The City of Flowery Branch announced at its City Council meeting on Thursday that it has an application ready for citizens to download.
The “My Flowery Branch” app will allow citizens to engage and stay connected with the City. Users can report issues to City staff by using categories on the app such as code enforcement and public works.
“Eventually [the categories] may expand some more, but for now, that's where we're definitely going to start,” Budget Manager Krystle Hightower said. “So it has topics such as sewer parks, water, sidewalks… If you click on the sidewalks, you can have the option to let us know that there is a big sinkhole or the cement is cracked, things like that that we can go out and fix.”
The app will require contact information from users who submit tickets. Individuals can submit anonymous reports, but they must include a phone number so City officials can follow up.
Users can make tax and utility payments through the app and will be able to access links to the City of Flowery Branch’s website. A contact option will be available for citizens to reach out to the mayor or other City staff.
“You can also get notifications,” Hightower said. “So once you download the app, if the user allows push notifications, we can send alerts directly from the office. If there's going to be a water turn off for a specific area for construction, we can send that notification to all users that are currently in that location at the moment. We can also send the alert to everyone. So if [public information officer Renee Carden] wants to send out a mass notification reminder of the Main Street closure, we can set that out and have that scheduled to push out to everyone’s cell phones.”
The app is free to download on the Apple Store or Google Play.
“This idea came from one of our frontline staff in our utility billing department,” Hightower said. “We have tried to create a culture of innovation and have encouraged any of our staff that see any improvements that we can make, please bring them forward.”
