Elgin's 311 smartphone app could be out this week

The city of Elgin's much-anticipated 311 mobile app — which will give users information about all things Elgin — is expected to be available to the public in a soft launch by the end of this week.

Users will be able to find out about everything from transportation to community happenings, as well as submit 311 service requests — think potholes, downed trees or even simple questions — via the app, which will be available in English and Spanish for iPhones and Android phones.

Eventually, residents will be able to pay their water bills via the app, which is expected to get the green light from Google and Apple by the end of the week, senior management analyst Dan Ault said.

Elgin's innovative app is all about connecting residents to their city in a comprehensive, multifaceted way, senior management analyst Laura Valdez-Wilson said.

“It's a wholistic approach to 311,” she said. “The goal is to connect people to local government and their community.”

The app will comprise three main sections: “Elgin Today,” which will give users “the most important things to know for the day,” the 311 request section and the “What's Happening?” section, which will consolidate Twitter feeds from Elgin-based groups and organizations, she said.

The water bill payment feature likely will be launched in the fall or winter, Ault said.

The city will spend the next four to six weeks conducting internal focus groups to address any glitches and assess how the app is working. A full marketing push is expected at the end of that period, Valdez-Wilson said.

Alex Koller, a graduate of Elgin Community College, worked on developing the app, Ault said. The expense totals about $8,000 so far and it's not expected to increase much beyond that, barring a complete redesign, Ault said.

Several cities across the country have apps built by software companies, but only New York City has an app that was built in-house like Elgin's, Ault said. Elgin's will have additional features such as information about recreation and transportation, he said.

“While some of the concepts are similar, we have a lot of unique features,” Ault said.

Building the app was a relatively simple process thanks to Salesforce, a Cloud-based software company also behind the city's 311 Contact Center system, Ault and Valdez-Wilson said. “That's the type of innovation the platform allows us,” Ault said.

The city conducted initial focus groups in July and August and worked with its 311 Contact Center staff members — called citizen advocates — to create the app, Valdez-Wilson said.

The app will continue to evolve in the future to meet residents' needs, Valdez-Wilson.

“We will keep adding features that people want,” she said.