Savvy Citizen app keeps Richland, Pine residents in the loop

Trash pickup holiday schedule? Bridge closing? Movie-in-the-park cancellation?

For Richland and Pine residents, there's an app for all of that.

Scheduled municipal announcements and real-time updates from the townships are now available via the mobile application Savvy Citizen. The app is also available to Marshall residents.

“We're excited about having a new way to provide information to our residents,” said Dean Bastianini, Richland manager. “We'll be able to get out notices on different things the town is doing that could impact neighborhoods. We're always trying to find more effective ways to communicate.”

Township staff will populate the application's system with announcements regarding parks and recreation, family events, road work schedules, and government business. Residents can choose which type of information to receive.

Pittsburgh-based Management Science Associates developed the application. The business-to-business technology and analytics company is headquartered in Point Breeze and has 700 employees in the region.

“Whether it's news, sports, weather, kids' game schedules, or stock quotes, a lot of those things are pushed to people directly through their smartphones,” said Chuck Warden, MSA account director. “Local governments do not currently have a good way to use that mechanism.”

Warden, of Hampton, said the new product is being “launched nationally right here in northern Allegheny County.”

MSA partnered with Pine, Richland and Marshall to test the application for suburban municipalities.

“We talked to folks from mayors of small towns to township supervisors to county commissioners,” said Rich McConnell, project lead at MSA. “The thing they have in common is they have small tidbits of information to communicate. If they could get that information out, it would save a whole lot of grief.”

McConnell and Warden cited examples of officials having trouble communicating traffic issues and when power companies will be trimming vegetation on residents' properties.

“That's the gap that Savvy Citizen will be able to bridge,” Warden said.

For now, the townships will try the service for one year at no charge. Bastianini said if residents find it useful, the township may be able to negotiate the $199 per month charge that will be applied in the second year.

Residents with Android phones will find the app on Google Play. Apple iPhone users can register at SavvyCitizenApp.com or richland.pa.us.

Ashley Murray is a freelance writer.