Würzburg, 9 April 2024 – The Simmern-Rheinböllen collective municipality in the Hunsrück has commissioned Communi AG from Würzburg to create community apps for 20 of its local communities. The provider of municipal apps for communication and networking of the population is responsible for the provision and operation of 21 individual apps under a framework contract. With Communi's modular system, all communities get the functions they need. In addition to groups and the chat function among users, communities provide information about the work of the city council with links to meeting minutes, offer an event service that shows the next city tour, and show information about clubs, initiatives or the library at a glance.
Digital citizen participation instead of one-sided information channel
Communi's approach is to use its apps to strengthen the network between people and offers numerous functions for this purpose. Many municipalities recognize that in times of constant internet use, they can reach their residents much better with digital tools. At the same time, they can use this to use citizen participation for urban development and greater satisfaction. Michael Boos, Mayor of the Simmern-Rheinböllen collective municipality, says: "We as a collective municipality and 20 of our local communities have opted for an advanced solution for our communication in the form of our own app from Communi. This app not only offers the ideal way to achieve transparency, information and interaction at the local level, but also enables us as a collective municipality to use a comprehensive information channel. In this way, we can share important issues directly and quickly with our citizens and together strengthen participation and cooperation in our region."
Liebshausen local community as a pioneer for the digital communication solution
Since 2021, the local community of Liebshausen, which belongs to the Simmern-Rheinböllen collective municipality, has been using its own Communi app for communication with and among residents. Since the use there was very successful and the app was well received, neighboring communities became aware of it. The idea was further developed for the collective municipality in a "digital workshop", after which 20 local communities are now participating. Frank Packheiser and the local community of Liebshausen were pioneers in the use of Communi and says: "By having an open communication app in the community, we were able to save a lot of time and everyone was directly informed about important matters in the community. For example, when a pipe burst and everyone's water went out or when the internet stopped working for a short time. Everyone was directly informed."
Sebastian Ortler, co-founder and board member of Communi AG, says: "If the use of our Communi app in a small municipality attracts the attention of an entire municipality, that is great feedback for our work. With Communi, we want to connect people and offer the ideal communication app for municipalities. One of the decisive factors in Simmern-Rheinböllen's decision to use Communi was that we do not have a pure information app and create a separate app for each individual municipality, but the municipality can access all of them at the same time with the "overall app". We see no future in pure information apps from the town hall without opportunities for citizens to participate."
