Good communication is vital between a municipality and its citizens to ensure the government runs smoothly. Bridge City is taking steps to improve the lines of communication between city hall and the people in that town.
Terri Gauthier who serves on the City Council in Bridge City announced she is working to create a Facebook page for Bridge City. Gauthier said she got the idea for a municipal Facebook page from the Texas Municipal League (TML). There is information about the city’s history and government with a link to the website currently available.
TML recommends municipal Facebook pages to allow cities to update citizens to new developments and positive things happening in their community. Gauthier indicated, “The culture is the Facebook page as far as communication.” The City Council will need to adopt an eight-element social media policy before launching the website. Gauthier informed she is still building the Facebook page and has not launched it yet.
Another tool to help communication in Bridge City is nearly operational. LUKE is a modified 311 system being installed at the City Hall. City Manager Jerry Jones reported the city staff has had some initial training in using LUKE. The acronym stands for Let Us Know Everything. Jones explained, “It’s just a way for the citizens to let us know where problems are.”
LUKE will be a free app citizens can have put on their cell phones. Jones said a little more individual training of his personnel and some adjustments to the city’s equipment are necessary for LUKE to be operational in Bridge City. “Hopefully we’ll be going by the middle of next month,” Jones predicted. The city manager indicated signs may be printed and distributed around Bridge City to inform the citizens about the new free app and when LUKE is available for use by the public.
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