MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR

MAYOR STRENGTHENS DIGITAL COMMITMENT TO ENHANCED SERVICE, COMMUNITY DIALOGUE

I’m pleased to announce that the City of Fort Wayne has rolled out a new set of on-line tools to give you innovative ways to receive information from the City, but even more important, providing you new ways to interact with other Fort Wayne residents and to share your ideas with “city hall.”

We’ve used our City website for several years to help get the word out about their programs and projects. Now the internet enables us to implement many new applications to truly make ourselves a virtual city.

As a best-run City, it’s my goal to continually meet your expectations for high-quality, low-cost services and SmartGov helps us do more with less. We rolled out phase one of SmartGov in the fall of last year. Phase one is about delivering more information about items such as city contracts and financial data. Now we’re entering phase two of SmartGov, which is about encouraging a conversation between government and residents that promotes interaction and collaboration to strengthen our community.

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Eight new elements of SmartGov will provide you with enhanced services and opportunities for dialogue. They include:
1.City Website — redesigned from the inside out, with streamlined navigation and advanced functionality throughout. The website has many features including improved service links, improved customer service forms and a comprehensive calendar of events and meetings, including the dates of our upcoming move to Citizens Square. You can access the website at www.cityoffortwayne.org.

2.Information Notices — for those with a special interest in job openings, new releases, or Animal Care & Control postings, you can now sign up to receive personal notifications when new information becomes available.

3.SmartGov Ordinance View — this SmartGov component is the online storehouse for information about City ordinances. Its search capability allows you to find out the purpose and content of each ordinance. It also enables visitors to see video of the City Council’s actual discussion and its vote on the selected ordinance.

4.Fencepost — a discussion site that lets you hold conversations in the form of posted messages. The forum contains a number of sub-forums, each with the potential to host several topics. Forums promote collaborative discussions. They are initially geared toward neighborhoods and vendors.

5.Citizens Square Blog – a feature that gives us a new “city square” – a place to ask questions and gather information. Real time and interactive, it will also feature articles by City staff on issues of interest to the community.

6.Twitter — I’ll begin tweeting as I visit locations around the community, making observations and giving tweeters insight into the work of the City.

7.Facebook – When you think of social media, Facebook may be the first thing that comes to mind. The City’s Facebook page now has almost 400 fans. Facebook offers the opportunity for immediate conversations and helps me find out what our City’s residents and fans are interested in or concerned about.

8.Trails Widget — located on the Parks and Recreation web page, this feature lets trail enthusiasts tap up-to-date information about trail conditions and temporary closures due to maintenance, flooding or other weather issues. Sure to become a popular bookmark, this idea came from local trail users who commute back and forth to work.

My staff and I work hard each day to make City government more welcoming, convenient and responsive to the needs of you, our citizens and our business community. So I invite you to go to our redesigned website at www.cityoffortwayne.org. Check out the new look and the new tools. I hope you’ll use our technology tools to access the information you need 24 hours a day 7 days a week and that you’ll become more engaged with your City government.