Local governments should keep an app people use to report...

Local governments should keep an app people use to report infrastructure hazards. Credit: Howard Simmons

Local governments have for years been using a website and app on which the public can report complaints and hazards in the municipality. It’s called SeeClickFix and it helps officials in many jurisdictions receive and track the kind of information that could go to any 311 call system. In this remarkable digital age, SCF, as it’s called, offers the public, like other programs, the convenience of fast digital communication with government.

Cities, towns and villages across Long Island and around the state have used its platform for years. That’s why a lawsuit recently decided by the state’s highest court has caused a wave of consternation among government lawyers and administrators.

In December, the Court of Appeals quite reasonably decided 7-0 to uphold a decision in favor of Henry Calabrese, who was injured in a motorcycle accident on Lark Street in Albany, not far from the state Capitol. Calabrese sued, saying the mishap was caused by a depression in the road, which had been earlier reported on SCF. The catch for Calabrese: The city of Albany requires "prior written notice" of a defect before it’s willing to settle a claim. Its officials tried — and failed — to sell the argument that a filing on SCF does not constitute "written" notice.

New York Conference of Mayors lawyers argued in a friend-of-the-court brief that if apps can serve as notice it "would eviscerate limited protections the state gives ... municipalities and their taxpayers" in tort litigation. Also, the group said, the ruling would open up applications and websites such as Facebook, X, Instagram, Threads and YouTube as means of written notice.

These days, it seems governments at every level do not or cannot keep their laws and systems in step with rapid changes in digital technology.

That’s where the fallout from this court case comes in. Fiscally motivated to minimize payouts, the mayors' group now suggests its members could amend laws to say explicitly that SCF isn’t an acceptable way to give notice. Notices of a defect, it says, can be mandated to be filed by hand, first class or certified mail.

But the high court clearly said: "Electronic communications fall within the plain meaning of the word ‘written.’ They serve as objectively observable and tangible records that are functionally equivalent to writings inscribed in a physical medium."

No defensive legal strategies will address what ought to be the main goal — fixing broken infrastructure hazards ASAP. Keeping the notice system in the 20th century doesn’t help on that front. Ease of communication on both ends is the real point of these nonemergency reporting systems whether we’re using cellphones, websites, or apps.

If government, its contractors and staff do better on prompt repairs, valid payouts for vehicle and other damages and injuries could decline. That aim demands a different discussion — but perhaps a more useful one. How to give notice becomes a distraction from that mission.

MEMBERS OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD are experienced journalists who offer reasoned opinions, based on facts, to encourage informed debate about the issues facing our community.

FLASH SALE

$1 FOR ONE YEAR

Unlimited Digital Access

SUBSCRIBE NOW >>Cancel anytime - new subscribers only