Fairhope – Residents and visitors seeking information about Baldwin County meetings, road conditions and events could soon have easier access through their mobile phones under a program planned by the County Commission.

The mobile app will go along with the Baldwin County website, baldwincountyal.gov, Brian Peacock, county CIS director, said at the commission work session on April 23. The website, which was redesigned about three years ago, can be complex for someone using a smart phone.

The new program will determine if someone is accessing the site with a phone and ask if the user wants to switch to the mobile version.

“We have a lot of information on the county website,” Peacock said. “This will offer a scaled down version where you can click on tiles and we can provide assistance.”

The information available on the tiles is still being worked out, but one item allow viewers to find meeting information. Residents can check meeting times and location for the commission, county committees and other agencies. They will also be able to sign up to receive notifications up to a month in advance when meetings are scheduled, Peacock said.

In the past, the county has sent out email notifications of meetings and other services, but the mobile app should allow better access, he said.

County officials are currently going over bids for media streaming channels as part of setting up the site, Peacock said. They have permission from Android to set up a service for phones using that system and should soon have details worked out for iPhones.

“We’d like to get it out there and see what kind of response we get,” Peacock said.

Peacock asked commissioners to recommend other information that might be made available on the app. Officials’ suggestions included Planning and Zoning Commission information, road conditions, BRATS bus schedules and requests for service. Additional suggestions included information about services offered by other agencies that are not controlled by the commission, but which county employees often receive calls about, such as state driver’s license office openings.

Commissioner Billie Jo Underwood said the county should be careful, however, about how much information is on the app.

“We don’t want to make it as big as our website,” she said. “We want to keep it simple.”

Commissioner Joe Davis said some county services, such as the Emergency Management Agency, already have apps allowing residents access to that information, so those sites would not have to be on the new county system.