Collingwood is putting grant funds from the province toward software intended to help the town provide more online services to residents and customers.
Treasurer Marjory Leonard brought a report to council’s strategic initiatives committee on March 4, to provide an update on what the town will be doing with the $595,703 from the province’s municipal modernization fund.
While the funds were given “unconditionally,” Leonard stated staff used the goal of improving customer service and creating a 21st century municipal organization.
“The intention is to help modernize delivery,” said Leonard. “We wanted to get mobile and web-friendly services for our customers out there.”
In this case, that meant purchasing software including Virtual City Hall, which is a customer self-serve application allowing the town’s residents to conduct their town business online.
According to Leonard’s report, this software will allow people to buy animal license, search for registered local businesses, pay parking and bylaw tickets, view bills, apply for permits, search property roll information, and view and pay their property taxes all online.
Virtual City Hall will cost approximately $27,250.
Leonard said the town will also purchase eSend for $6,750, which will allow the town to deliver bills to customers via email. Currently the town cannot send tax bills via email, and all utility bills are sent out via mail through Epcor.
Leonard’s report also states staff would like to bring the water and wastewater billing in house by late 2021.
“The main reason is customer service,” said Leonard.
But there’s a secondary reason, too.
“We are running roughly $300,000 in water and wastewater arrears we can’t collect because we have no ability to deal directly with those customers,” said Leonard. “The data is ours, but we have no access to it.”
According to Leonard’s report, a technician estimated the cost of bringing the billing in-house at around $400,000 to $600,000. This cost would exceed what the town has received from the province so far, but Leonard told council she’s optimistic there will be future rounds of similar funding available annually.
The town will also be using the provincial cash for new (enhanced) budgeting software, customer relationship software, procurement software to allow the town to receive vendor bids electronically, and customer service training.
The town is also planning a front counter redesign for town hall to make the space “inviting” and to include a privacy counter.
Chief Administrative Officer Fareed Amin said the initiatives contained in Leonard’s report will help the town catch-up to technological advancements in customer service.
“This fund also enabled us to accelerate some of these initiatives we were always contemplating,” said Amin. “The town’s use of technology is way below where we should be as a corporation and this will accelerate us getting there … it will enhance the customer service experience … and it will result in greater productivity for staff.”
The funding came from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and was allocated based on the number of households in Collingwood.
According to Leonard, the ministry was in touch with her in December and January to ask how the funding was being spent.
