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County soon to be mobile with new app

Ponoka County will soon be going mobile with a new smart phone app.

Ponoka County will soon be going mobile.

County council approved moving ahead with a new mobile app after hearing a presentation about how it would work and what it could do for them at their meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 23. However, no timeline has been set as to how long it will be before the new app will be available.

Jedmarc Evangelista, chief executive officer of SMBapps based in Lethbridge, came up to make the presentation which included a demonstration of what a sample app would look like and how the new app would connect with Ponoka County ratepayers and others. Evangelista had spoken with Reeve Paul McLauchlin and met with some administrative personnel earlier in the month to garner information to develop the sample app.

SMBapps was recently set up specifically to develop mobile products for communities with Magrath, AB. - a small community south of Lethbridge - becoming the first one to jump on board.

“The app is designed to get residents informed at no cost to them and for their benefit doing what they could previously do via the county website or by calling the office,” Evangelista said.

He stated that between 2010 and 2015, usage of smartphones doubled and mobile data usage increased by more than 1,500 per cent. As well, a staggering 80 per cent of Internet users have a smartphone and more than half of mobile searches are looking for local content, though 94 per cent of those with smartphones use them to look up local information rather than in a phone book or on their desktop computer.

In the demonstration, Evangelista explained the app would be available on the county website as well as for both Apple and Android products (via the AppStore and Google Play) before moving on to some highlighted features.

“The big key feature is the push notifications and alerts,” he said.

Once people have the app, they can subscribe to whatever notifications they wish from the list customized by the county. This is the most popular feature and there is no limit to the number that can be listed. Most other social media require people to actively seek information, whereas this is a one-way passive communication that can reach many of the 9,000 county residents with a touch of a button.

“It’s a massive, real time, instant reach where refreshing the page isn’t necessary to get the latest information as it simply pops up on the mobile device.”

The sample app also featured ways to apply for fire and road permits as well as a list of direct contact phone numbers for various departments.

“The permit applications appear with the same information you require now with mandatory fields or it won’t be sent to the list of emails specified by the county. It’s seamless for both sides and you can put on whatever forms you wish,” he stated.

“The goal is to get the information and help alleviate the administrative burden.”

It’s taken about 11 months for the company to come up with their product and when it comes to price, Evangelista explained municipalities no longer have to spend upwards of $80,000 to develop their own mobile technology and that any product they provide will be compatible with any future new smartphones or operating systems.

The initial set up cost is just under $3,000 with municipalities then paying $150 per month.

McLaughlin doesn’t expect everyone to jump on board, but loves the potential the app has.

“People like apps. Finding out about stuff on Facebook is not ideal and sometimes that’s the only place I hear about it,” he said.

“One key to this is it has serious potential, especially for rural crime watch and other items that tend to get buried on other social media.”

Although initially concerned about the potential of tying up staff time, chief administrative officer Charlie Cutforth warmed up to the idea following the demonstration and recommended council move forward explaining “It can be a great tool with lots of good potential. We simply need to figure out how it can be managed.”