DeKalb County put its new website online this week.
The county says the overhaul was not made in response to the Illinois Policy Institute’s recent grade of D-, but has been in the works for about a year.
DeKalb County has put lots online for quite some time, but finding it or even getting a real sense of what all is there could be a problem.
I probably don’t use a government website the way most people do, and am much more inclined to head straight for the A-Z index and the search function. However, I find the front page sensible, attractive and inviting of exploration.
Under the principle of “if I can’t find it, it doesn’t exist,” there are a few omissions that would prevent the website from earning an “A” using the IPI grading rubric, such as vendor contracts, lobbyist information and taxation other than property taxes (e.g, DeKalb County has a sales tax. Where is it?). Some compensation information is a bit late in being posted, too.
There are also some really nice surprises. I fed “bid awards 2012″ into the search and found out the county places all board resolutions online for the current fiscal year (which I discovered a bit later are also accessible from a front page link). Additionally, the latest Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) has a separate link for each section(!), the table containing links to the five current labor contracts includes contract starting and expiration dates so you don’t have to go into the contracts themselves to find them, and if you look up “Fees” in A-Z there’s a separate link to each type.
The county has always been strong in historical information, and the staff did not change this; years of CAFRs, vendor payments, property tax extensions and bond information remain.
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) info is not accessible from the front page — it’s not a “Hot Topic?” Boo! — but you will find it if you click “I Want To…,” “Forms & Publications” or the index tab. Behold the beautiful redundancies!
So here’s a tip o’ the hat to Joan Berkes Hanson and Lisa Sanderson, the county employees who so greatly improved the DeKalb County website as a public resource. Well done.
5 comments
Comment by Anson MacDonald on September 21, 2012 at 10:17 am
But Lynn, this site has a fresh clean design.
Have they learned nothing from http://www.CityOfDeKalb.com with its nested menus and impossible navigation?
Try contacting the webmaster at the site and see how long it takes for a response. With CityOfDeKalb.com there is no accountability.
The city provides free advertising to Verizon Wireless on its community page. Does the county site do that? See, the city site is better!
Maybe the county has information on the city’s commissions and committees… because on CityofDeKalb.com it’s been “coming soon” for three years!
Comment by yinn on September 21, 2012 at 2:08 pm
Lol, Anson, I didn’t want to go there today but you have good points, all.
I contacted city council members this week about the housing ordinances and there is no longer the option to contact all the council members at once, so in this area we are going backward.
While I was double-checking addresses I noticed that none of the aldermen have placed anything in their “ward news” sections. It would make more sense (and we’d be less inconvenienced) if they’d put everybody and their contact info on one page.
Also it appears that the 3rd Ward alderman now lives in the 4th Ward.
Comment by Mac McIntyre on September 21, 2012 at 3:07 pm
What? 3rd ward in the 4th ward? Oh my!
Comment by yinn on September 23, 2012 at 10:03 am
Update 1: I’ve been told that the “e-mail all council members” function at the city’s website still exists, if you are using the “right” browser. I don’t doubt it for a second! It is a long-standing complaint of mine that only the folks using IE get to see all the goodies. It’s 2012, fer cryin’ out loud.
Update 2: Here’s the reason for my comment about the 3rd Ward alderman living in the 4th Ward. When I went to look up council members’ e-mail addresses, I noticed the street address for the 3rd Ward alderman read “430 S. First Street.” I looked at it a second time to see if I was reading it right, then a third in conjunction with peering at a ward map (the county clerk’s, because the city’s link doesn’t appear on my browser either). Now, revisiting the site today I see the address reads “430 N. First Street,” which definitely places Ms. Lash back in Ward 3. Thanks to whoever is reading City Barbs and made the correction.
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