Cape, Jackson strive to improve services online

In an increasingly online world, city governments spend a considerable amount of time working to find their place in it.

The public demands better, faster and more services than ever before, and local municipalities are tapping into that demand in an effort to rise to the challenge.

Through creating apps, updated city websites and more streamlined customer services, residents of Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Perryville are able to access many city-related needs online. Each city also hopes to continue growing its online services into the future.

Bills and forms

Each city offers ways to pay utility bills online. Cape Girardeau and Perryville allow residents to pay as they receive each bill or set up an automatic monthly payment. It helps residents who may find it inconvenient to travel to city hall every month.

"I think people like that," Perryville city clerk Terry Prost said of online payment options. The city started offering online payment within the past year, she said, and automatic online payment has been available in the past few months.

Beyond looking at residents' needs, each of the cities also offers online forms and applications required for businesses and contractors. The paperwork includes liquor licenses, business licenses and information update forms, development permits and parade or other event permits.

While some forms are available only for print, others have online fill-in capabilities. Jackson and Cape Girardeau cite increasing the number of forms with fill-in capabilities as a short-term goal.

Perryville also continues its efforts as departments add online forms, Prost said.

These services and others recently implemented or in the works are a result of city departments coming together to make improvements and looking at public requests.

"We always consider and weigh public input regarding any city service, including the website," said Joan Evans, information technology director for Jackson. "What's available on the site is driven by what is actually used, as well as what is appropriate for a local government website."

More fill-in forms and a simplified interface were two of the top suggestions from residents, she said.

Connectivity

In many ways, the goal for city websites in the future is to create a "one-stop shop" that connects businesses, residents and visitors to the right links and information.

"I anticipate a lot of major changes [to the city website] because what we want it to do is reflect the community," said Cape Girardeau public information manager Nicolette Brennan.

That means creating something all groups -- including businesses, residents, city employees, tourists and university students -- find useful.

It also means making information easy to find. Prost said before recent work to overhaul Perryville's city website, people had to visit one site for city information and another for police.

Now, an icon for the police department stands prominently on the city's page, among other commonly used links.

Jackson still has different websites for police and fire, but hopes to change that soon.

"The website is being revamped to include each official web presence, formerly maintained as separate sites," Evans said. "The government, police and fire sites will be merged into one, with the police and fire areas functioning as subdomains."

City websites also serve an important purpose when it comes to keeping residents informed of special dates and events.

Integrating city news and its calendar as a single web resource is another change in store for Jackson's website, Evans said.

In Perryville, residents can receive updates on various events and announcements via text.

"Something I think is really cool is there's a 'notify me' button," Prost said. "So if you want to know just what movies the theater's got or if you want to know when the minutes are posted or when we've got a bid out there, you can sign up for all these things, and we'll text you."

Notifications and easily available information are things from which people involved in parks and recreation programs can benefit.

Through its "forms, permits and applications" tab, users can find league registration forms, schedules and standings.

Those involved in parks and recreation events in Cape Girardeau soon will see a change in the department's online presence.

On Friday, it will have a soft launch of the online software "Active" that provides a number of services, said parks and recreation director Julia Thompson.

They include online registration options for programs, camps and leagues and checking rental availability of facilities such as Osage Centre, basketball or volleyball courts, picnic shelters and soccer or softball fields.

Customers may purchase memberships for fitness programs, golf and more.

With "Active," an account must be set up by the user. The software will continue to be managed through the parks and recreation department.

The city of Cape Girardeau also is working to make its financial data more easily accessible and understandable.

Through Socrata, people will have more interactive methods of reviewing and comparing recent budgets, rather than the existing method of comparing spreadsheets. This should be available around the fall.

What's next

Cape Girardeau and Jackson hold plans for some changes to their websites. Jackson is planning a website redesign, with the updated site to go live when programming is complete, Evans said.

As for short-term goals, all three cities plan to continue keeping websites updated and increasing the availability of fill-in forms and applications. Resident input is welcome during those updates.

"Nothing is more disappointing than when you get on a website and find out-of-date information," Prost said. "Our goal is to keep ours fresh and relevant and up to date. If anybody has any ideas of what they would like to see, we're always open for ideas."

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Jackson, Mo.

Perryville, Mo.