Looking for a street address in Manteca?
The day is soon coming when you will be able to click on the city’s website and access the most up-to-date street map available.
Its part of a sweeping technology initiative the city is continuing to implement that will allow council members to access paperless agendas via iPads, utility customers to pay automatically by phone much as they would a credit card bill, and make the public’s interaction with municipal staff more efficient, transparent, and effective.
Information Technology Manager Tim Dyke noted the expanded use of the city’s geographical information system will eventually allow the public to access it via the city website.
The GIS is an extensive data base of everything the city deals with from addresses to the location of infrastructure such as sewer and water lines. It is accessed by various departments such as public works to make sure of infrastructure location.
Before the advent of the GIS data base, there were sewer lines and such in older parts of the city that exact locations were not known as they were part of the institutional knowledge of generations of workers. It also eliminated the need to flip through cumbersome paper maps
Data is added as new streets are constructed.
Dyke told the City Council at their midyear budget review and workshop Tuesday that before the maps are made available for the public privacy concerns will be addressed.
Dyke indicated a redesign of the existing municipal website is now underway with expectations that it will be launched in the spring.
“The website we have now is getting tired,” Dyke said.
It also isn’t conducive to departments that would like to upload information faster for the public to access. The new website is being built in such a manner that will happen complete with training to allow departments to have better control over posting content.
“I’m all for transparency,” Councilman Richard Silverman noted, saying he’d support any endeavor to allow the public access to information that is allowable under law.
The finance department has had a web-based payment system for utilities up and running for a year. They have also added the ability to make payments via phone with a computer system bypassing staff that is often inundated with customers both on the phone and in the lobby on days when payments or due are utilities are about to be turned off.
The public will always have the ability to talk to a person. The system is designed to allow those who simply need to make a payment to do so in a quick and efficient manner.
Silverman was pleased to find out that the city has an automatic bank draft system set up where individuals can authorize payments be taken automatically out of their checking accounts.
He indicated that he plans to sign up for the service as soon as possible.
The city is continuing to convert water meters over to wireless technology that allows them to be read by a radio as a city worker drives by instead of having to stop at each home and manually lift up the water meter box cover and read numbers.
Finance Director Suzanne Mallory said besides reducing billing costs and the manpower to read meters, radio read meters are an effective tool in helping people conserve water.
Harnessing technology to sharpen responses to customers whether it is with street light outage complaints or other issues has been a longtime mantra at city hall.
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On-line reporting for citizens’ concerns
One such example is the online Government Outreach system.
The Internet communication page — which is also accessible from smart phones with free applications — provides citizens with quick and effective communication with city personnel. It covers four different areas — problems, questions, complaints and compliments.
The system is accessible at the city’s website at ci.manteca.ca.us and then clicking on “contact us” at the top left-hand corner of the home page. That brings up the government outreach form.
To make it easier, it gives you a pull down tab once you select one for the four main areas that lists everything the city does from garbage collection to code enforcement issues.
In the case of a street light being burned out, you’d click on street lighting and then provide a pole number or location plus a brief description if warranted.
And once you send it off you get a confirmation with a reference number sent back to your e-mail.
Your inquiry or request is then directed to the proper person. If it happens to end up in the wrong person’s e-mail, city policy requires that person to forward it to the proper person. That puts them on the hook as well until your problem is solved or addressed.
The inquiry is responded to within several days verifying the issue and explaining the course of action being taken or — if it is a question — the answer is returned.
After the problem is resolved, the citizen is sent an email asking them to provide feedback on how the matter was handled.
The system has been in place for about nine years.
Government Outreach eliminates having to try to run down someone in person by dropping by city hall or by phone and then either getting a voice recording. It also allows people to access the city 24/7 with complaints or concerns.
