Oakdale Mayor Gene Paul said he is hoping to move the city into the future when funding is available to purchase new technology. He said recent events in the city has shown him how important it is to upgrade the town’s technology and utilize it to make jobs easier and to keep residents informed.
With the recent water situation and events like a freeze, Covid-19, etc., Paul sees the importance of securing a program to help keep residents updated on city events. He said they utilize Facebook™ posts, but it doesn’t always reach all residents. He said they do encourage residents to share the information posted, but it’s not easy to reach everyone.
He said communities like Kinder use a texting and emailing system to send information to its citizens. Ville Platte has a voice notification system. Paul said he is looking at notification systems and prices for these types of systems. He said when funding exists in the budget, he believes the town should move forward in obtaining a system.
Paul also noted by upgrading city hall’s technology, events like Covid-19 will allow workers to work from home or receive payments without contact and continue vital city hall duties that keep Oakdale operating and running smoothly each day. He said this is another future goal he would like to see Oakdale invest in so it can continue to operate despite mandated shutdowns, viruses, etc.
Recently Oakdale made a purchase of new water meters that will allow workers to gather customer usage information from vehicles and not door-to-door visits. He said this project is near completion and is excited about the changes it will bring including better data and quicker gathering of that data.
Paul said it’s one step at a time, and he said they probably will be discussing these ideas soon at council meetings. The council will meet Thursday, September 2.
