Perry Village government is aiming to enhance communication with its residents by implementing a new text messaging program. The village will be using TextMyGov, a smart-texting system designed for local government entities. Related Articles Living Nativity at Mentor church still going strong after 52 years Painesville Schools improved scores, faced increasing budget challenges in 2025 Tour Lake County officials reflect on successful 2025, eye enhancements in 2026 Auburn Career Center details year of transition, anticipates continued growth Project Hope for the Homeless saw aging population, longer stays in 2025 Village Council, at a meeting earlier this month, approved a resolution authorizing the mayor and fiscal officer to enter into a contract with TextMyGov, a software company from Logan, Utah. The business, which was established in 2019, serves municipalities in all 50 states and Canada. The system was developed to open lines of communication between local governments and residents through smart-texting technology, according to an information sheet from the company. A launch date for the program in Perry Village has not yet been announced. With TextMyGov, residents use the regular text-messaging app on their smartphones to interact with a participating government entity in a variety of ways. They can ask questions and get immediate responses; find links to information on a government entity’s website, and report issues or problems, which can be illustrated by uploading photos. Perry Village Council members Jean Schonauer and Ashley Hacking and Fiscal Officer John H. Roskos participated in an online meeting where they saw how it works. Hacking, during a council meeting in October, described the smart-messaging system as “kind of cool.” As an example, she said a resident could text a municipality’s 10-digit TextMyGov number and type in the phrase “zoning permit.” “And it will actually send you the link for a zoning permit,” she said. Or if a tree snapped and fell onto a public right-of-way somewhere in a municipality, a picture with a note about the nearest address could be texted. “And it will send it to the road department to inform them the tree is down,” she said. Other issues that can be reported through the program include potholes, drainage problems, tall grass and junk cars. “The issue-reporting function can be customized for each department and their most commonly reported items,” the TextMyGov information sheet stated. “(Municipalities) can engage citizens and ask specific guided questions regarding location, address, street name and more.” Hacking said people can use the program “to ask questions and get facts, or send facts and get results.” “So it’s pretty exciting about the things that people can do within our community (through it) to get services and communicate,” she said. Perry Village residents also will have the chance to opt in to a notification group to get texts from the community’s government about things such as public meetings and events, weather alerts and road closures. An article on the TextMyGov website offered reasons to support its claim that text messaging is “the fastest, most reliable way” for a municipality to reach its community. “Compared to email’s modest open rate of 32.5 percent, texts take the lead with a staggering 98 percent open rate, with 90 percent of messages read within just 30 minutes,” the article stated. “People might scroll social media once or twice a day, but they check their phones an average of 344 times a day, which equates to about once every four minutes.” The resolution approved by council allowed the village to enter into a three-year contract with TextMyGov for use of the text-messaging service. For the first year, the village agreed to pay a $2,500 package price and $1,000 set-up fee for a first-year total of $3,500, according to a contract that was included along with the resolution. The package price included features such TextMyGov web-based software, a local phone number and short-code number for outgoing messages. For the final two years of the pact, the village will pay a recurring annual fee of $2,500. Hacking said she believes that it is a good investment for the village. “It’s giving us, on this end, information that can help people, make the village better and improve things,” she said. “And that’s what we want.” Schonauer, at the October council meeting, said she felt that TextMyGov would provide village government with the chance to reach residents who don’t get public information through Facebook or traditional news media outlets. “But we know everyone has a cellphone, so this is going to be a really great opportunity to connect,” she said. A newly created village TextMyGov Committee will “coordinate the TextMyGov system to support clear and efficient communication between the community and local government,” according to an ordinance approved by council at a Nov. 20 meeting. ...read more read less