Column by Evert Jan Slootweg: Report an incident quickly or stay informed

As a municipality, we try to communicate with you, our residents, in many different ways. For example, through articles in the Maas&Waler, on our website, and via Facebook and Instagram. We are also increasingly using apps, which allow us to communicate with you more quickly and effectively.

Two examples. In Wamel , we Wamel working on Dorpsstraat. We aim to achieve several goals with the redesign. For example, we want to design the road so that driving at a maximum of 30 km/h becomes the norm. The road will then no longer encourage speeding. We also aim to restore the “village and historic character” of Dorpsstraat, replace the current sewer system, and install a storm sewer. We hope the work will be completed in November. We’re using an app Wamel keep residents of Dorpsstraat, as well as interested residents of Wamel of the progress. Currently, more than 150 residents are using the app.

A second example is the BuitenBeter app. With the new BuitenBeter , you can easily report issues such as loose sidewalk tiles, litter, or broken streetlights.  In the app, you can see if someone else has already reported the issue. You can track the report or see if it is pending or has been resolved. You can also submit reports via the BuitenBeter anonymously. The BuitenBeter replaces the MijnGemeente app. We made this change because the new app is easier to use, more user-friendly, and more modern. The app offers more features and better integration with our system. This allows us to process your report more quickly.

Does this mean we’ll only be communicating with our residents through apps from now on? Absolutely not! We’re still just as happy when you pick up the phone or send an email to report an issue. We hope that by using these new technologies, we’ll be able to communicate with you more often and more quickly—for example, to work together to keep West Maas en Waal and safe.

Evert Jan Slootweg,Alderman
Alderman