ROCHELLE — As part of the citywide software system upgrade, a new mobile app has been designed to give residents and businesses a way to access the City of Rochelle at their fingertips.

The newly-designed app, available at no charge in the App Store and Google Play, gives citizens the ability to easily contact city council members and staff; report issues online with a photo and GPS tagging; and to pay utility bills directly from a phone or tablet. A calendar of events that includes meeting dates and special events as well as a news icon that features the latest city happenings are also included on the home screen of the app.

On the back end, staff will be able to communicate updates to residents who submit issues, track timelines and costs of making such repairs. Staff also has the ability to utilize the app for internal issues such as for IT assistance or entering information from phone calls received at city hall or Rochelle Municipal Utilties customer service. With the GPS capabilities included, requests for service are plotted on a map to give staff a big-picture look at areas of concern.

The updated app is already available for residents to download and utilize, it went live on Monday.

For those who had the previous version of the city’s mobile app, “Hello, Rochelle!” simply visit the app store and download the new version.
Marketing plans for the new app included a presentation video at Monday’s council meeting and a press release as well as a social media campaign, a scavenger hunt within the app with 10 $25 gift cards as prizes and an all-resident mailer. The current app has been downloaded approximately 865 times to date and our goal is to double that number in the next year.

“This is so cool and innovative and why we’re one step ahead of other communities,” said City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh.