Worcester.
Hopkinton’s Commonwealth Connect page is online at http://www.hopkintonma.gov/home/about/mobile/connect.
This project is the latest of many recent additions to Hopkinton’s website. In 2012, the Town of Hopkinton migrated to Google Apps for Government. This allowed unprecedented levels of collaboration between all town and school departments, boards, committees and the public. Using Google Sites for internal and public websites and dashboards, Google Calendars and Drive for meetings, agendas and web documents, and linking Google Groups to mail lists, RSS, Google+, Twitter and Facebook, Hopkinton is reaching more people than ever, while making local government more transparent.
