"When we moved into our new City Hall a year ago," said Pier Simeri, community relations and public affairs director, "the idea was to provide a one-stop shop for our residents where they could apply for building permits, sign-up for community sports, find information about the city, zoning ordinances, etc. We wanted our city Web site to function in the same way."
They did have a Web site, but it was somewhat difficult to navigate and it was costly to maintain and update. It was not fulfilling the idea of an organized one-stop shop. This budding city needed to do something.
"We wanted a Web site that was user-friendly, well-organized, looked good, and was easy to navigate. We also wanted to maintain the site on our own, and give our city departments more ownership of what was on their page and when it got there," said Simeri. "The CivicPlus system provided all that and much more."
Avondale, located 16 miles west of downtown Phoenix in between the Gila, Salt, and Agua Fria Rivers, is home to the Phoenix International Raceway. Its parks, youth sports programs, community and family activities and centers, and an outstanding educational system make Avondale a wonderful place to live and visit.
"From a marketing perspective, some people may never come here, but the Web site represents the vibrant, young, exciting, and growing community that is Avondale."
With minimal training and basic Microsoft Word knowledge, the city of Avondale is able to create and maintain its new site, and have as many webmasters or administrators as it likes. It is now the one-stop shop Avondale envisioned.
On the new site, residents can now find out the many community happenings with the Calendar of Events prominently displayed on the home page. They can also download forms in the Document Center such as building permit applications, information about city zoning ordinances, the city's general plan and much more. Simeri and other city departments are also able to archive documents in the easy-to-access Archive Center.
A feature of CivicPlus that Avondale opted for is the Online Job Application System (OJAS). Avondale can easily post available city job openings for its residents and potential employees to readily access and apply online. An applicant can view all jobs or sort by category, job title or closing date. They are also able to download or submit a job application online, e-mail their resume, and format the job listing for printing. They are even able to sign-up to be notified about new job openings.
"We are getting a lot of applicants using OJAS," said Simeri. "We don't need to advertise as heavily in the newspaper as much anymore because more people are coming to the Web site. It has been so successful that we had to close a clerk position early because we received so many qualified applicants!"
By using the Citizen Feedback Form, residents and visitors can easily contact them for any reason, such as downed light poles, a pothole in the street, or for more information about city hotels.
"Our old site was getting more expensive each year which was cutting into the city budget," said Simeri. "At the same time, we did not want to spend a lot of money to get a new site. The city split the cost between different departments, so it didn't affect our budget a great deal. CivicPlus was a good solution because it was cost effective and we're now able to maintain the site on our own."
They are also saving money on printing and advertising costs. For example, Simeri is not printing as many annual reports this year but rather posting it online using a News Flash. Since Avondale gave the responsibility for creating and maintaining pages to each department, they also saved on the cost of paying an individual to act as webmaster.
"CivicPlus trained our IT staff and then the IT staff trained the city staff. In just a couple of days, everyone was trained and assigned an area to keep updated. It's nice that the system is easy to learn and use so that we can train internally," Simeri said. "I don't consider myself that computer-savvy, and it's even easy for me to use."
Avondale residents can expect more from their Web site down the road. "We're hoping to make some enhancements such as online utility bill payments," Simeri said.
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