When it comes to providing top-notch resident services, small towns often struggle to keep up with larger municipalities. In an era characterized by rapid modernization, increased constituent expectations, shrinking budgets and unpredictable outside disruptions like the COVID-19 pandemic, local governments’ reliance on arcane paper-based processes were draining the borough of Prospect Park's scarce resources and limiting its ability to fully serve residents. That is why the borough has made it a priority to lead when improving residents' access to municipal services. We decided it was time to take action and embrace digital transformation by going paperless as well as adopting a modern, cloud-based, government management platform, launching a custom-branded mobile app and updating its community facing website.

In 2022, The New Jersey State League of Municipalities and National League of Cities recognized our borough for innovation in governance in honor of our work to digitize access to municipal services through our town’s MyProspectPark app. The unique and custom-branded app, available on the Apple and Google Play Stores, through a partnership with GOGov, provides residents an easy-to-use information hub that allows them to report potholes, apply for permits, submit service requests, contact borough staff and access town policies and other municipal resources. As a result, community engagement has increased significantly and residents have enjoyed the ability to access services and town resources right in the palm of their hands.

Our work to improve access to municipal service is part of our wider initiative to improve our municipal infrastructure, including resurfacing our streets and remediating our water and sewage line infrastructure. Maintaining reliable roadways and water and sewage lines is as essential to the borough’s responsibility to its residents as the town’s duty to provide residents with always-on access to resources of all kinds.

Read the full article at https://www.northjersey.com/ (limited free articles:

‍