About the City of Goodlettsville, TN

The City of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, originally incorporated in 1858 and re-incorporated in 1958 under a City Manager/Commission charter, sits just 12 miles north of Nashville. Spanning both Davidson and Sumner counties, the city serves a diverse population of 17,789 residents.

Residents enjoy a wide range of amenities, including restaurants, retail, quality schools, youth sports, and welcoming green spaces and walking trails, along with strong municipal services and local employment opportunities, all with convenient access to Nashville.

Goodlettsville's Main Street is known for antiques and boutique shopping, and the city has recently welcomed several new restaurants into repurposed buildings. Goodlettsville is also seeing significant revitalization with the redevelopment of the former RiverGate Mall site.

The city is home to two notable historic landmarks: the Bowen House, the oldest brick home in Middle Tennessee, built in 1787 by Captain William Bowen, and Mansker's Fort, a reconstruction of an original frontier settlement. Visitors and school groups are welcome to tour the city's historic sites throughout the year.

What was the challenge that led Goodlettsville to GOGov?

Goodlettsville's communications team was looking to expand its toolkit for reaching residents. With phone ownership now nearly universal, city leadership saw an opportunity to add a mobile-first communication channel that would meet residents where they already are.

As Mary Laine Hucks, Director of Communications, explained, the goal was straightforward: give residents another reliable way to stay connected with the city.

"It feels safe to say that just about everyone has a phone, and the GOGov mobile app is one more communications tool we are thrilled to offer our residents."

What set GOGov apart during the city's search was the level of control it gave staff. Goodlettsville's team wanted the ability to manage the app's look, feel, and content in-house, without waiting on outside developers for every update.

"GOGov's app solution stands out to us in that we can completely manage the app buttons and features completely on our end and in real time."

How is Goodlettsville using GOGov today?

Today, Goodlettsville primarily uses its branded mobile app, My Goodlettsville, alongside GOGov's citizen notifications tools to keep residents informed.

The city uses the app to highlight featured content from the city's website and to link residents directly to special projects and initiatives as they come up. The team also relies heavily on push notifications for instant, direct communication with residents, an especially valuable capability for time-sensitive updates.

Staff have already seen early wins from the app rollout. Residents have shared that they appreciate receiving city updates this way, and the immediacy of push notifications means important information is far less likely to be missed.

"We have had feedback from residents who love to receive updates from the city in this way. Push notifications make it harder to miss timely updates."

Real-world impact: Winter Storm Fern

Goodlettsville's clearest example of GOGov's impact came during a severe weather event. Ahead of Winter Storm Fern, city leadership identified three primary communication channels to keep residents informed once the ice storm hit, and the My Goodlettsville app was one of them.

Over the course of the storm, the app's following and downloads grew substantially as residents turned to it for real-time updates. The city credits the app's ease of use with helping staff move quickly and share timely information exactly when residents needed it most.

"We believe that the app gave residents information they truly needed at that time. The app is so easy to use, and it helped us streamline our communications in a time we needed to act quickly and disburse timely updates."

To measure the app's ongoing reach, Goodlettsville tracks monthly download growth as its primary success metric.

Future plans for Goodlettsville

Looking ahead, Goodlettsville's goal is simple: reach as many residents as possible through the channels they already prefer. Not every resident follows the city on social media or wants to sign up for email updates, which makes the mobile app a critical piece of the city's overall communications strategy.

"We strive to reach every resident, and GOGov helps reach the ones that choose this communication tool. We are pleased to be able to offer the app as another way to follow the city."

Goodlettsville also plans to expand push notification use across additional departments, giving more city teams the ability to share timely updates directly with residents.

Advice to other local governments

When asked what advice she would offer other municipalities considering GOGov, Hucks pointed to the platform's ease of use and its ability to bring more departments into the communications process.

"GOGov has made it very simple to use, and all departments can get into the updating and push notification game if that is what leadership desires. The tool is easy to use, and it is effective."

She also emphasized the importance of meeting residents on the channels they actually use.

"There is definitely an engaged group of residents who choose to follow city updates using the mobile app. Some are not on social media, and some do not wish to subscribe to emails. It's important to reach them where they are."

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