Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the 311 Digital Access Seeclickfix topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Provo highlights SeeClickFix rollout, chatbot 'Ava' and social channels for 311 access
Summary
Customer service staff demonstrated a new SeeClickFix service-request tool, an AI-powered chatbot (Ava), a Facebook group and website changes intended to make reporting and tracking city service requests easier; staff reported over 2,000 requests in recent reporting and increased transparency for residents and field crews.
Staff from Provo City Customer Service demonstrated enhancements to the city's 311 access on July 22, showing a new SeeClickFix-based report-an-issue system, an AI chatbot named Ava, a customer-service–focused landing page and a Facebook group for resident engagement.
"Ask virtually anything"—Ava—was described as a website chatbot that crawls the city site nightly and learns answers; Laramie Gonzalez, a customer service representative, said, "If she can't find it on the website, that's she she does we call it a crawl. She does a crawl every single day." Gonzalez and Britney Densley said staff review gaps and train Ava on new answers daily.
The SeeClickFix tool, embedded in the Provo mobile app and the website, replaced the city's older CRM. Staff showed a short demo video and told the council that field crews and managers can receive service requests in real time, work requests from the field, and use dashboards built by GIS for reporting. Staff reported more than 2,000 service requests in the prior 30 days on the new system and said the volume and transparency have increased because residents can follow requests and receive email updates if they sign in.
Councilors and staff discussed features: calls to 311 can still be used and staff will submit requests for callers; QR codes and the in-app flow were demonstrated; request pages show public comments and internal notes. Staff said requests submitted by logged-in users will produce status emails; if a person files anonymously, they will not automatically receive those updates.
The Facebook group is intended as an open discussion forum where answers posted persist; Gonzalez said the group grew rapidly after council staff shared it in neighborhood meetings and that answers posted there reduce duplicate inquiries to the call center. Staff emphasized that, when appropriate, they direct residents from the Facebook group to the SeeClickFix report flow to ensure requests are tracked.
Staff said the new workflow benefits field crews because service orders now arrive in real time with more location and context, and pointed to improved operations for parking, garbage collection, snow plows and the post office. The system can also warn residents if a request already exists at a given location, reducing duplicate reports.
No formal action was taken; staff requested no vote. Councilors encouraged continued outreach and suggested linking the system to neighborhood Facebook pages and other city channels. Staff agreed to continue monitoring performance and provide updates to council as needed.
