Anyone heard anything about the City Website?

[jay]

The city website's downtown skyline photo is really old.  It predates the start of construction for the convocation center.

Members of this forum could have done a much better job building the website.

[ForumManager]

it's already online
here's the address--
http://www.cityofyoungstownoh.org/
I just posted a message about it this week---It's ok but not worth that long wait.

[yfdgricker]

Just FYI, I received word that the Official City of Youngstown Web Site will go live sometime in September. I'm not sure how much marketing will be done for the site. As soon as I can share any more information I will.

[ForumManager]

It will be nice to have somewhere to refer visitors.

[yfdgricker]

Also, they are planning a January 2005 date for the new site to go live.

[yfdgricker]

I believe the address for the new City of Youngstown web site will be http://www.cityofyoungstownoh.com when it goes live but I'm not 100% sure (I'm 99.9% though ). However, that URL is currently not active yet.

Hopefully it will be a nice site. I'm excited to annouce that youngstownfire.com will have some presence in the fire department section of the new site!

[ForumManager]

I was told that if the project is under a certain dollar amount the city does not need to open it up for proposals. I hope they get their act together soon.  It doesn't take months to get a site online. I can see the need to tweak and adjust but for weeks maybe, not months. I wonder if they are charging by the hour!

I followed links on the lightgov site and aside from a few county association websites, they really don't have too much community related content.  One county obviously does their own design and links to the online auction services that lightgov offers.

I agree, it looks like a standard template is used for all the media sites.

Good luck with your degree!

[yfdgricker]

I hear you loud and clear!

As a fellow web designer, I didn't even know the city was planning on having a site designed until a buddy of mine called me and asked if I saw the article about my website, youngstownfire.com, in the vindicator. I stopped and picked up a paper on my way home to read it and that was the first time I knew the city was in the market for a website. I didn't have any clue even how to put a proposal in.

I believe that the city of Youngstown should have a city webmaster who is responsible for the design and daily maintenance of the site. That way it can be more in depth than just something CBoss threw together. In this day and age of the web, it makes sense. A city website is one place where you can make a great first impression to a company looking for a place to startup or relocate.  

I also get several emails a week with people asking what the city website address is or sending me complaints asking if I can pass them along to the city. youngstownfire.com also is an unofficial city site. I am only a volunteer and I don't represent the city.

I've seen many web sites that companies build for the city. A couple of pretty graphics, a few phone numbers and some pretty pictures but little other informative content. Take Boardman, Ohio's site www.boardmantwp.com for example. Build once, change yearly if that. Baltimore City, MD is another lousy city website.

In regards to CBoss, I've seen their sites and for a 'professional' company, well I haven't been very impressed with any of them.

On a side note, does anyone else think the local media (ie WKBN, WFMJ and WYTV) sites suck? 27 just uses the same site template that every other company they own does. Oh well that's another topic of discussion.

Would it surprise anyone that LightGov is run by David Engler, someone with many contacts in local government? Hummm. One might wonder if governments like to keep to their own little circles.

Oh well, the more you live the more you learn. I can't wait till I get my Information Architecture degree!

[ForumManager]

GRRRRRR
This is a subject that irks me.
serious venting to follow-
  
I contacted the city YEARS ago and asked to be part of a website proposal process. I was assured I would be contacted when the issue was addressed.  I also contacted them after hearing they might be  taking proposals.   They said they would get back to me by mail with all the paperwork and they never did give  me the chance to give them a proposal.

According to the lightgov website they partner with CBOSS for website design. Why doesn't that surprise me? Lightgov doesn't even do their own web development. They sub it out to one of the area's most expensive web development/hosting companies.
I bet that saved the city tons of money!!!
hmmmmm

Lightgov seems to be geared more toward internal government processing...surplus auctions, campaign management, etc.   They do say that they offer communities payment services such as dog license and property tax payment, but we do that through Mahoning  county around here, not the city. Perhaps we will be able pay our traffic tickets and utilities online?? ...but aside from Youngstown water,  aren't the utility companies their own entities and wouldn't they have online payment already on their own corporate websites?

Lightgov's own website does not view correctly in some browsers and that should not be acceptable for a government website.

http://www.lightgov.com

I know you are a good web designer --
Were you given the chance to bid on the City project?

I contacted the Vindicator after I heard that the contract was given to Lightgov and asked for more details. A vindicator reporter  saw a list of those that proposed and said that I seemed  more qualified than many of the people that they accepted proposals from.  I don't understand why I was shut out of the bidding process.

I get many  emails each month asking me to direct them to the city website and sometimes they admonish me for not having links to a city website in my directory...I've even received complaints aimed directly at City Hall and the mayor. Many folks  apparently think this is the official community website.  My reply is that I host this website as a free service for our community and I am only a volunteer and I don't represent the city.

venting complete! at least for now.
M Gohlke
Forum Manager

[yfdgricker]

Ok I wrote to LightGov inquiring about the status of the Youngstown City Web Site and here was their reply...

Mr. Ricker,
 
Thank you for your interest.  Yes we are developing the system for the City of Youngstown.  We are currently working with Anna Marie Frease from the city on implementing content into the site.
 
A beta site has been designed and we are communicating with Anna and making changes to the site.  We hope to be completed with the beta phase by this time next month.  
 
Thanks again.
 
 Steve

[yfdgricker]

Sorry if this is in the wrong topic, I couldn't find a category which covered all of the city Feel free to move this to where ever you think it fits better.

Back in February of 2004, there was an article in the Youngstown Vindicator saying that the city signed with LightGov, a Boardman based technology company, to design a web site for the city.

According to the article, the new site was to be up and running in about 4 months.

The article was written 8 months ago and I have yet to see a 'Youngstown' city website. Anyone know anything about this? There is nothing on LightGov's web site either. Guess I could just email them I suppose.