Rise of the Virtual City Hall - Q&A with Javier Hernandez, Assistant to the City Manager City of Pico Rivera
The City of Pico Rivera is advancing the development of a robust Virtual City Hall. The People Speak platform is fortunate to be one of the service providers to help the city achieve this vision. We recently had a chance to chat with Javier to learn more about their Virtual City Hall.
People Speak: We’ve been very impressed with your concept of a Virtual City Hall. Can you take us back to when you first started thinking about this – what problems were you trying to solve? What was happening in your city at the time that made you think it was time to make a change?
Javier Hernandez: The pandemic coupled with the economic downturn forced the City to exercise immediate fiscal constraint while maintaining essential services. Simultaneously, the rapid spread of COVID-19 resulted in declining staff capacity that ultimately disrupted day-to-day operations. As we explored ways to do more with less, we realized that our internal systems and processes were antiquated, disjointed, duplicative and underperforming. By summer of 2020, we quickly realized that modernizing our technology systems was absolutely vital to building a resilient municipal government.
People Speak: Thanks for sharing that. I suspect many communities have faced similar concerns. What is a Virtual City Hall? And what’s the current state of Virtual City Hall at the City of Pico Rivera? What does the future look like?
Javier Hernandez: Virtual City Hall (VCH) is a compendium of digital services and operational software solutions that collectively create a unified yet customizable virtual ecosystem where members of staff, stakeholders, vendors and the public can interact, transact and engage in civic processes. VCH is designed to be a high-quality, user-friendly virtual experience that supports decision-making, improves transparency, enhances operations, streamlines service delivery, reduces cost, and increases revenues. To ensure long-term organizational resiliency, we wanted to build a “plug and play” system capable of adapting to emerging needs, rising demands, shifting priorities, and ever-evolving technologies. Pico Rivera is on the verge of launching phase one of VCH, which includes a full revamp of the city’s website alongside a robust citizen relationship management, service request and work order management system for public works, code enforcement, and parking enforcement. Phase one also includes the launch of our “Meetings & Agendas” center, a solution provided by People Speak. GIS capabilities are also being integrated into nearly all aspects of VCH. Shortly after the soft launch scheduled for April 1st, the City and its partners will proceed with phase two of the VCH platform which includes a centralized bill pay management portal, business license portal, plan check and permitting software solution, a parks and recreation solution, GIS story maps, rental inspection programs, EV charging & parking demand management solution, traffic demand management, economic and community development planning and visioning solutions, and much more. Eventually we want to create a virtual Sim City that allows the public to experience future build out alternatives and scenarios in their respective communities.
People Speak: This really resonates with me. We think a lot about the macro trends, shifting from synchronous and physical to asynchronous and virtual. What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced so far?
Javier Hernandez: The biggest challenge is that we don’t have a proof of concept or a working model that we can replicate. Many cities have been deploying software solutions for years, decades even. However, they fall short in unifying the various solutions into a central system that simplifies the user experience. For example, a city may use one software solution for parking meters, then use a separate system for parking citations, another payment system for permits and licenses, and another system for utility payments. Each system requires a separate mobile device app with separate login credentials, has a different interface, lacks branding continuity and essentially creates a muddled inconvenience. Why not have one portal with one login where you can find everything you need regarding that city in one place, your Virtual City Hall account? As a result, we are attempting to solve this universal login dilemma while creating a central hub to access any and all information that is otherwise generated by a multitude of software vendors.
People Speak: Any advice for others in the region who want to explore adopting a Virtual City Hall?
Javier Hernandez: Articulate a vision that serves as a roadmap for what you’re attempting to achieve. The lack of clear definition can and will very likely result in a deviation from the course. Once members of the organization buy into the overall idea, departments will identify a suite of potential software solutions that serve their respective functions. Naturally, they’re going to express their needs and advocate for their solutions. That’s a good thing BUT…that leads to the next piece of advice….do not take on more than what you can handle. Determine the full range of modules needed throughout the organization and prioritize. Break up implementation of the program/project into phases.
See Pico Rivera Speaks in action at https://picoriveraspeaks.org/