ClintonOkla.org has been recognized by Juggle as one of the top city government websites in the state of Clinton. Below you'll find an interview with , Gene McCullough for the City of Clinton.
- ClintonOkla.org is a top-notch web portal; what has been your role in its development?
As IT Director for the small city of Clinton, I was tasked with updating the website from its static nature to a more vibrant, dynamic portal. I chose an open-source project that was an almost perfect fit for our requirements, made (and am making) the needed modifications to meet the rest of our requirements, created the themes and layouts based on some existing color schemes, and ported existing data from the old site to the new portal. The whole process took about 1 year, with most of the time spent evaluating and deciding on the right framework for the job.
- Can you summarize the history of Clinton’s web portal?
As of more than 4 years ago, the City's website was very informative, yet static with a very manual update process funnelled through one or two people. With the change to a Content Management System occurring about the beginning of 2010, all departments are allowed to update and create content as needed to communicate with the public. Online utility payments have also been added recently through a collaboration with the State of Oklahoma's web portal.
- What are the overarching objectives of Clinton’s current e-government initiatives?
Community services is the best answer I can come up with. We are here for our citizens, and we want the website to be informative and helpful in any dealings the public has with our organization.
- From a marketing standpoint, what are some of the strategies that you have utilized to draw attention to the information and services provided by ClintonOkla.org, both on- and off-line?
We really have not promoted clintonokla.org too much, relying mostly on announcements through city council meetings about major improvements. We do communicate to utility customers through the monthly billing statements that contain information about additional online services.
- How has citizen feedback influenced the development of Clinton’s e-government services?
As we welcome feedback from the citizens, any that we get receives timely attention. To be honest, the feedback we get usually becomes a priority.
- What is the most-used feature or service on the site?
Online forms for applications is a widely used feature with both contractors and home/business owners. But the most used feature is probably the online agendas and minutes of past meetings.
- How many people use your notification system and what information is disseminated through this method?
All utility customers and businesses with their phone numbers listed in the local directory are enrolled in our notification system by default, with the option to opt out manually. In addition, anyone may submit a form in person or online and we add their contact information to our database as well. The notification system we use is an excellent system for our purposes, which have focused mainly on weather related incidents and water outage reporting.
- What kinds of features or information can be accessed through logging in to your portal? If these are employee resources, what are the advantages of bundling them with the city's portal?
Currently, access to the portal other than public viewing is for updating and administration. Publishers can add and update content, reply to forms that are submitted, and view statistics on usage. While the framework we utilize for the system supports user registration, we are still researching the best use of that for our particular community.
- Where do you see e-government heading in the next 2-3 years? Are there any exciting new features or services currently in the works for Clinton’s web portal?
I believe e-goverment has the potential to lower the cost of doing business, and so will continue to grow in its utilization. We are continually working on our portal to improve existing features and add new enhancements and applications as they are needed.