Council app for community engagement working well

Nigel Brewin believes the Antenno app will complement other ways Tararua District Council communicates with the public. Photo / Leanne Warr

An app which has been designed to allow Tararua District Council to engage better with the community seems to be working well.

The app, Antenno, went live last Monday and by Thursday it had been installed on around 200 devices around the Tararua District.

Communications team leader Nigel Brewin said he had already received some feedback from members of the public telling him it was working really well.

By late last week, there had been reports submitted on issues from roading to street lighting.

Brewin said the app came about as council was looking for other ways to engage with the community as well as through the newspaper or social media.

He said last year they looked at what was out there and what other councils were using successfully.

“Antenno app came up as a real viable sort of app we could utilise.”

Staff began trying it out behind the scenes to see if it fitted the bill and it was signed off on late last year.

Antenno allowed the council to send out notices to the community, as well as receive reports on issues.

Brewin said one of the ways it would send out notices was via a broadcast, for as long as the council wanted to broadcast messages.

He said the app gave the ability to target those broadcasts, so, for instance, if there was a big pile-up on State Highway 2, a message could be broadcast to everyone in the district who had the app.

On the other hand, if it was just a local road, such as between Norsewood and Ormondville, the only people affected would be those who were in those areas.

“So we would put out a broadcast just to those people.”

A map was able to be used by those working behind the scenes so they could basically draw a shape on a map and everyone inside that shape would receive a message, while anyone outside that shape wouldn’t know it had been sent, Brewin said.

“We can even pick out one person and if we knew their address, we can send it to an address. We can send it to a street, we can send it to a suburb, send it to a village, town and the whole district.”

The app can be used to send out alerts to relevant people. Photo / Leanne Warr

The app allowed council to send out alerts such as letting people in a certain area know that the truck picking up their recycling had broken down, or something like Friday’s oil spill on Saddle Rd, letting people know it was closed.

“So that allows us to get short, sharp, concise information directly to the people that need it,” Brewin said.

He said the council would normally put something up on social media, or on the council website.

On the app, a link could be included in the broadcast so if people wanted more information they would be directed to the council website, or Waka Kotahi if it was anything to do with roads, or the MetService for a weather event.

“It’s very versatile.”

Members of the public could also use the app to report issues to the council.

Brewin said this would be something they would normally report via a CRM or phone call.

He said it wasn’t replacing the current methods and the public could still report issues via the website, or phone or come in to customer services.

What the app would do was allow them to choose a topic on the report menu, and write something about the issue.

The app also included a map which uses GPS so it could accurately pinpoint the location of the phone.

Brewin said once the person had left their name and phone number, they would be able to review the report before sending it.

“As long as they’ve got wifi or mobile cover it will send straight away.”

If a broadcast was not something relevant to the user, such as an alert about dog registrations, the app allowed them to block the topic.

Users also had the ability to share messages via social media.

Tutorials on using the app were available on the council website or on Facebook.

Brewin said he would also be at the A&P show on the weekend of February 3 to 5 to show the app and help anyone with any queries about it.