City looks to technology upgrades to improve services

The City of Sedalia is jumping into the electronic age.

People should soon have quicker response to complaints, find updated ordinances online and have police officers with tools to better equip them in their jobs.

The Sedalia City Council heard about plans during a work session Monday to bring more services online and make the city run more efficiently through upgrades in technology.

City Administrator Keith Riesberg talked to the council about a proposal from Municipal Code Corporation to review and recommend upgrades to the city code, which has not been substantially revised since 1982.

The company would put city ordinances in a digital format, check for conflicts in other sections and with Missouri statues and index by department so each could review its applicable section. The company would make the Muncipal  Code available on its Web site for a $400 annual fee, and make updates as needed. Its proposal came in at just under $16,000, and would take about a year to complete, Riesberg said.

The council is scheduled to take action on the proposal  at its June 16 meeting.

Several city councilmen have requested an overhaul of city codes to clarify and update ordinances. The council previously budgeted $24,000 for the project.

Even after the project is completed, ordinances will continue to change and be reviewed, Riesberg said.

“Your code book is going to be a living document that has to be updated on a regular basis,” he said.

Some people said they like the online availability so that people can find information at the click of a mouse.

City workers have found a way to better serve the people on another front. Brian Koral, assistant to the city administrator, told the council about a revised complaint system that allows city workers to respond faster and keep people more informed about their request.

Workers have eliminated the paper system.

The new, electronic system has a Web-based form that is e-mailed to the appropriate department then given to work crews. The worker enters in the action taken and an e-mail is sent to the complainant.

“Every time action is taken, the citizen will get an e-mail letting them know what’s going on,” Koral said.

He gave an example of how the system recently worked. Ellen Cross, an administrative assistant in the Public Works Department, took a call from a woman who had a flooded basement. Cross used the electronic form, and the woman’s problem was quickly addressed.

“The citizen was in Ellen’s office at 11 a.m. with chocolates because she was so thankful,” Koral said.

Koral said the system, adopted in April, improves service, solves problems faster, tracks progress and identifies areas of chronic problems. The program is a feature through the city’s new Web site, and can generate reports based on complaints by ward, type of complaint and response times. It can also link related service requests.

“You start to see where the issues are and how quickly we are responding to them,” Koral said of the reports.

City workers plan to put the electronic form on the city’s Web site in the next couple of months for people to fill out themselves. Koral said people can still call their councilmen or City Hall, if they prefer.

“This just gives folks one more avenue,” he said.

The Police Department is also looking at becoming more efficient by replacing its 1997 electronic record system with a Windows-based program.

Monte Richardson, the city’s information technology manager, gave an overview of the new system, which is expected to cost about $394,000 and take more than a year to put in place.

Dispatchers train for months on the “green screen” system, which is difficult to search and requires learning codes, Richardson said. The Windows system is easy to learn and has more features that can show more information, such as whether a person has a concealed- carry permit or which officers on duty have paramedic training.

The new program also includes geographic information system (GIS) information to show maps of pinpointed locations and floor plans of buildings, such as a high school.

Richardson said the new system — which includes the software, maintenance, servers, computers and laptops — should last 10 to 15 years.
The council is expected to review a proposal for the upgrade with New World Systems at its June 16 meeting. Riesberg said the council previously budgeted $140,000 for the project, but expected it to span two fiscal years. He said the city had the money even though it is costing more than anticipated because sales tax revenues were higher than expected.