COEUR d’ALENE — Despite Coeur d’Alene City Councilman Dan Gookin labeling an app “an incredible waste of money,” the rest of the council voted to approve a contract to use it to promote art.

“This is in my wheelhouse,” Gookin said at Tuesday's City Council meeting, following a presentation by city accountant Stephanie Padilla. “This is an app. This isn’t even the best app. I would say it’s a colossal waste of money.”

The council voted 5-1 to approve an agreement with Otocast, LLC for the creation and hosting of an audio guide mobile app for $5,000, plus annual maintenance fees.

It would cost about $2,500 each year after the initial $5,000.

Otocast is a mobile app designed to be used with self-guided tours, available for Android or Apple devices.

The city would use it to provide people with an audio and text narrative, photos and a web link, with information about the city’s extensive public art collection.

About 90 pieces would be included in the guide.

Padilla said it would offer “better communication and understanding on individual art pieces.”

A subcommittee would work with Otocast and the artist on the narration.

Just after Councilwoman Amy Evans made a motion to approve the contract, Gookin interjected his concerns.

Gookin, who has written books on technology, including “PCs for Dummies,” “Laptops for Dummies” and “Android Phones for Dummies,” criticized the proposal. He said a three-page folding brochure would express the same information for a lot cheaper.

He said when looking at an app, you have to consider the average daily active users.

“So we’re going to pay $5,000 for an app. How many people are going to use that app?” he said, also questioning other costs.

“We don’t know,” Gookin said. “All we know is we’re going to spend money and we’re going to hope someone besides a handful of people in the arts community are going to use the app.”

He said the app has only about 10,000 downloads on the App Store. He said other apps offer the same thing, are more complete, have millions of downloads and have plenty of active daily users.

“This is not one of them,” he said. “This is actually very low rated if you check the rating on the app. It’s not popular."

He also pointed out the app tracks your location.

“A lot of people don’t like that,” he said.

Gookin said there are better ways to communicate information about the city's art.

“My guess is that the daily use of this app is somewhere down around zero,” he said.

While other councilmembers indicated they agree with some of Gookin’s concerns, they said they support the idea overall as it's relatively cheap with little risk.

“I think it’s a good thing to try,” English said.

Evans said it's an opportunity to share art information with locals and visitors and clear up misconceptions about art.

"This may not be the perfect tool for communicating that, but it’s an additional tool,” she said.

The Arts Commission approved the purchase of the app from Otocast at its Feb. 22 meeting.

Councilwoman Christie Wood said she isn’t opposed to trying it, but would like an analysis done to track whether it proves worth the money.

Councilman Woody McEvers also said he supports it, but asked for a “deep review” of how well it works.

City Attorney Randy Adams said it's a two-year contract with one-year renewals. The city can get out of it with 30 days notice at any time.

“We negotiated pretty hard,” said City Administrator Troy Tymesen. “That contract does have exit clauses the city of Coeur d'Alene asked for.”

Gookin maintained it's an app few will use.

“So the cost per user will be big," he said. "What’s the benefit? That’s why I would oppose this.”