REVERE — Mayor Brian Arrigo and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito teamed up on Tuesday to officially launch Revere 311, a constituent services center which enables residents to more quickly report an issue without having to navigate through City Hall.
Arrigo and Polito announced the official launch of the “one call to City Hall” constituent services system during a press conference, which was also attended by several city officials.
Revere 311 allows any resident to report an issue, such as potholes, missed trash pickups and faded street signs, or ask a question by dialing 311 or by using the Revere 311 app on Apple or Android phones.
“I’m excited about Revere 311 because it reflects two important pieces of my administration,” Arrigo said in a statement. “First, the importance of making city government more friendly, responsive and courteous for residents. I know for many residents, it can be frustrating to try to get a question answered or report an issue. That’s what we’re hoping to address through the launch of a dedicated constituent services system.
“The second priority reflected by 311 is my goal of making Revere’s city government more innovative. Our city has a tremendous opportunity to use fresh ideas and 21st century technologies to make city government work better for you. And that’s what we’re doing today.”
Revere 311 came out of Revere signing a community compact with the Baker-Polito administration in 2015. Since then, the city has worked with the administration to implement data standards and capital planning best practices, as part of the compact agreement, according to a press release from the Baker-Polito administration.
The creation of the 311 system was funded in part by a $54,000 Community Compact IT grant Revere received last year.
City Councilor Anthony Zambuto said Revere was the eighth municipality in the Commonwealth to sign a community compact. There are now more than 300 compact communities.
“I think the 311 program is a great program,” Zambuto said. “It streamlines the way you reach someone in city government. You don’t continue to search for somebody. You get quicker service. That’s the whole purpose of it, to make city government more friendly and streamlined … I’m excited that we’ve launched and I’m excited that we’ve partnered with the Baker-Polito administration to be able to do things like this.”
Joe Gravellese, aide to Arrigo, said Revere 311 has been in soft launch phase for a few months, before officially launching on Tuesday. During the soft launch phase, he said 311 staff were trained, work was done to get the system in place, and staff had been answering calls.
Gravellese said Revere 311 was created with the recognition that people are busy and don’t have the time or desire to call six different people at City Hall or feel like they have to come to City Hall to report an issue.
Residents can also make service requests and look up issues via the Knowledge Base at www.revere.org/311. Revere 311 can be found on social media at www.twitter.com/Revere311 and www.facebook.com/Revere311, which allows residents to report issues and make requests at any time online. The phones are staffed during regular business hours. The 311 center also be emailed at [email protected].