City services now online, Report potholes and more at ottawa.ca

Posted Feb 9, 2012 By Laura Mueller

EMC news - Reporting a pothole and requesting recycling bins are just a couple of the things Ottawa residents can now do online.

The city's website, ottawa.ca, was upgraded on Feb. 1 with a new Service Ottawa section on the right side of the homepage where anyone can book and pay for last-minute ice time at city arenas, report graffiti, pay parking tickets and obtain PIN and barcodes for recreation program registration.

Service Ottawa is making it possible to complete 145 types of transactions online. That figure represents almost 70 per cent of the top calls to the 311 phone service, which will continue to be available.

Pothole reports won out in the first day of the new online service, with 23 reports filed online. Twenty one people made online requests for garbage and recycling calendars by 4 p.m. the first day the service was available. A total of 64 requests were made that day by 4 p.m. without the city having to advertise the service had launched,

That's because ottawa.ca is the first spot a lot of residents go to when looking for this type of information, said Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney, chairman of the information technology subcommittee that oversees the project.

"It really shows that people are moving to the web," Tierney said. "I think they have been waiting for this."

BETTER COMMUNICATION

The new options will provide better service and better two-way communication, said Krista Oswald, a city staffer who gave the finance and economic development committee an update on the project on Nov. 7. Service Ottawa will include automatic reports and notification to the person who made the request.

"This is one of the key initiatives that will actually change how people experience the frontline services," Kanellakos said.

It will also change how city staff works by streamlining requests.

The project will cost $79 million to implement and is expected to save $40 million annually by trimming operating costs.

laura.mueller@metroland.com