Thomas Gaudett, Office of the Mayor (Bridgeport, CT). SeeClickFix User Summit 2017

1. Improving the Quality of
Life in Our Cities
Thomas Gaudett, Office of the Mayor (Bridgeport, CT)
User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT
How an efficient 311 system can be used to manage city operations

2. User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT
A Snapshot of Bridgeport, CT
▪ Largest population in the State of Connecticut (~145,000 people)
▪ Budget challenges internally, and externally (i.e. State of CT’s budget)
▪ There is a large demand for city services:
➢ Education System
➢ Police Department
➢ Social Services
➢ Blight, Illegal Dumping, and Graffiti
➢ Potholes
➢ Zoning and Environmental Issues

3. User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT
Do tools like SeeClickFix work for cities
where there is…
1. A lot of demand for city services;
1. A need for more personnel to provide
services; and,
1. A tight budget, insufficient to address
all of the needs of the community?
Yes!

4. Yes because…
1. Internal efficiency allows you to do more
with less.
User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT

5. User Summit . 2017
✓ Issues are routed to the appropriate
departments and the appropriate people
within those departments;
✓ Issues are easily searchable;
✓ Automatic emails keep the citizen
engaged and informed;
✓ Custom canned responses make
responding to issues more efficient.
✓Data informs decision-making.
Internal
Efficiency
Doing More With Less
City of Bridgeport, CT

6. User Summit . 2017
✓ In Bridgeport, SeeClickFix has helped make
our internal processes for receiving and
responding to constituent issues more
efficient.
✓Issues are going to the right people and being
addressed faster than before.
✓We are better able to research and track the
progress of issues.
✓The system has improved our engagement
and communications with our residents.
Internal
Efficiency
Doing More With Less
City of Bridgeport, CT

7. Yes because…
2. Every city should set a high standard for
citizen service
User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT

8. ✓Using SeeClickFix, citizens can report
issues to local government on the web or
via mobile app.
✓ Citizens can follow issues, comment on
issues, vote on issues, etc.
✓Citizens are given the power that they
need and deserve to address the common
issues addressed by local government.
Citizen
Service
Setting A High Bar
User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT

9. User Summit . 2017
✓ In Bridgeport, we have seen a
noticeable increase in citizen
engagement.
✓Many of our constituents have told us
that they are happy that the city has a
web and mobile app platform for
reporting their issues and following up
with city officials.
✓ Citizens have seen their issues resolved
when they use the system.
Citizen
Service
Setting A High Bar
User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT

10. Yes because…
3. Every city should be committed to
openness and transparency
User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT

11. ✓ Because issues posted on SeeClickFix
are available for public oversight and
comment, SCF is a very open and
transparent platform.
✓Ultimately, transparency makes local
governments vulnerable.
✓However, transparency gives incentives
for local governments to follow up on
citizen issues and allows citizens to keep
government accountable.
Openness &
Transparency
Setting A High Bar
User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT

12. User Summit . 2017
✓ In Bridgeport, we have made a commitment
to openness and transparency in a number of
ways, including our city budget.
✓Launching SeeClickFix helped expand our
commitment to transparency in the area of
citizen response management.
✓Knowing that citizens are following the
issues that are reported keeps us committed to
resolving these issues in a timely and
appropriate manner.
Openness &
Transparency
Setting A High Bar
User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT

13. Unfortunately…
Every city will make mistakes or will fall
behind in an effort to address a citizen
concern.
User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT
But…
Every city can learn from these mistakes
and do better next time.

14. Problem:
Citizens were reporting abandoned vehicle
across the city and they were building up
much faster than we could address them.
Resolution:
The Police Chief assigned specific people
within the department to address these issues
full time to get rid of the backlog and to keep
up with the pace of reports.
Example 1
Abandoned Vehicles
User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT

15. Problem:
Blight complaints coming in through
Bridgeport 311 were not being addressed and
closed out properly.
Resolution:
We decentralized management of blight issues
and gave complete control to the Anti-Blight
Dept. We also created more customized
canned messages for closing out blight issues.
Example 2
Blight
User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT

16. Problem:
Health Dept. related issues were being
reported to the city but we did not have the
appropriate citizen request categories.
Resolution:
We created categories for environmental
health issues, housing issues, etc. and trained
our Health Dept. staff on how to manage
issues in the system.
Example 3
Health Department Issues
User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT

17. User Summit . 2017
SeeClickFix is a powerful tool that cities can
use to receive, manage, and respond to citizen
complaints.
Cities where there is a relatively heavier
burden on city services can benefit the most
from an efficient, effective, and transparent
311 tool.
Ultimately, by using SeeClickFix, cities will be
able to maximize their ability to respond to
constituent issues.
User Summit . 2017City of Bridgeport, CT