SavannahGA.gov has been recognized by Juggle as one of the top city government websites in the state of Georgia. Below you'll find an interview with Saja Aures, Administrator for the City of Savannah Public Information Office.
- SavannahGA.gov is a top-notch web portal; what has been your role in its development?
The development of Savannahga.gov is a partnership between the City’s Public Information Office and Information Technology Department. Our IT staff manage the databases, applications, servers and all our backend technology. PIO develops the communications strategy for the Web, as well as managing or assisting with content and graphic design throughout the site. On a day-to-day basis, my job is to make sure we’re getting fresh content up on our homepage and to provide assistance to our departments in developing their Web presence within the City’s site.
- Can you summarize the history of Savannah’s web portal?
The site launched in 1998. It’s gone through a series of redesigns. In recent years, the site has begun moving away from the traditional static informational site to one that’s more interactive, more service-based. Currently, we have online services to allow citizens to pay parking tickets and traffic citations. We also have a “Talk Back Savannah” feedback form that allows people to write directly to the Mayor or give us feedback on big issues facing the community. Our online 311 is a way for people to report problems like potholes or blight to the City so we can put that into our Customer Service Request software and track it and address it. In the last year, we’ve added programming from Savannah Government Television, so folks can see our original SGTV shows and keep track of City Council meetings and Town Hall meetings even if they’re not able to attend in-person.
- What are the overarching objectives of Savannah’s current e-government initiatives?
We are a service-based organization. So our primary objective with anything we do online is always going to be about customer service, what can we do to help our citizens find information and accomplish tasks with the City. We also want our business community to have access to our services for them, like our Economic Development department or our Purchasing Department. And as a popular tourist destination, we want to make sure our Web site has information for visitors and helps connect them with the special attractions and amenities Savannah has to offer.
- From a marketing standpoint, what are some of the strategies that you have utilized to draw attention to the information and services provided by SavannahGA.gov, both on- and off-line?
Our URL is everywhere we can find a space for it. It’s on City vehicles, publications, promotional materials. We also have a strong link between our social media outlets and our Web site. We use sites like Facebook and Twitter to cross-promote information on the site and to drive traffic to the site. The Web site is increasingly our biggest communication tool so we promote it as much as possible.
- How has citizen feedback influenced the development of Savannah’s e-government services?
We understand that more and more, online services are a real expectation of our citizens, a need more than a want. We hear that and we support it. Our challenge is make sure whatever we do online, we’re still serving members of our community who may prefer to make an office visit or a phone call to interact with staff. Our primary goal in serving our citizens is to be accessible, as well as convenient. So with each new online service we offer, we’re still supporting those traditional methods of interaction as well.
- What is the most-used feature or service on the site?
Savannah loves art and entertainment. People use the Civic Center’s online box office to buy tickets to upcoming shows or to see what’s coming to town. Our Cultural Affairs department hosts a popular calendar of local exhibits and performances. We’ve found many visitors enjoy the Park and Tree Department’s review of our historical squares and monuments which are so popular downtown. Our Traffic Alerts are also visited quite a bit, to help people identify where street closures or detours are happening around town.
- In what way has harnessing social media and your new podcast allowed you to connect more directly and personally with the citizens of Savannah?
We’re seeing more and more that the way people interact with the Web is changing. So we understand it’s our job to be flexible and respond to those changes. We can’t expect everyone to visit the City’s Web site to get information about the City. We need to reach out to folks using the places and media they already enjoy. Like most government agencies, we were unsure about how we fit into social media, if anyone would really want to be a “fan” of or “like” their local government. Or if anyone would choose to listen to a City podcast when they’ve got so many music or entertainment options to download. But the response has been overwhelmingly positive. People appreciate government being available in these arenas, they’re seeing value in the information we’re sharing. And we’ve now got access to a whole new audience of engaged, interested citizens.
- How has your Talk Back Savannah dialogue feature enabled you to gather information from your site’s visitors? What has been the response to this service?
Talk Back is very popular. We’ve used Talk Back to gather feedback on issues like proposed City Ordinances and that feedback is invaluable. A lot of people are more comfortable or more able to share their thoughts online as opposed to attend a public meeting, so we’re getting more citizen input which is just incredibly beneficial to the whole process of creating public policies.
- 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 Savannah’s web portal?
I know people hear this everywhere, but I really think especially for government the social media realm is just going to get bigger. More specifically, mobile social media. I’m sure we’ll all still have desktops and laptops and some form of browser on those machines, but I also think our phones and handheld devices and the applications they run will be more important and more present in our day to day activities. As for our Web portal, we’re planning to continue to improve our backend to support more online services. We’re also looking at ways to incorporate text-messaging and mobile media alerts to keep people really connected to City news and information.
- Is there anything else you would like to tell us about SavannahGA.gov?
The City of Savannah is strongly invested in growing our Web services and online information, and we’re deeply appreciative of the community support and feedback we receive. We’re going to continue to be as responsive and accessible as possible. We look forward to evolving with the changing technology and initiating really productive and promising interactions between the City and the people we serve.