Top Digital Cities for 2007

Cathilea Robinett, executive director for the Center for Digital Government presents a Digital Cities award to Terry Lowe, systems coordinator of information systems, City of Lincoln.

For the last seven years, American cities that excel in the digital arena have been recognized by the Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies, now associated with Government Technology's Digital Communities initiative. The seventh annual 2007 Digital Cities Survey examines how cities are using technology to create a seamless environment between local government and constituents.

"This year's winners have really raised the bar for cities," said Cathilea Robinett, executive director for the Center for Digital Government. "Digital technology connects citizens with their government on a level never before achieved."

The survey is open to all U.S. cities with a population of 30,000 or more and respondent cities are classified into four size-based categories based on population.

1st Place 250,000 or More Population: City of Aurora, Colorado
Aurora completed many projects in 2007. Starting in January, online indexed video for City Council meetings became available. This spring, Aurora IT architected a mobile work platform for building inspectors that resulted in a 30 percent improvement in productivity, increased accountability and responsiveness. This also reduced drive time, improved employee retention, and improved efficiencies for both citizens and businesses. Aurora provides online payments that are fully integrated with back-office systems for parking tickets, taxes, utility bills, and recreation classes.

As well, Aurora is a leader in the metropolitan Denver area for the use of technology to support public safety. Officers on the street can access police information systems from their car over the Web including federal data bases, mug shots, and DMV for car registrations and driver's licenses. Officers also utilize pin mapping which allows officers to select a geographic area and a time frame and then map all the crimes that have occurred in that area during the specified time frame. Citizens can also file accident reports on-line, and citizens may recognize individual police officers and police department personnel for outstanding actions using an online commendation form.

1st Place125,000-249,999 Population: City of Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln, NE was 2nd last year -- in the top ten six of the past seven years. Lincoln added a number of new services in the past two years including 12 RSS Feeds, 2 live and on-demand video channels, an online survey system, updated keyword engine, 36 online traffic cam's, 100% online job applications, and ePay water bills that are now coupled with an eBilling option for paperless bills. Lincoln also added new locations for public access via Wi-Fi including a downtown urban park. The in-house developed online citizen ACTION center had a very successful implementation with participation from every department in the city and great reviews from citizens on the self-service model and the ability to monitor the progress of the request.