Digital City Hall saves you enough time to start a Netflix binge

Studies show that for the past 17 months, Indianapolis residents have left their homes less, kept their pajamas on longer and binge watched Netflix more…. Yeah, so that study isn’t exactly 100% legit, but residents have certainly spent much less time at the City-County Building accessing government services. Why? Because they can access many of the same services instantly online rather than driving downtown, parking, going through security and then waiting in line.

In Q2 of 2017, the City of Indianapolis and Mayor Joe Hogsett announced an innovative idea - to completely change the way people interact with city and county services by restructuring the current government website into a Digital City Hall. The plan includes developing a user-friendly digital interface to make city and county government more accessible by providing the same services from a computer or smartphone as residents would receive in the brick-and-mortar City-County Building.

Now, instead of heading to 200 E. Washington Street, residents, small business and constituents can simply visit indy.gov to pay their property taxes, request a Homestead Deduction, find their polling place and more. Since the website pilot launch, new features and services have been added each month. Currently, there are more than 50 different services available on the site.

CVR has had the privilege to work on this project – everything from branding to creating collateral, media to community outreach and more. So, I feel like know a thing or two about the site. With that in mind, I decided to share some of my favorite services now available on my.indy.gov: 

1. Ask for extra patrols – Have you ever left for vacation and wondered if anyone wandering through your neighborhood noticed? At our house we even program interior lights to fool potential criminals. With the Ask for Extra Patrols service, you simple submit a request to have a greater police presence in your neighborhood for a designated period of time. The increased traffic helps to prevent crime, lower traffic incidents and keep overall law and order.
2. Find your elected official – Who do you contact with political questions, requests or concerns about your neighborhood? Knowing your state senator and representative is valuable for getting projects accomplished, but also staying up-to-date on their latest legislation and understanding their political viewpoints prior to election day.
3. Report potholes – Indiana’s crazy weather patterns wreak havoc on our roads. Unfortunately, the potholes can also wreak havoc on your brand new, very expensive tires. (Yes, it’s happened to me, too.) To help the city identify potholes, you can report them online in the streets and alleys. There is even a form you can fill out if you have experienced property damage from a pothole.

Again, these are my top three favorite services, but there are SO MANY MORE. Plus, the City of Indianapolis plans to continue expanding and adding features through 2018, when the two-year project is set to be complete.

So, if you’re interested in starting a Netflix binge WHILE getting all your government services taken care of online, head on over to indy.gov and experience what our new Digital City Hall has to offer.

(P.S. If you like the logo, branding and the messaging, it’s our work and we’re pretty darn proud of it.)