Have a Complaint? Text It to the City

By Amber Lester Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Williamsburg is exploring new ways to utilize technology. Last month, the City Council approved a plan to purchase iPads for council members and essential staff. Now, the city invites citizens to communicate with staff through text messaging.

The city recently launched City411, a text messaging system that allows residents to report service needs while also giving the city another way to report important information, such as road closures or power outages. The service is not intended for emergency issues; rather, citizens are invited to report crooked signs, potholes, missed trash pick-up and similar problems.

To use City411, users can create a new text message and send it to 95495. In the body of the text message, the user enters City411, then a space and then the issue he or she would like to report. The sender will then receive an automated acknowledgement of the message, which will then be emailed to city staff. The staff members will then send the messages on to the appropriate department. Once the problem is corrected, a city staff member will send a follow-up text message to the original sender.

Users can also register for the service at this website.

After sending the first text message, users will be immediately signed up to receive text messages from the city. They will have the option, however, to be removed from the text message list by replying, “Stop.”

City Manager Jack Tuttle was inspired to add the text messaging service after seeing a similar service called “Text to Tell” while visiting Kettering, England. The city is paying $79 a month for up to 500 messages, but if it proves popular, the monthly fee could rise to $99 for 1,000 messages. The city did not have to sign a multi-year contract, so it can upgrade or downgrade the service at any time.

“More and more people, particularly young people, use text messaging as a primary means of communication,” Tuttle said. “The purpose of City411 is to give residents, visitors and students an easy and convenient way to send city staff a text message about a problem or issue, and a way for city staff to respond efficiently.”

James City County added a text message alert service in February called JCC Alert. The county’s text program alerts registered users about emergencies, such as power outages, wind storms, floods and more. To register for JCC Alert, click here.