St. Joseph County adds SeeClickFix to social media policy as county 311 service

The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners on July 16 approved Resolution R-7-C-2024, updating the county's social media policy to explicitly reference the SeeClickFix app as the county’s 311 service. Frank Coates, a planner with the Department of Infrastructure Planning and Growth, told the board the amendment "just adds a last paragraph to refer specifically to the SeeClickFix app," which the county has been implementing for about a year.

Coates said the app will allow residents to submit photos and reports from their phones — "potholes, downed trees, that knocked over street sign, whatever" — and route those reports directly to the responsible department. "Residents will also be able to see all of the issues that have already been reported to us," he said, and users will receive a notification when the issue is resolved, reducing duplicate submissions.

County staff are finalizing the app build and plan to list it on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store for free distribution, Coates said. Commissioners praised the implementation and discussed the need to publicize the service so residents know how to use it and avoid duplicate reports.

The board moved to approve Resolution R-7-C-2024 and the chair announced the motion carried. The resolution adds the SeeClickFix reference to the county's existing social media policy, which the presentation said was originally established in 2018.

The change is intended to centralize resident reporting to a single platform and improve departmental tracking of routine maintenance issues. Further operational details — including staffing responsibilities for triage and any formal public outreach plan — were discussed in general terms but not specified in the provided transcript.