Councilors want streamlined reporting system for residents

Residents could soon log complaints and concerns with the city more easily, as elected officials push for a new mobile app reporting system.

The app would provide a streamlined and clear way to report nonemergency issues, such as potholes and trash removal concerns as well as traffic and parking problems. 

Currently there’s a web portal that Waltham residents can fill out, but councilors said they don’t receive information about reports in their ward.

Ward 8 Councilor Cathyann Harris, Ward 9 Councilor Robert G. Logan and Councilor-at-Large Carlos A. Vidal drafted a resolution urging Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy “to adopt a web-based reporting system that will allow residents to report problems through the use of a mobile app.”

The trio presented it during the Monday night meeting of the City Council’s Economic and Community Development Committee.

Harris said such a tool is needed as problems are going unnoticed and unaddressed. She said finding issues today means driving around her ward and speaking to constituents. She also said she met one family who told her they waited years to get an issue they reported resolved.

Logan said a new reporting system would make Waltham’s government more responsive, transparent and accountable.

“It gives people a way to communicate with the city in the way that they’re most familiar with,” he added.

Vidal agreed, pointing out that smartphones are the primary way Waltham residents – like most other people in 2025 – connect with their neighbors and representatives.

“If we’re lucky, they’re calling their ward councilor. If we’re unlucky, they’re going on social media and just venting about it,” said Paul Katz, Ward 7 Councilor.

The Committee voted unanimously on the resolution. The next step is to ask  Mayor McCarthy  and a representative of the IT Department to attend the next meeting to discuss whether the city’s current technology can be used for a new mobile reporting tool or if new technology is needed.

CORRECTION: A statement by Paul Katz was misattributed to Carlos A. Vidal.