21st Century City Hall

There is absolutely no excuse for any local government to have a crappy website. Most still do, but there is no excuse for it.

Read  Mayor Ryan’s Mostly Report from Binghamton, NY.

While the tough economic times remain with us, our guiding principles show the way to promise, and we’re already seeing positive results. Transparency is one of my administration’s main tenets, and in recent months my administration has made several gains in realizing its potential, making City Hall more accessible, efficient, and responsive.

Just take our website, which we’ve constructed as a virtual City Hall. One of the site’s key functions is informing constituents about breaking news, new and ongoing efforts, and existing resources. After overhauling the website two years ago, it now includes not only our latest press releases and department overviews, but also dedicated pages for projects and initiatives, complete with meeting minutes and regular updates, contact information for project coordinators, and links to related information. (Considering the tough financial challenges now facing us, I highly recommend reviewing our Finance page, which includes a detailed overview of budget process.) It’s proactive openness like this that will make City Hall more accountable and helpful in moving Binghamton forward.

Our website also makes it easier to do business in Binghamton, including with the City itself. For instance, the Binghamton Local Development Corporation’s dedicated page features opportunities for low-interest commercial loans. Our Bids and RFPs page allows anyone to sign up to receive an electronic notice whenever a City RFP is issued. Thanks to our shared services agreement with the County’s Office of Real Property, the online assessment page offers the opportunity to review real estate information in the city and countywide from in at the click of your mouse. The online-payment page gives residents the convenience of paying water/sewer bills, parking tickets, and code violation fines via credit card and electronic check over the internet. And our public meetings page highlights our commiting to informing and engaging citizens in the democratic process.

One of city government’s main duties is to respond to local problems, and by introducing the Online Report a Problem service, we’ve streamlined this process for both City Hall and citizens alike. The service offers citizens the convenience of an electronic form to report the problems and request the services provided by the City. And by submitting the form online, it goes directly to the appropriate department, where it will be processed and addressed, and from which citizens will receive an email summarizing the timeline and considerations for resolving the problem at hand. That’s efficiency, and it’s the look of a 21st Century City Hall.

A 21st Century City Hall … Every city should strive to have one.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 11:38 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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