The Montgomery County commissioners are excited about their new "e-government" plan aimed at providing constituents with more electronic access to county government.
But constituents may need a spark to take advantage of the information and services that will be made available to them later this spring.
The company will be paid $125 an hour, up to $6,500 a month, for its services, according to the contract.
Initially, the county had planned to hire an additional employee at a yearly salary of $42,000 plus benefits (worth about $15,750) to provide those services.
However, those who applied for the position did not have all of the skills in which the county was interested, said Commissioners Chairman Thomas J. Ellis.
Hiring a consultant gives the county more flexibility and will be more cost-effective in the long run, said Ellis.
The county has invested $502,000 for the hardware and software needed to provide more information and services directly over the computer to constituents.
The county later this month will begin making the gradual changes on its Web site to provide for e-government. These changes should be completed and operational by the end of March or early April, according to county communications director John A. Corcoran.
One example of the new technology will be that users can get materials such as such as marriage licenses, dog licenses and hunting licenses over the computer.
The major concern of the commissioners right now is getting the message out to constituents and promoting the use of the system.
The commissioners were disappointed in the few users who accessed the county's Web site last November when the county for the first time put its newsletter online rather than spend $85,000 to print and mail it out.
The new e-government has to be better promoted, they said.
The county shortly will be mailing out a traditional newsletter outlining the features and capabilities of the new Web site.
Ellis, one of the county's two representatives on the SEPTA Board, also said he has convinced the transit agency to place advertisements, at cost, promoting the use of the new technology on buses and commuter trains serving the county.
In addition, Comcast has agreed to promote the system in public-service announcements, according to Ellis.
Jet Communications will be expected to come up with other marketing tools, he added.
Autor: Margaret Gibbons
Quelle: King of Prussia Courier, 03.03.2006