Just rolled over a pesky pothole? Dead skunk in the middle of your road? Or maybe a passing plow just inadvertently whacked your mailbox.

Beginning Monday, December 14, Newtown residents or other visitors to the town website are be able to visit a new web-based “click to fix” tool currently dubbed the “Public Works Service Request System.” The user-friendly system permits visitors to quickly identify a variety of concerns to public works staffers who will prioritize and dispatch crews to respond via wireless tablets being carried in town vehicles.

Putting the system into place has been a goal for First Selectman Pat Llodra for nearly four years, and it became a top priority about a year ago when Newtown’s IT Director Al Miles was hired. Implementation was delayed, however, because the town also needed to hire and train a Geographic Information System (GIS) specialist.

That individual, Kevin O’Connell, started work a few months ago, and along with other IT and DPW staffers, and Pubic Works Director Fred Hurley helped ready the system for a test run before the Board of Selectmen on December 7, one week ahead of public launch.

While the system should greatly enhance what Mr Miles referred to as resident “customer service,” it is tied to a back office program that will help officials and various department supervisors identify recurring problem road conditions, track trends, and gauge response times of crews dispatched to address concerns.

Mrs Llodra and Mr Hurley both heralded the new web system as a long time coming.

Residents will be able to turn to staffers at C.H. Booth Library for assistance in learning about the system. Mr Miles told The Newtown Bee that his staff is working with library personnel, training them on how to support residents who are less familiar with web-based technology of this nature.

The Service Request System

Leading selectmen through a demonstration, Mr Miles and Mr O’Connell opened up a web page that residents will see when they click through from a button located on the home page at newtown-ct.gov. The button is located near the bottom of the page’s left-side banner.

The initial webpage opens on a GIS map of the town with a left hand menu containing a start button, a “map tools” link, a button to switch the map style from ledger to satellite, as well as a list of icons that could appear on the map once a service request or other public works issue is identified.

The icons visitors could see on the map range, from identifying buildings and banners to targeting catch basin cleaning, street sweeping, tree concerns, drainage issues, mailbox damage, snow plowing concerns, illegal dumping, even dead animal pickup.

Once a visitor begins a service request, they are led through a series of pop-up menus designed to quickly identify both the incident and individual making contact. Some limited contact information is required so the system or DPW staffers can interact with those filing.

Everyone initiating a call for service through the system will get a reply email that their notice was received, and may get added correspondence that could include photos of completed work. Every resident filing through the system will also get a final confirmation that the issue was addressed after the file is reviewed and closed by DPW management.

The first pop-up asks visitors to input a street location and the nearest address of the concern. Then they are asked to click the map on or near the address of the issue.

This activated a new pop-up that takes more information, provides a pull down list to better identify the exact problem, and even lets visitors upload photos they may have snapped with their phone or digital camera to help pinpoint the issue.

At that point, a case specific icon will appear on the map along with another pop-up noting the request was received and that a public works staffer will be in touch by phone or email if necessary to further expedite the appropriate response.

As the system becomes more popular, anyone visiting the site can view and track the various projects in process on the GIS map. Icons will appear as new calls for service are identified and disappear once completed.

During the demonstration, Selectman Rodgers noted that the system should not be used for emergency repairs or conditions like fires or wires down; by the next morning, a prompt to call 911 about imminent hazards was added to the system.