Coody said the "advance to e-government" will not replace personal service. "We want to emphasize that accessFayetteville is not meant to replace person-to-person contact but to provide convenient and around-the-clock service," he said. "Citizens no longer have to wait until Monday to have their questions answered or make sure they contact us before 5 p.m."
The home page — featuring a picture of Coody welcoming visitors to the site — directs users to the many different city departments.
A column at the left of the screen includes a list of information such as a calendar, city government offices, city services, public safety, neighborhood associations, parks and recreation, planning and development, utilities and — if all else fails — a search option.
A listing on the right side includes employment opportunities, recent memos and documents and an option to pay for utilities online.
By January, citizens will be able to pay their water bill or, if they have a building permit, request an inspection through the Web site.
Each city department will control their own content on the Web site, which will allow the information to remain current. "The Web site is kind of a work in progress," said Scott Huddleston, Informational Technology Manager for the city. "It will change every day to some extent. We’ve got the framework for it. It will evolve from here on out."
A properly maintained Web site has been a long time coming for Fayetteville residents, who, like the rest of the nation, are increasingly relying on the Internet to communicate.
The former city Web site was developed in 1996 as part of the ALADDIN project at the University of Arkansas and by community members interested in making local politics more accessible to the public through the Internet.
Despite an in-house overhaul of the site in 1998, the majority of the Web pages were not regularly changed and were in need of a professional redesign.
On March 5, the City Council approved a $99,000 contract with IFWORLD for Web site design and construction services.
The phone side of accessFayetteville includes 294 pre-recorded informational messages. Users can access the system by dialing (479) 718-7600 and pressing the appropriate code.
An accessFayetteville brochure, which includes a list of all the four-digit message codes, is being sent out in the 2003 phone book and will be mailed to water customers in their monthly bills. There are nine water bill cycles; the first brochures began going to customers last week.
The Web site is at www.accessfayetteville.com.
Quelle: Northwest Arkansas News
