Grande Prairie, AB (October 4, 2011) - Today, Mayor Bill Given announces a new pilot program that will allow residents to report non-emergency issues and request city services through an online and mobile platform.

“This new tool will empower all city residents to actively participate in improving the quality of life and infrastructure in our neighbourhoods,” Given said. “SeeClick-Fix will ensure service requests or concerns get to the right person the first time and allow residents to keep updated on the status of their request."

The City of Grande Prairie will initially use SeeClickFix to accept online service requests for the Transportation Department only. A limited trial will ensure a smooth and efficient implementation once the city decides to expand the service to other departments.

“We [Department of Strategic Services] had been looking at a few alternatives to enable online service requests through our website,” said Shawn Tucker, Web Analyst for Strategic Services. “SeeClickFix was the obvious choice due to excellent support for mobile devices, transparency, simplicity, and interactivity for the user.”

Residents can report common concerns through service request categories via the Grande Prairie website, mobile app, Facebook page, and SeeClickFix.com. They can even create their own “watch areas” to receive notifications about issues reported in their community.

“The Internet has proven to be a powerful tool for connecting individuals over shared concerns. As we expand across North America, we’re excited to see how the City of Grande Prairie harnesses our online technology to make offline results,” said Ben Berkowitz, SeeClickFix CEO. “With our mobile and online platform, citizens become empowered to engage with each other and their local government over problems that affect them in very direct ways.”