COMMENTS ON TECHNOLOGY AND THE CITY OF DAVENPORT
by Bill Lynn, Fifth Ward Alderman

One of the problems I saw when I was first elected was that the technology in the city was very antiquated.  We were using 20-year-old computer systems.  With the help of the current council we spent a large amount of money on new technology.  The results have been that we can provide better service to residents, track requests, and do this with fewer employees.  We recently purchased a software system that will actually allow anyone to look at city financial information. 

Updating technology is crucial.  One reason is that our major cost is labor.  We pay our employees very well and we provide some of the best benefits in the Quad City area.  The only way we can keep costs down (and not raise your taxes) and get the job done is to get more from our employees.  This can be done with technology.  For instance, with the addition of better technology, our rental inspectors have increased their productivity by about 40%.  By using better technology we can do even better.

It can also provide better service.  One problem we saw was that we had many people with several unpaid parking tickets.  The reason this happened was because we could not check a license plate number on the spot to see if there were outstanding tickets.  This is one reason they were not being collected.  With new technology an employee can check immediately the license number to see if they have any outstanding warrants.  When you do these types of things, you reduce crime.  Other cities that have tried this find crime rates drop. 

Another type of technology that did not exist in the city when I was elected was something called GIS (geographical information systems).  What this does is allow us to obtain data by geographical area.  For instance in the police department, we had no way of determining where high crime areas were without going through reports.  With this system, you can obtain that information in a matter of minutes.

Another technology that is being used on some vehicles is something called a GPS system.  This system can tell where a vehicle is at all times.  We have installed it on some vehicles, but we need it on all of them.  That way we have a permanent record of where our vehicles are at all times. 

It is also important to have good technology because it reflects on us.  If we cannot provide information to individuals and companies in a timely manner, it makes us appear to be out of date.  For instance, before the current change our website was not very useful.  One of the first things many young people look at when they consider moving here is the website.  A bad website discourages people from moving to Davenport.  Given the work of the city, the website is now very useful and provides a positive image.

Another issue I ran into was that the city could not accept credit cards or electronic payments.  What business do you know of that does not have that ability?  This too reflects poorly on us.  When I continually asked why we could not do this, I found it was because the current computer technology could not handle it.  Now we can offer people that convenience and it helps us speed up payments.

Finally one of the problems was that much information could not be transferred between departments.  In order to obtain information it literally needed to be walked over to another department.  This slowed things down and many things simply did not get done.  Now with the new technology, information will be integrated.  Rental inspectors will be able to pull police reports when they do an inspection.  This improves the system dramatically.

There is much more that can be done, but we have made a good start at updating our technology.