Wayne County committee approves Granicus amendment to add public service-request platform

The Wayne County Committee on Government Operations approved Amendment 2 to the county’s five-year contract with Granicus LLC to add public-facing software that expands the county website’s service-request capabilities and provides professional services for implementation.

Terry DeBos, division director for enterprise applications, and Hector Rowan, director of information technologies, said the change will allow residents to submit service requests (such as pothole or code complaints) directly through the website or mobile app and track a case from intake to closure. Rowan said the platform can integrate with City Works to provide real-time status updates to end users, a feature the county lacked previously.

Rowan and DeBos described OneView as customizable: the product is off-the-shelf but will be configured to Wayne County’s needs. They said the project will start with a pilot in the executive office—working with the new ombudsman—and expand to other divisions. Rowan said the county already has more than 120 digitized forms from its website transformation, and OneView would extend digitization to service-request workflows and mobile access.

Commissioners pressed staff on several concerns. Commissioner Killeen and Commissioner Peterson Mayberry asked whether departments had been consulted and whether there would be reporting on request aging and closure. Staff said they had engaged divisions and plan to establish service-level agreements and escalation rules that will notify department leadership when SLAs are breached. Commissioners requested quarterly reports showing response and closure times and a list of participating versus nonparticipating departments.

Commissioner Wilson raised accessibility issues for seniors and users with limited digital literacy, asking how non-digital residents would get help; staff and commissioners reiterated that telephone, in-person and other channels will remain available and that OneView is intended to augment—not replace—existing access methods.

A vendor representative on the line (Ken) said live chat exists but is not part of the current package and cautioned that staffing and internal change management are the larger challenges in deploying live chat. Commissioners asked for training options for commissioners and staff and a plan showing which departments will participate and when.

A motion to approve the amendment was made (moved by Commissioner Killeen; second not specified in the transcript), commissioners voted via tablets and the motion carried.

Staff committed to provide follow-up reports and training options as the roll-out proceeds.