A Logan City councillor has been using his evening run to check up on his patch and lodge maintenance requests to fix potholes, trim trees and replace missing lights.
Division 5 councillor Paul Jackson said it takes him 6-8 weeks to run the full 240kms of streets in his division, which covers Berrinba, Marsden, Waterford West and part of
Crestmead.
Crestmead.
When he sees maintenance that needs doing, he snaps a photo on his phone and uploads it to the Australian Snap Send Solve smartphone app.
“It’s such a quick and easy way to get stuff reported,” Cr Jackson said.
The platform allows users to photograph a problem and send it directly to the responsible authority without needing to work out which department to contact.
Cr Jackson said he had sent 230 “snaps” in the past 12 months and had set up a Division 5 “snapper squad” within the app with 66 local residents collectively making 867 “snaps” over the same timeframe.
“Snaps” typically include location data and photos, helping crews prioritise work more efficiently.
Cr Jackson said the process worked well.
“When I ran through this section of Marsden in February, this light pole was missing; these trees had branches reaching well over the road; this trench had sunk deep into the road; these roads had potholes,” he told residents last week while posting photos to social media of the completed repairs.
”By submitting issues directly through the same system available to residents, councillors help ensure defects are logged quickly and tracked through council’s maintenance workflow,” he said.
“The biggest win was having council crews come out and clear big open drains to reduce stormwater flash flooding.”
Cr Jackson said he first started jogging through Division 5 when he was campaigning to become a councillor – and he hasn’t stopped.
“People are out and about with their friends having chats, so it’s become a great opportunity to catch up with residents about what they want to see in their neighbourhoods,” he said.
Over the past two years, he has gradually extended the length of his runs, recently completing the 32km-perimeter of Division 5 in one stint and he is planning to run his first marathon in the Logan Running Festival on Sunday, 17 May.
Logan City Council lists Snap Send Solve as one of the official ways residents can report potholes and pavement defects, alongside online forms, email and phone reporting.
Once a request is received, it is assessed and assigned to maintenance crews, with urgent potholes sometimes repaired within days depending on conditions.
Snap Send Solve operates across Australia and New Zealand and connects residents directly with more than 850 councils, utilities and authorities responsible for public infrastructure.
