Website To Offer Easier Access

The city of Santa Fe is building a new website that officials say should be a boon to residents.

It’s “an opportunity to really develop something that is Grade A and something that will be easy to navigate, easy to search through, have better functionality, not only for the general public but city staff as well,” Constituent Services Director Sevastian Gurule said.

Information on the new website will be organized so that people don’t have to click through endless pages to find things, Gurule said. Items will be easier to locate and search for.

The website’s look and information will also be more consistent from page to page, “so it’s easy to navigate through and easy to understand,” Gurule said.

He couldn’t say if more information will be immediately available on the new site, but said there will be mechanisms in place for quickly and easily posting information.

The biggest goal of the project is to “uphold the desires of the governing body in providing transparency,” he said.

Gurule noted that city officials have been gradually increasing the amount of information made available to the public online. Within the past year, items such as employee salaries, the city’s checkbook register and meeting packets have been added to the current website.

One feature of the new site will let people file complaints or requests online. They can then create an account to stay updated on how the issue is being handled. The city will email people to check their account when something has happened with their file, Gurule said.

People will also be able to log into their account to provide more information to the city.

The system will send out reminders to city staff if an issue remains unresolved.

“I think overall that particular module will heighten the efficiency and greater customer service for the city,” Gurule said.

The city is also exploring the idea of creating a chat room for people with questions or concerns.

It all won’t come cheap. Gurule said the city expects to spend around $230,000 on the project, plus additional funds for maintenance and hosting responsibilities.

Santa Fe company Desert Elements has been hired for the task. The goal is to have the new site up and running by May.

The city’s current site, created by a company called Civic Plus, is about 6 years old, according to Gurule. Officials decided to create something new as Civic Plus’ contract neared an end and a request for proposals brought forth a plethora of interesting new ideas.

A five-person committee of city staffers is currently meeting once a week to discuss and review the site’s progress.