CityOfNapa.org has been recognized by Juggle as one of the top city government websites in the state of Florida. Below you'll find an interview with Barry Martin, Community Outreach Coordinator for the City of Napa.
- CityOfNapa.org is a top-notch web portal; what has been your role in its development?
My role was to design the layout of the site – how I wanted it to look and feel, and how the nav would function. I coordinated with all the City departments to evaluate their content on the old site and move what was needed to the new site, and develop new content. The site architecture was created by David Mercer Consulting using a Joomla open-source platform.
- Can you summarize the history of Napa’s web portal?
The current site went live in the fall of 2007, replacing a badly outdated and hard to use old site. My goal was to create a site that could have multiple content editors rather than a single webmaster, and that has been successful. Over time, we added other functionality from other sources – a CRM system from Gov QA, video streaming and archiving from Granicus, etc.
- What are the overarching objectives of Napa’s current e-government initiatives?
The primary goals have been to create and maintain a site that is easy for the citizen to use to find the most-needed information; to use the front page of the site as a “news” feature; and to make documents easy to find and use.
- From a marketing standpoint, what are some of the strategies that you have utilized to draw attention to the information and services provided by CityOfNapa.org, both on- and off-line?
Creating a Facebook page that links to our site; creating a weekly e-newsletter that links to our site; making sure resources available on the site are mentioned in all the print products we produce.
- How has citizen feedback influenced the development of Napa’s e-government services?
I did not do any focus groups or other research to develop the site. I reviewed dozens of other municipal sites and vetted my findings with the City Manager and top level staff for input. It was a “don’t reinvent the wheel” process – finding things that worked and made sense and adding them to our site.
- What is the most-used feature or service on the site?
The Personnel Department’s Job Opportunities page consistently gets the most hits. The Agendas and Minutes page, and the Parks and Recreation page, which allows online registration for recreational activities, are the next most popular pages.
- In what ways has social media (Facebook) allowed you connect more directly and personally with the citizens of Napa?
Facebook allows us to reach out to citizens, and people from out of the area with an interest here, to get short doses of information with links back to our site. It also allows for comments and responses to comments, which I manage, and engages a sector of the community that might not otherwise interact with us.
- When developing the Napa web portal what were some of the obstacles that had to be overcome? How has the tourism trade in Napa affected the site?
It was a massive effort to convince everyone that it would be worth the effort to migrate to a new site, and to train multiple content editors. (I have about 40 people who add and revise content.) I had to write a user guide and conduct multiple training sessions.
Our site gets many views from people who are planning to visit Napa as tourists. It was important that our City site “looked like Napa” and represented the area well, as we have a growing tourism economy here in the City (catching up with the area known as “Upvalley.”) It was important to provide content that speaks to those potential visitors as well as the local audience. Most of our tourist-related content links to other organizations who are focused on tourism.
- 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 Napa’s web portal?
More use of video to provide public information is my answer to both those questions.
- What else that you would like to tell us about CityOfNapa.org?
I am most proud of the fact that we used open-source software and were able to develop the site for about $5,000 in addition to my time and other staff time invested in it. Many municipalities spend tens of thousands of dollars and have a less user-friendly site as a result. I am also happy that we have a very streamlined process for our content editors to create and post content, without layers of approvals. That means we get content online quickly, and all editors can post news items to the front page at their discretion. It is a de-centralized system and everyone is empowered to use the site for their needs.