By March 1 an information system for urban management called “Electronic City” will be launched in Odesa, a major city in southern Ukraine, announced Serhiy Dubenko, adviser to the mayor. As reported by the publication IT Vesti, the purpose of the system will be to improve control by city officials and their staff over carrying out their responsibilities.
After the system is launched, Odesa inhabitants will be able to send an electronic request or application regarding a city problem, including photos of the problem area (such as trash that has not been picked up or a parking violation committed by a city employee).
Each request will be assigned a unique number, which will allow the user to track the status of the message to departments, to receive an answer, or to be notified about the elimination of the problems identified in the report.
On the other side, the electronic system will allow city officials to monitor the effectiveness of city services. On each request will be the label of “control” with the manager who will be required to report on the work completed by the person who responds to the request from the original applicant. Reports will also be provided to the city government on the effectiveness of work on the requests submitted by citizens.
Applications will be accepted both in electronic and paper form. If the person does not have access to the Internet, they can bring the paper version of the report and have it scanned and entered into the electronic system.
After the management system is launched, plans include introducing GPS beacons for monitoring city cleaning equipment, a service to allow for real-time tracking of voting results, and a system to allow people to see which city council members are truant at meetings.
This story was first published by Ukraine Digital News.
