Mesquite outlines community engagement push and plans to replace the citizen request app

Whitney Golin, the city’s director of communications, described 2024 metrics and priorities for outreach, noting that web and social platforms have grown but that subscriber lists and direct notification reach could improve. Golin said mobile traffic is now the majority of web users and that video and short‑form content are growing engagement channels.

“Reach is the number of unique users who saw a page or a post,” Golin explained as she described rising social reach and the city’s goal to increase subscribers for its weekly resident newsletter and alert services. She called for better meshing of existing email lists (for utilities, council connection and alerts) and said staff is evaluating a texting platform and a refreshed branding and style guide to improve consistency.

The city’s neighborhood engagement work was presented by Tony Cowell, who described volunteer recruitment, neighborhood captains and a Project LEAD leadership cohort that has fed local boards and volunteer pipelines. Council members and staff debated the frequency and format of district meetings, town halls and council picnics; several members suggested moving events to existing large city gatherings or school PTA events to meet people where they already are.

Citizen request platform: Assistant City Manager Raymond Rivas told the council staff recommends migrating from the city’s current Rock Solid‑backed reporting module to a customer‑centric vendor (SeeClickFix) that is widely used by peer cities and better optimized for resident reporting and public feedback. Rivas said staff wants a platform that provides clearer status messages to submitters and easier reporting and mapping by council district.

Why it matters: staff said the city receives many routine service and code complaints and that faster, clearer two‑way communication would reduce confusion and increase trust. Rivas recommended a planning and integration phase and suggested a possible beta test with council and resident volunteers before the systemwide rollout. “Staff definitely recommends that we migrate to a new customer request module,” Rivas said.

Next steps: staff will return with an implementation timeline and options (including an estimated spring rollout), further plans to unify email lists and a proposed texting platform for urgent alerts. No procurement or contract approvals were taken at the workshop.