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Thursday, 17 July 2008 |
County hires firm to design Web site
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Staff Writer
The county is hiring a company to create a new online Web presence to provide easier access for residents and prospective businesses.
The Auglaize County Commissioners signed a $15,625 contract with Minster-based Midnet Media to design and develop auglaizecounty.org, specifically featuring a content management system.
The Web design services are to be paid for through the county’s GIS (Geographic Information System) fund and is expected to be completed in three or four months.
“We wanted to revamp the Web site to make it more user-friendly and more navigable,” Commissioner Doug Spencer said.
He said the focus will continue to be on providing all the information anyone could want to know at the click of a mouse 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but the firm will rebuild the existing Web site, to which updated information has been added throughout the last couple years.
“We don’t want to just have a Web site to have a Web site,” Spencer said. “As technology continues to increase people are expecting more and more to be right there at their fingertips.
“We’re not trying to distance ourselves from the public by not having them have to come in to get what they need, but we’re trying to do more community outreach to have the information they need when they need it in today’s fast paced lifestyle,” he said.
In addition to specific county offices and departments, other items of interest ranging from townships to schools could be linked to the site.
It is expected to have the capability of streaming audio and video and allow visitors to click on a link to watch educational materials.
The Web site also would create a branding effect for the county with graphics that would tie all the pages together through auglaizecounty.org.
“It would really showcase Auglaize County in a positive manner,” Spencer said.
He said the updated Web site would be a better venue to showcase the county’s GIS Web site, one of the best in the state.
While in-house employees were good at programming the information onto the Web site, Spencer said they wanted to enhance the graphics and put it into a more user-friendly format.
Since the design will be done through a content management system, the county’s technology employees can update pages and information to keep it all current.
“We’re just trying to offer as much information to the public as it might need and make sure people can easily find what they’re looking for,” Spencer said. “This will be a whole different look than what we have now.” |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 18 July 2008 )
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