Top Dogs

projects as they are introduced. "The Architecture Review Board is in place to evaluate the use of technology behind [a project] so we can make sure it's supportable by the current county staff," explained Bartee.

Project management is a common component of the top counties in the survey, and 86 percent of counties reported using some type of advanced system to organize project processes.

"The effective use of project management tools and techniques is critical to the success of large projects," Roessler said. "By reviewing progress, setting timelines and goals, and managing the budget, we can more effectively utilize limited resources and still meet anticipated goals."


Saving a Trip
To Fairfax County, e-government is also about bringing government to the people physically. To meet this goal, the county decided to build a second government center in the south part of the county.

"The whole reason the South County Center exists is to have services in the community where they're needed," said Merni Fitzgerald, director of Public Affairs.

The five-story South County Center houses 26 programs, including the Access Fairfax division. The public E-gov Center operated by the Access Fairfax division contains 13 networked terminals and telephone access to the county's IVR system.

Access Fairfax, stewarded by the Office of Public Affairs, is also designed to bridge the digital divide. Reportedly 20 percent of county citizens lack Internet access at home, and frequent visitors to the center rarely use computers otherwise, Fitzgerald explained.

Giving them access to e-government may be getting citizens connected to technology at home, said Mike Smuland, Access Fairfax division director. He said many people who came into Access Fairfax to use the technology realized that they could conduct business online anytime from their own homes.

This cuts down on commuting, which is not only ideal for citizens but also county employees, to whom Access Fairfax offers telework offices. "County employees can drop in, schedule office space and have full access to computers, printers, phones, etc.," said Fitzgerald.


Spotting Emergencies
In Roanoke County, Va. -- winner of the 150,000-249,999 category -- new integrated geodatabase technology promises to come through in emergency situations. The geodatabase allows county employees to see geographic information as objects in a map that can be manipulated as needed.

When 911 calls come into emergency dispatch, four screens appear, two of which show the phone number from which the person is calling and a map pinpointing the caller's location.

Phase two of the geodatabase implementation will include locating cell phone callers, according to Maria Ward, application services manager of the county. Cell phone companies and 911 providers are required to develop effective means of locating cell phones in emergency situations, she explained. Either a GPS chip within the phone, or cell towers triangulating the phone's signal location will be used to send a caller's location to the computer aided dispatch (CAD) system.

"It used to be that they could just tell what cell phone tower your call was coming [from] and that would be within a few miles of where you were, so they wouldn't really know where you were in an emergency," Ward said.

The county is also upgrading its emergency paging system for firefighters, which will be integrated with the CAD system as well.

"A software interface with the CAD will automatically page the person selected to respond," stated Bill Hunter, technical services manager.

The existing single-band paging system has been in place for decades, said Hunter. Although it served as a good paging system throughout the years, Hunter said the new system will increase coverage area.

"Roanoke is surrounded on three sides by mountains, and radio propagation is difficult at best," he said, explaining that often, emergency response