Mecklenburg County, N.C. recently took home the equivalent of an Internet Oscar for its Web site they call "Charlotte's Web" (http://www.charweb.org).
A federally funded project managed by the county and the Public Library of Charlotte, the site received the 1996 National Information Infrastructure (NII) Award in the "best community program" category.
"We are committed to showing, in practical and innovative ways, how people can use this technology to make their lives better," said Steve Snow, founder and director of the site.
The site includes a "chat room" where citizens can go to discuss local issues with county commissioners and other government officials. The chats are archived so that users can peruse previous discussions.
That's just one of the ways you can use the Internet to better communicate with constituents. But what if you don't have the foggiest idea of what sort of content you may want to include on your county's home page?
You may be thinking that it's about time your county had its own Web site and you'd like to check out some other county home pages. Before you go on a "surfin' safari," County News took a look at the sites of a variety of counties - urban, rural and in-between. Here's what we saw:
About a dozen red chile peppers - that's the first thing you'll see when you visit Dona Ana County's (N.M.) Web site (chilepepper.co.dona-ana.nm.us/).
The site includes a county employee locator, election results and links to its county seat of Las Cruces and the New Mexico Legislature.
Links to other government pages - city, state and federal - are fairly standard at county Web sites.
A revolving county seal catches your eye when you open the Cook County, Ill. Web site (http://www.co.cook.il.us/). The page includes an annual summary (similar to a company's annual report), county agencies, demographics of the county and frequently asked questions (and their answers).
At Catawba County's (N.C.) site (www.co.catawba.nc.us), you'll see a whimsical photo of a craftsman working on a large wooden replica of the county seal. You'll also find the county's address and phone number (hard to find at some sites, believe it or not); a welcome message from the county manager (with photo); election results; meeting schedules and agendas; a synopsis of the last board meeting; and a guest book to sign, with room for comments.
Guest books come in handy if you want to know who is visiting your site; their suggestions can also be helpful in adding new information to the page.
Dade County, Fla. (www.metro-dade.com) goes one step further, with a Web site visitor survey, asking visitors to rate the usefulness of the site and whether the site is easy to navigate.
Residents in King County, Wash. (www.metrokc.gov/) were able to find out about road problems during a recent winter storm, with actual photos of flooded areas available on the Web site.
The Washington County, Ore.(www.co.washington.or.us)
site is a good example of an easy-to-read, easy-to-comprehend page. In addition
to a listing of all 22 of its county departments (with information on each
one), there is also a board calendar and four county newsletters posted
- from the board, sheriff, land use division and the justice center.