Want to know what’s going on Highland? Now there’s a free app for just the occasion

For Highland residents who want to know what’s going on in town, there’s now an app for that.

Highland Happenings launched a few weeks ago as a free download for Android and Apple iPhones, created and managed by Highland City Hall staff. It allows the city to communicate directly with residents and allows residents access to frequently used services straight from their phones, according to technology director Angela Imming.

“Oftentimes, the public thinks if they didn’t get information, they think we didn’t want to share it with them,” Imming said. “The truth is, we wanted to tell everyone what was going on, but didn’t have a medium to do that.”

Imming said they created the app to make it easy for residents to get the information they needed to share with them, in a more direct manner than is possible via highly-controlled social media like Facebook or passive methods like posting it on the website.

“A lot of people don’t sit at a computer every day,” Imming said. “But everyone has their phone on them all the time.”

The home screen of the app features the city crest and a panoramic photo of the town square. It includes categories for paying bills, “request center,” utility services and new resident information, parks and recreation events, a business directory and community events.

The idea is to mobilize the sections of the Highland city government website that people might need to access away from their computers, Imming said. It also allows City Hall to push out notifications for important announcements such as road closures, boil orders, power outages, public meetings and more.

Imming said they have designed the system so users can opt in to specific groups. For example, Korte Rec Center might need to announce a closure for foul weather, but someone who doesn’t use the rec center could opt out of those announcements as they would not need the information.

“If it’s a service the city provides or will impact a service the city provides, it goes on,” Imming said.

Imming said the necessity of direct communication with residents became more clear during COVID shutdowns, especially the need for those communications to be succinct and clear.

“This is our voice, this is our message and we want everyone to know,” she said.

The downloads are not restricted to residents; it is appropriate for anyone who lives or works in town or who wants to visit the town, Imming said. At least on the Apple App Store, it is available for both phone and iPad.

The goal is to reach 10,000 downloads by April 2023, as the most Facebook followers Highland has had at any time is 2,000. As of last week, the app had been downloaded 700 times, with 550 of those from the Apple App Store.

“The Android count is a little bit behind,” Imming said.