By Rich Pollack
Navigating Highland Beach’s website these days can be a challenge.
You want to pay your water bill but it could take a few clicks to get to the right place and then there are forms that you’ll need to fill out.
“I find the website cumbersome,” says Town Manager Marshall Labadie. “As town manager, even I find it cumbersome.”
To fix that, the town is about to launch a mobile app that is designed to make it easier for residents to get information quickly and without having to spend time figuring out how to find the information they need.
“The goal is to make it so that when you need something, it’s easy to get it,” Labadie said. “With today’s technology, easy is possible.”
With the new app, residents will be able to push a button and call the library or other town department from wherever they are without having to spend time looking up the number. They’ll also be able to send a message to a specific department or ask a question with the town providing an answer as quickly as possible right to the resident’s phone.
Through the app, residents will be able to find out when garbage pickup days are, pay their water bills, and let the public works department know about a crack that needs fixing in the walking path.
The app will also come in handy if you want to get updates on the State Road A1A construction project or on the progress of a building permit.
Town news will be available with a click, as will information about town meetings. In the event of a gas leak, the town will be able to send information directly to phones via the app so motorists know to avoid the area.
Labadie said that the app will be structured more in line with the way residents think and less in the way town government thinks.
For example, he said, it would be logical to think that information about the town’s water rate structure would be found under public works, which includes the water treatment plant. Instead, that information is found online under the finance department.
“We have to get out of the residents’ way so residents can get the best services,” he said.
Town staff is in the process of finalizing the app, which could be available to residents as early as this month, Labadie said.
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