Ask questions, get alerts with Monroe County's new TextMyGov service. Here's how

Monroe County residents can now send and receive text messages to and from the county.

At their June 5 meeting, the county commissioners approved a three-year agreement with Utah-based TextMyGov, in which the county will pay $15,000 a year for the service that went live in July.

“TextMyGov is an interactive texting service used by Municipalities all over the country (including Tunkhannock Township and Pike County) to improve communication with the public,” emailed Commissioner David Parker, writing on behalf of the commissioners' office.

According to Parker, TextMyGov enables county residents to text the administration of Monroe County with questions such as "Where do I vote?" or "When is the next commissioners meeting?"

As per Parker, the deal will include a database of local phone numbers, a short code number for outgoing messages, 10 gigabytes of managed online data storage, and 200,000 text messages per year, as well as unlimited users, departments and support for every user.

“By signing a 3-year plan with TextMyGov the county will have access to a database of county cell phone numbers and gain the ability to send out text alerts to the whole county or certain geographical area in emergency situations,” emailed Parker. “Grant funding will be utilized for the majority of the cost.”

Parker said that he came across TextMyGov during a Tunkhannock Township meeting on Feb. 14. The day prior, a storm rendered a full closure of county services after what was initially scheduled to be a delayed start. County employees received texts regarding the closure, but members of the public did not, resulting in people traveling “a significant distance” to get to the Monroe County Courthouse for canceled appearances. “Had they received a message, they could have turned around and headed home once the cancellation was announced,” wrote Parker. “TextMyGov enables the county to notify members of the public about such closures if they sign up for the service.”

Monroe County considered other texting services such as TextCaster, which is used by Middle Smithfield Township, and Code Red, which they already use for texting county employees but is not available to the public. TextMyGov was chosen at the recommendation of Pike County, which has been using the service for about a year.

“We hope this service will improve engagement between all taxpayers and county employees as residents get their questions answered quickly and county employees have fewer phone calls to answer, allowing them to focus on their other work,” said Parker.

The phone number for the county's TextMyGov is 570-534-4405. Texting "Hi" to this number will generate a prompt requesting the texter to type one or two words relating to what they would like to know, or to text "FAQ" if they cannot find the information you are looking for. Users can request to join the service's notification list by texting "MONROECOUNTYPA" to 91896.

Max Augugliaro is the public safety and government watchdog reporter at the Pocono Record. Reach him at MAugugliaro@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Ask questions, get alerts with Monroe County's new TextMyGov service. Here's how