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MMA Innovation Award winner, From The Beacon, February 2025
Andover Insider, the town’s text line, keeps residents informed and solicits their feedback about a variety of topics, including budgets and Town Meeting, the MBTA Communities Act, the creation of a new town seal, and the arrival of “Miss Moosachusetts,” a life-size yellow cow sculpture that graces downtown.
Andover’s efforts to keep the public informed include a town hall text line that has fostered a two-way dialogue with residents and built greater trust and transparency around municipal operations.
A year ago, the town launched Andover Insider, a free subscription service that allows the town to text residents with updates about town meetings, initiatives and news, and to solicit the public’s feedback on issues. Residents can also text questions and comments to the town manager’s office, and receive responses.
Town officials say they view the text line as a way to provide easier access to information and encourage engagement.
“It’s been very well received,” said Town Manager Andrew Flanagan. “And it’s provided us with a whole new array of options to engage the public, whether in real time about something that’s happening, or in a more planned and intentional way around town initiatives, like an upcoming Town Meeting.”
While Andover has other tools for communicating with residents, officials were looking for a method that wasn’t “clunky.” The town wanted to “meet people where they are,” and found them on their phones.
“There are a lot of residents in Andover and in any town that don’t have that kind of time to dedicate to participating in a conversation,” said Communications Director Phillip Geoffroy. “But there are hundreds of people, if not more, who are willing to weigh in on a topic by quickly firing off a text message.”
Andover developed the service over a two-month period, collaborating with the company Subtext, which typically works with media companies like the New York Times and the Washington Post. The town pays the $7,800 annual subscription fee out of its operating budget.
The town will send out a varying number of texts weekly, depending on the activity level at Town Hall, with added communications during budget season. Geoffroy generally manages the text responses, with help from other employees during high-volume periods.
Geoffroy said the town reviews analytics and pays attention to the topics that keep residents particularly engaged, and to commentary on social media, to determine which communications are working, while working to avoid overwhelming text subscribers with unwanted updates. The town also monitors the number of people unsubscribing.
The feedback Andover receives from its text service and other communications tools provides valuable input on a wide range of issues affecting the town, and helps officials fine-tune their communications strategy, Geoffroy said.
Andover Insider has nearly 2,000 subscribers, surpassing the town’s early subscription goals, and has lost only about 20 subscribers along the way, Geoffroy said.
Andover used the text line to solicit input on a draft redesign of the town seal, receiving nearly 100 responses before winning Town Meeting approval. It has also used the service to seek residents’ proposals for participatory budgeting priorities, generate questions for a pre-Town Meeting forum, and build consensus around the town’s obligations for the MBTA Communities Act. Officials are also using texting to help residents navigate the transition to automated trash and recycling services later this year.
The town has also had some fun with Andover Insider, having used it to promote a new public art installation downtown: a life-size yellow cow bearing Andover’s name. A town text invited people to check out the bovine, Flanagan said, “and before you know it, people were there getting their pictures taken with it.”
Flanagan said he can’t necessarily credit Andover Insider with its successful run of Town Meeting votes and public decision-making processes, but “it certainly hasn’t hurt.”
“I would say tying it directly to an outcome, you know, is far from scientific,” Flanagan said. “But what we know is we’re increasing the number of people who are informed, who are making the decisions.”
For more information about Andover Insider, contact Phillip Geoffroy at Phillip.Geoffroy@andoverma.us.