Belleville implements online platform to make reporting issues easier

BELLEVILLE, NJ — Do you need to report a tree that has fallen into a township road? Is there an issue with a fire hydrant on your street? Do you have some questions about garbage pickup?

The township of Belleville is implementing a new cloud-based platform that is making getting the answers to these and dozens of other common questions easier and quicker than ever, according to a June 2 press release. 

GovPilot software allows residents to go to www.bellevillenj.org and choose from a list of possible issues and concerns. From the removal of a hornets nest to the removal of snow, residents simply need to click on the “Report a Concern” tab and follow the simple directions that will guide them through the process. There are even spaces to add additional comments and to upload photos, if warranted. The information is transferred to Town Hall in real time after the “submit” button is pressed.

“This platform allows Belleville workers to respond quickly and efficiently to a number of problems,” township manager Anthony Iacono said. “I am very confident this is going to increase productivity and accountability inside Town Hall and help us best serve the residents of Belleville.”

Iacono said the new platform will surely become very popular with residents because it alleviates some of the guesswork that comes with reporting problems.

“We have created a tab for residents to report an animal carcass in the road,” Iacono said. “That’s an unfortunate issue that crops up from time to time. Previously, residents might not have known who to call about that issue. Does that fall to the Department of Public Works? The police department? A different department? With GovPilot, all correspondence is quickly filtered to the appropriate department. No more will residents have to call Town Hall and be transferred to the appropriate department.”

Dozens of municipalities have begun to implement this government management platform since Hoboken-based GovPilot rolled out this software as a service in 2014. It was created to assist municipalities such as Belleville that can at any moment be inundated with, say, Open Public Records Act requests.

GovPilot allows towns such as Belleville to provide constituent services such as public record requests, inspections, licensing, tax assessment, public works and more in a secure, digital environment.

“We are always searching for new and better ways to serve our residents,” Councilman Vinny Cozzarelli said. “We think GovPilot is going to go a long way in doing that.”

  Belleville Council