Keeping Residents Better Informed Via Smartphones

Like many local municipalities, Newtown Township has no official Twitter Account or Facebook page to help keep residents informed about public meetings, special events, public service notices, public works projects, etc.

For emergencies such as road closures and power outages, Newtown relies on the Police Department to post notices on its Twitter account. That’s fine, but how many residents actually use Twitter these days? And the amount of information that can be included in a tweet is very limited (280 characters)!

For public meeting announcements, the Township relies on its website calendar and/or public notices published in the classified sections of local newspapers. But how many people will bother to visit the website or read the classified sections of local newspapers? Not many. Also, the costs prohibit posting many details such as a full agendas of meetings and other information.

The Parks and Recreation Department sends out information via email to people who have opted-in to receive the messages. This is OK if you just want information about programs offered by the Parks and Recreation Department. But what if you also want to be notified about other official activities sponsored or endorsed by the Township plus emergencies and/or public meeting announcements, public works project information, special events, etc.?

Wouldn’t it be better if residents could subscribe to one service that is capable of providing ALL this information or just the information they want to receive? And wouldn’t it be great if residents could get this information via a cell phone app, text message, or email?

Be a Savvy Citizen!

One such service is Savvy Citizen, which was reviewed and approved by the Newtown Township Technology Committee. Savvy Citizen allows residents to choose any combination of push notification, text or email as their method of notification. Residents download the mobile app, select their community, and start receiving notifications. If you don’t have a smartphone, you can set up an account online and select the method you wish to receive notifications: email and/or text message.

Savvy Citizen would cost Newtown Township about $300 per month (just about what a Supervisor is paid each month!) and would be FREE to residents who sign up to use it.

Users of the service have the ability to select multiple neighboring communities from which they would like to receive notifications and alerts. Also, residents in neighboring communications can select to receive notifications about events happening in Newtown! This could be a big boost for local businesses and organizations like the Newtown Fire Association that sponsor events open to all who wish to come.

Learn More About Savvy Citizen

It is anticipated that a representative of Savvy Citizen will attend a Board of Supervisors Work Session on September 16, 2019, to answer questions from Supervisors. The public is welcome to attend and make comments/ask questions as well. The meeting will begin at 7:00 PM at 100 Municipal Drive, Newtown, PA 18940. This meeting will not be televised or recorded.

To prepare for that meeting, I am hosting a short survey to get feedback from residents about this service. This survey, which is NOT an official Newtown Township survey, asks if you would opt-in to a free Township notification service such as Savvy Citizen. It also asks for comments. For example, what types of messages would you be interested in receiving? You can indicate if you prefer to receive notices via a smartphone app, text message (all cell phones), or email.

The introduction to the survey includes a 2-minute video overview of Savvy Citizen.

VIEW THE VIDEO & TAKE THE SURVEY HERE