Memorandum
City of Lawrence
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TO: |
Mike Wildgen
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FROM: |
Lisa Patterson
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CC: |
Debbie VanSaun Dave Corliss Ron Hall |
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Date: |
August 3, 2005
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RE: |
Projected expenditures for web support
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A full-time employee assigned to manage the electronic government function will allow the city to move into the fifth year of e-government initiatives poised to advance the distribution of information via the web and increase online transactions for the City of Lawrence. The position will also alleviate some of the strain on existing resources as staff continues to meet the expectations of citizens and of commissioners.
Looking ahead to 2006 future e-government projects
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Identified initiatives |
estimate of contracted hours |
contracted rate/hr |
projected costs |
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Businesslinks |
Phase 1, directory (2005-2006), 80 hours Phase 2, connections (2006-2007), 125 hours Phase 3, retrieval (2008-2009), unable to estimate at this time |
Phase 1, $75 Phase 2, $80 Phase 3, $85 |
Phase 1, $6000* Phase 2, $10000* Phase 3, undetermined |
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Utility Billing online improvements |
45 |
$80 |
$3600* |
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Employee pay stub information online Programming |
50 |
$150 |
$7500* |
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Evaluation and recommendation of content management software |
20 |
$80 |
$1600* |
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2006 contractual expenditures on e-government projects |
320 hours |
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$28,700 |
*start up costs only, no budget allotted to maintenance or updates
Budget impact
The impact on the 2006 capital improvement and operational budget of adding a FTE to manage the city’s website is an increase of $14,800.The addition of the FTE in the 2006 position negates the budgeted expenditures for the part-time intern, $5,600 and the estimated contractual services of $28,700.
In-house e-government
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Part-time intern |
700 |
$8 |
$5600 |
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Intranet Improvement |
Will progress as staff resources permit |
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Unable to provide timetable for 2006 completion |
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Legal Notices online |
Will progress as staff resources permit |
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Likely to be completed in 2006 |
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Public Documents online |
Will progress as staff resources permit |
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Unable to provide timetable for 2006 completion |
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Business Licenses online |
Will progress as staff resources permit |
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Scheduled to launch fall 2005 |
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Complaint Tracking/Work Orders online |
Will progress as staff resources permit |
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Unable to provide timetable for 2006 completion |
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Time and Attendance |
Will progress as staff resources permit |
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Unable to provide timetable for 2006 completion |
Past projects
Shortly after launching web-based agendas in January 2004, the city was asked to move media briefings from Friday mornings to late Thursday afternoons. The request was made because the community was discussing agenda items before the media had an opportunity to generate coverage. It is an accomplishment to have a system that educates the community about city happenings before the media has an opportunity to release the information (http://www.lawrenceks.org/web_based_agendas_2005/index.shtml).
A second example of serving constituents is the Special Assessments Project. Developments in the real estate industry created the need for real estate professionals to have access to detailed special assessment information affecting residential and commercial properties. In response, the city organized the information, created a system to release the information in a timely manor and update the information via the web site (http://www.lawrenceks.org/specialassessment/).
There are numerous other examples of sharing valuable information via the web and meeting the needs of individual citizens as well as businesses and city staff. Examples of projects range from interactive GIS mapping to archive posting of improvement projects, City Commission meeting minutes and sharing of a meeting calendar.
Issues unable to be addressed by contracting services
· Maintaining relationship with Internet Service Provider, hosting space and ensuring dependability of site
· Difficulty recruiting qualified interns (Without intern from Oct. 2004 to Jan. 2005 due to lack of qualified applicants. Current intern is high school senior, previous interns were college junior and senior.)
· Limited support available by Information Systems for existing sites (additional growth in computers, servers, and applications has left less time for web-related support)
Benefit
Providing information on the web site creates a virtual City Hall making city services and information more easily available to the community. The ability for citizens to learn about city processes through the web site increases participation and increases awareness of city activities, programs and services. The current level of service provided through the web site has reached near maximum capacity with the existing resources.
The 2002 City Commission goal to implement e-government services in order to more easily provide information to citizens, set the stage for growth of e-government. The addition of a position to manage, operate and develop the web site will facilitate the continuation of these services and support the future growth of the City of Lawrence online.