City unveils Access Albany 3-1-1 app; board hears rollout plan and pricing

City staff on Aug. 14 presented Access Albany, the new 3‑1‑1 customer service app built on the CivicPlus / SeeClickFix platform, and outlined operational features, launch timing and contract terms.

Miss Monk (presenter) said the app will automatically route reports (potholes to public works, tall grass to code enforcement), provide real-time status updates for registered users, allow anonymous submissions, and use GIS to route requests between Albany and Daugherty County. She said the soft launch is live for staff testing, with a hard public launch planned in September and formal removal of the legacy QAlert app beginning Sept. 1 and deactivation to public use on Oct. 1.

Nicole Sprawl, the 3‑1‑1 call center supervisor, explained that submitted tickets create service requests routed to the appropriate departmental supervisor and that departments set SLAs; unexplained delays escalate to supervisors. IT staff said CivicPlus (SeeClickFix) retains ownership of the underlying app but the city can embed the portal and apply rich customizations; the first-year subscription cost shared with the board was about $39,382.58 with an annual uplift of roughly 5% expected thereafter.

Board members asked about whether the app could integrate future AMI or billing modules and whether longer contract terms could yield pricing discounts; staff said multi‑year options and dashboard customizations could be explored after an initial year of operation.

Next steps: staff will proceed with the planned marketing campaign and bring contract renewal terms back to the commission in future budget discussions if the city pursues multi‑year pricing.