Mobile phones have become the norm for people to connect with each other, restaurants, events and social media. Companies are making it easy to shop, pay bills and listen to music online. Yet some local governments have a tendency to keep things the way they’ve always been.
In Rancho Cordova, CA, City leaders look for innovative approaches through technology to engage residents, save money, and promote efficiency. In this spirit, residents in Rancho Cordova can now interact with their local government at the click of a button.
The City of Rancho Cordova partnered with PublicStuff to launch Fresh Connect, a new digital service request system in a desktop version and mobile application.
Whether on the go, at home, or at work, residents can submit, track, and view nearby service requests using both their home computers and mobile devices. The mobile application provides announcements, fun things to do, and even videos about trending topics. Plus, the system tracks the location of resident requests using mobile GPS and GIS mapping software, which can then be displayed on a variety of mapping tools to help the City quickly identify problem areas.
“The City is trying to find creative ways to interact with our community. Fresh Connect is a tech savvy way to get information quickly from City Hall to residents, business professionals, and visitors.” – Mayor Robert McGarvey
Rancho Cordova is one of the most diverse communities in Northern California. To ensure Fresh Connect is available to all Rancho Cordovans, the system is built to support over 50 languages so residents can submit and receive requests in their native language.
City staff finds the system to be more user friendly than prior systems, allowing them to increase efficiency and save resources. All technical support is provided by PublicStuff, saving resources in the City’s Information Technology Department. Prior to Fresh Connect, City staff had to make dual entries into different tracking systems used by individual departments. Fresh Connect eliminates this redundancy to ensure residents receive quicker responses.
For the second year in a row, the City was recognized for its fresh take on technology as a Digital Cities Survey Winner by e.Republic’s Center for Digital Government. Rancho Cordova ranked fourth in the “less than 75,000 population category” for its top 10 Information Technology-related Initiatives.
“This year’s Digital Cities’ winners brought about impressive change across all aspects of government by leveraging information technology investments to expand open government, citizen participation, and shared services. Winning cities spanned the nation, indicating a trend that more and more cities are making it a priority that digital government be easier to access, navigate and interact with.” – Todd Sander, Executive Director of the Center for Digital Government
Rancho Cordova’s innovative approach is one of the meanings behind the City’s new brand, “A Fresh Take on Rancho Cordova.” Rancho Cordova is home to 67,000 residents and 47,000 business professionals. Explore the City’s fresh take by visiting CityOfRanchoCordova.org.
To view the mobile application, search for and download Fresh Connect in the Apple App Store or Google Play. Click here to submit a service request online.
*This post was originally authored by Ashley Downton, Communications Specialist at the City of Rancho Cordova, on the PublicStuff blog.
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