BEDFORD – Emergency Management Director Valerie Lochour provided a progress update to the commissioners on Tuesday morning, revealing that updates to the county website are now 80 percent complete.
“The old website was outdated and obsolete,” she stated. “It needed upgrading and is now very user-friendly.”
The revamped site offers a range of new features, including the ability for officials to streamline meetings and post them for future viewing. In an era where digitally-minded residents often spend hours watching online videos, Lochour emphasized the power of video in government communication. “For local government, video is a powerful mechanism for sharing news and events, encouraging civic participation, meeting transparency requirements, and enabling residents to develop a sense of civic pride.”
Luchauer also addressed the need to improve residents’ access to municipal services.
“One of the most pressing needs is to improve how residents access and experience municipal services,” she added. This updated website will do that. It will organize our content so residents can quickly locate what they seek.”
The website will also include several key features, such as parks and recreation management, emergency and mass communications, agenda and meeting management, tax information, forms, process automation, digital services, codification, licensing and permits, web governance and ADA remediation, social media archiving, and FOIA management.
“We empower municipal leaders to transform interactions between residents and government into consistently positive experiences that elevate resident satisfaction, increase revenue, and streamline operations,” said Luchauer.
Department heads can make changes quickly by contacting Emergency Management. Once the updates are made, they will be instantly available to the public, said Luchauer.
With the final touches nearing completion, the upgraded website promises to be more accessible and efficient for residents and officials alike.
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