MITCHELL, SD (Mitchell Now) — The City of Mitchell is rolling out a new app called Report and Connect, which acts as a simplified tool to make non-emergency requests.

Staff presented on the app at this week’s city council meeting, highlighting its ease of use. Administrator Stephanie Ellwein went through her experience getting a fallen tree limb removed from the boulevard on the side of Lawler Street, near the municipal parking lot. The ticket was automatically routed to Parks and Recreation Director Kevin Nelson. He was able to send in-app texts to Ellwein keeping her in the loop on the progress crews were making regarding her issue.

Both the users of the app and city staff can submit photos clearly in the app’s messaging feature. On one side, it makes it easy to highlight what the issue is, and the city can show how it is being handled. Ellwein told the council she believed using the app was far more simplistic for the average person than keeping up with which office is responsible for various nuisance problems and memorizing their contact information.

The app has a wide range of categories for users to select from, anything from reporting an overgrown yard or illegal dumping to streetlight and sidewalk problems. Another plus for the app is its ability to facilitate work between city staff. Ellwein announced that 91 of the 147 requests made since the Report and Connect launch were internal service requests.

The app brings several functions of the website to a convenient mobile-friendly platform. Users can subscribe to city alerts, make bill payments, find out about government job openings, and read recent news releases.

The app can be downloaded in the Apple App Store or the Google Play store free of charge. Below, Mayor Jordan Hanson demonstrates in a video how to use Report and Connect.