Antenno app: Hauraki District Council joins 35 other councils in using new app

Hauraki District Council says the new Antenno app will be the most cost-effective way of communicating with ratepayers.

Hauraki District Council has joined 35 local authorities around the country in adding the Antenno app to its communication channels.

On Monday the free app went live in Hauraki to keep ratepayers up to date.

A council spokeswoman said they would pay an annual subscription fee as part of the service provided by Datascape.

“Per month, it equates to less than the cost of one full-page newspaper advert; the amount is significantly less than what we would spend on traditional print media per month with more guarantee of the messages being received.

“With Antenno we have an unlimited use of the app for sending notifications and receiving requests for service each month.”

The decision to add the app to their communication channels was prompted by a “desire to find a way to connect directly with our residents on issues that affect them personally”.

“While social media has an important role to play in instant messaging, it only reaches people who are actively engaged with the platforms; we are often told that people don’t have a Facebook page, don’t want to engage on social media but also don’t want to miss out on important messages from them.”

By downloading the Antenno app, people would receive notifications, alerts and reminders on the things and places that are important to them, she said.

“For instance, if a water break has caused a water shut down affecting four to five streets in a town, we can now ringfence those streets on a map and send the notification directly to residents in that area that have the app downloaded.

“To date we could only rely on Facebook or paying for radio airtime, to get that message out, with no guarantee that it would reach the intended audience, especially if the shutdown is only for a couple of hours.”

“It [also] gives the user the opportunity to report issues that need fixing or share ideas with council.”

She said the council would still use its other channels.