Woodlands County is updating its tracking software for resident service requests

By Serena Lapointe

The Woodlands County Service Tracker Program will be upgraded in the new year as the
municipality will be swapping software platforms. Woodlands County Council recently had the
chance to provide feedback on the service.
The Service Tracker provides residents a means to send service requests at any time by either
completing a short form on the County’s website or calling the office during business hours. The
program is not meant for emergencies or issues needing immediate attention. Residents can
call the after-hours line for that (1-888-870-6315).
At regular council meetings, council is provided with updated tracker data to see requests
currently underway and those that have been dealt with and are now considered closed. They
also receive a report each quarter, which allows them to compare to previous years, helping to
highlight recurring issues and potential trouble spots.
Woodlands County CAO Matthew Ferris provided an overview of the final two quarters of 2025
at the January 15 Regular Meeting of Council. “We did have some staff changes over in the late
part of Q3, which resulted in us being delayed in getting you the report. For Q3, July through
September, we had a total of 129 requests. That’s about a ten percent decrease from the year-
over-year comparison. The most frequently requested category is for grading,” he explained.
“In Q4, we had a significant number of requests, but, interestingly, it was a decrease from the
year before. With record snowfalls, and I’m told from our Public Works Managers in some
places we had drifts over ten feet high over the roads, the fact that we actually experienced a
decrease in calls and complaints, given the month of December, speaks volumes to our staff
and public works department,” added Ferris.
The vast majority of requests from July 1 to September 30 were for grading/washboarding
issues, with 65 requests for that. The next highest received was construction-related with twelve
requests, bylaw enforcement with eleven, potholes/road repairs with eight and nine requests for
dust control.
From October 1 to December 31, 119 requests were received, with 58 relating to snowplowing

and sanding. The next highest was 22 for grading or washboarding requests and thirteen for
snowplow flags. October and November each had 21 requests, with most accumulating in
December, just like the snow, with seventy-two requests. “I will say that our team sacrificed a
great deal with their families over the holidays to make sure that everyone else’s holidays went
off without a hitch. I want to say thank you to them, and I’m sure council’s appreciative, too,”
said Ferris.
He then asked council how they felt about the reporting as it currently stands. “We haven’t really
had a discussion with council on how they would like to see the reports,” he said. Ferris
wondered if they wanted to keep seeing the tracker report broken down by division. “Is there a
benefit to, rather than breaking it down by division, speaking as one county in these reports?

Any feedback that you have on things that would be nice to see in these reports or things that
aren’t necessary would be greatly appreciated.”
Councillor Alan Deane said he preferred having the report broken down by each division. “From
my perspective, I like the division breakdown. What it helps me to identify is areas that, I don’t
want to say we struggle, but they are problem areas just by the very nature of the topography,
and so to see it (that way) is helpful,” he explained.
Councillor Deane also wondered if they could increase communication to residents on how to
find the tracker portal on different media. He said accessing the tracker on the County's website
was not the same on other devices. “On your computer, it’s right at the bottom of the main page,
and you can see it, but you have to go through the popular links on the mobile app. If a person
doesn’t know what’s there or doesn’t know that’s an area to dive deeper into the website, they
are not going to be able to find it. I’ve had numerous conversations with residents, who are
better with their phones than I am, and they don’t know where it is, so I’m just thinking a quick
“how to find it post” would be helpful,” he said.
Councillor Patricia MacNeil agreed to having the report broken up by divisions. “I really
appreciate the divisional reporting for basically the same reasons (as Councillor Deane),” she
said. She asked why service requests were submitted by staff roughly half the time and through
the website the other half.

Ferris explained that staff submissions are a combination of things. He said one of those is
when a resident calls, and staff fill in a request for them. “If someone calls us and has a
concern, I don’t think it’s best practice to say go on the internet and submit. So, some of those
are phone calls where people have said, " Hey, let’s do something.”
He said staff also use the tracker system as a way to keep things from getting lost. “We were
running into some issues, facility-wise, for our staff where there was an issue with a building,
more so our third-party facilities, where they asked for something and it just either fell by the
wayside or wasn’t properly tracked,” explained Ferris. In those situations, staff would be
instructed to send a service request to help keep track of the issue on the administrative side.
The overhaul to the well-used service will be rolled out to residents once complete.