The city joins a growing number of South Carolina municipalities with web sites allowing residents to do by computer what at one time required a call to City Hall or perhaps a trip downtown. "It's a move toward e-government," said Howard Duvall, executive director of the Municipal Association of South Carolina.
Several years ago, the association formed a strategic alliance with VC3, a Columbia-based Internet company which has developed software to help members enhance their municipal web sites.
Charleston joins a half dozen other cities across the state with sites where people can request services from their city government.
In some places, residents can pay utility bills online. Myrtle Beach offers residents and tourists the ability to pay parking tickets online, said Mary Brantner, the communications manager for the association.
Software from VC3 is used by about 60 different municipalities in the Carolinas and Georgia, said Sandy Reeser, chief operating officer of the company which has been in Columbia for 10 years and employs 52 people.
"The whole product suite is built around trying to enable citizens to conduct business with municipalities online," he said, adding the software for service requests is broader because it involves many city departments.
Information from an online request is passed electronically to the city department that needs to take action.
"It records where the request comes from and automatically responds back to the request. Managers can get reports of what types of calls are coming in and how quickly they are being taken care of," Duvall said.
"It makes the city responsible and gives the city a good management tool," he added.
Residents who provide an e-mail address receive a tracking number so they can follow the progress of their request, much like a customer uses a tracking number to check on a shipment from an online purchase.
"For the citizen it's a great step forward in their communicating with their government," said Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., who said a request or complaint will be immediately relayed to lots of people in the city.
"It will be a great management tool and provide a single means to track requests which will make life better for our residents," he added.
City ombudsman Brian Sheehan said those who do not own computers may call a city number and city staffers will enter their request in the computer system so it can be tracked.
Columbia has had an online service request page for almost two years. It also opened the first 311 call center in the state - a number residents can call to request information and non-emergency services, said Judy Spell, the city's telecommunications director.
"We're getting the calls from those people who I feel sometimes didn't have a voice," she said.
She said the new services have also reduced non-emergency calls to 911 by about 25 percent because people better know where to request services.
"It gives citizens easier access to our government," she said.
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Autor: BRUCE SMITHQuelle: Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 24.06.2004
