Goodbye summer strolls, hello BGGOV2GO.

Since 2000, city officials and staff have spent Monday nights each summer walking through neighborhoods to hear residents’ concerns. This summer, however, city staff and officials will instead be popping up at neighborhood and community events in a city tent to hear feedback and provide information.

The concept – dubbed pop-up city halls in other cities – is being branded as BGGOV2GO locally.

City commissioners in April heard about the concept from Neighborhood Services Coordinator Karen Foley.

“We are ready to do some things differently but still want events to be community focused,” Foley said at the time.

“The goal is the same as the summer strolls” in terms of getting input from and interaction with residents, Bowling Green Mayor Bruce Wilkerson said, “but the summer strolls seem to have run their course.”

Wilkerson added that some residents may be intimidated by the option of visiting city hall to access services.

“This is an opportunity to see them in a more informal setting,” he said.

Bowling Green Neighborhood and Community Services Director Brent Childers said the city has held a couple of BGGOV2GO events in conjunction with other neighborhood activities and the response “has been positive so far,” he said.

“It lets us take our services anywhere, anytime,” Childers said of the concept.

BGGOV2GO entails erecting a city tent staffed with one or more employees with a laptop so that some online services, such as applying for a job or filing a code enforcement complaint, can be done on the spot.

“The goal is to increase civic engagement,” Childers said, “instead of showing up and walking though a neighborhood.”

When the tent is set up at larger venues or events, it can be coupled with city resources like the fire department’s fire safety house.

While residents can request that BGGOV2GO come to their neighborhood, “the intent is to piggyback with larger events,” Childers said, such as the World Refugee Day celebration last month at Lampkin Park.

The next BGGOV2GO event is slated for the 1400 block of Circle Avenue from 6 to 8 p.m. July 18.

When applicable, the city will send out mailers to let people know BGGOV2GO will be in their area, Childers said. Locations will also be publicized via the city’s social media accounts and on the city website.

— Follow city government reporter Wes Swietek on Twitter at twitter.com/BGDNgovtbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.