A digital solution could arrive this spring for residents who are frustrated or annoyed with not having enough change to plug a parking meter.
The City of Moose Jaw has been working to create a mobile parking app that would allow motorists to pay for metered parking using their smartphones instead of fishing for coins. During its Sept. 21 regular meeting, council authorized city administration to issue a request for proposals for the development of such an app.
City manager Jim Puffalt gave council an update about the project’s progress during the most recent council meeting. He explained that city hall received 15 proposals, with eight of them being “meh” and the remaining seven looking “really good.”
It does not look as if there will be any cost to the city, while motorists will have to pay only a minimal fee when they purchase a parking stall, he continued. City hall will soon interview the seven companies and inform council during its March 8 meeting of which one is the best.
City administration expects to have the parking app in place by the spring, Puffalt added.
City phone app
City administration also provided an update during the recent meeting about the number of service calls it received through its phone app during the fourth quarter of 2020.
As of Dec. 31, 4,311 people had downloaded the service app to either their Apple iOS (2,768) or Android (1,543) device. November was the busiest month for accessing the app, with 9,347 sessions on Apple devices and 4,597 sessions on Android, totalling 13,944 sessions.
Residents submitted 1,755 tickets to city hall during the fourth quarter, with most service requests directed to public works (884), followed by the water utility (528), bylaws (207) and parks and recreation (87).
This total was down from 2,253 service requests in Q3 last year, the data showed.
Broken down by issue type, the top concerns included 528 residents with water meter reading problems, 305 users with issues about garbage, 211 people with concerns about winter maintenance, and 207 residents with bylaw enforcement problems.
The average time it took to resolve issues included 75 days for transit, 30 days for internal bylaw edits, 26 days for internal building concerns, 25 days for animal control issues, 24 days for sidewalk issues, 16 days for recycling, 12 days for parks and green spaces, and 11 days for general suggestions.
Council discussion
“I’m a huge fan of this app,” said Coun. Crystal Froese, noting she has used it several times to upload pictures about graffiti.
While many people have used the phone app to submit concerns, dozens of residents have also phoned city hall to lodge concerns, prompting employees to enter the data for those residents, explained Wade McKay, director of information technology.
City employees ask residents for their email address or phone number if they want a follow-up message, he added. This means residents don’t need to have the phone app to submit their concerns.
“People can continue to phone. I love what we’re doing here,” said Froese, adding this modernization of municipal business — such as paying tickets online and reporting water meter readings virtually — is moving Moose Jaw forward.
The next regular council meeting is March 8.
