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Wednesday, April 30, 2003

By Laura Pace, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Bill Matthews can now spend minutes to learn what would normally take him hours to discover. When he wants details of a proposed ordinance, a nuance of the comprehensive plan or the price of summer pool passes, Matthews logs on to Mt. Lebanon's recently renovated municipal Web site instead of leaving home.

"These are things that I used to go to the library to review," he said. "I still know what's going on."

	(Anita Dufalla, Post-Gazette) Related article: Tiny boroughs have few requests for Web pages

But now the Mt. Lebanon resident can copy lengthy municipal documents onto his hard drive or make printouts whenever he wants. He reads agendas for municipal advisory boards and authorities, saving him trips to the meetings. He looks at the recreation schedule to investigate what his kids may want to do this summer.

The majority of the South suburbs are online, with 30 of 37 communities accessible on the Web. Municipal officials report the purpose of their Web sites is to give residents important information 24 hours a day. Some towns give more than simple facts.

Dormont, Green Tree, Jefferson Hills, Mt. Lebanon, Peters and Upper St. Clair are the communities with the most information online, while Dravosburg, Glassport, Homestead, Lincoln, McKeesport, West Elizabeth, West Homestead and Whitaker offer just the basics.

Typically, municipal Web sites feature the town's colors, logos and photos of activities, with navigation down the left side. Some have search engines where visitors can look for specific items on the site and on the Web.

But the degree of dazzle is different. Photos of lush landscapes and snapshots of recreation greet visitors to the Peters Web site. Mt. Lebanon's site includes a montage of community photos and the time and temperature blinking in the lower right corner. Green Tree's features scrolling text, animation and a photo of its landmark water tower.

Towns work to keep their sites accurate and fresh, but not all are able to do it. A jaunt through local Web sites reveals an occasional dated greeting with a few out-of-season pictures and old meeting agendas.

Such datedness is not lost on Web surfers. Barbara Hull, Upper St. Clair's information technology director, said she immediately hears from users when content is stale. Jefferson Hills Manager Richard Clark gets calls from residents so organized that they want to see the following year's recycling dates.

Even when data is current, the look and content may not be.

Mt. Lebanon has had a Web site for more than four years but in January, the site received a major overhaul. Kevin Sweeney, the municipality's MIS manager, said the point was to make the site more community-oriented instead of government-oriented. Information about local businesses and schools has been added, and links to community groups, hospitals and utilities are new. A focus group brainstormed ideas for the site, some of which will be implemented in coming months.

Sweeney believes the site is saving staffers work, especially at this time of year, because the tax office normally receives 20 calls a day from accountants asking for blank tax forms.

Now, "They don't even bother us," Sweeney said, noting that those forms can be downloaded. Last fall, the recreational basketball league signed up 1,012 kids and posted the schedule for 104 coaches and all the parents, solely through the site. The department did not have to mail anything through the post office.

In March, the site had 7,706 hits, with 1,551 of those for recreational department information, he said. While Sweeney did not know the start-up cost, this year's budget allocates $33,700 to the site, including labor, the Internet connection, software, training and professional services. The site is part of a four-pronged approach to community information, which also includes the municipal magazine, cable TV channels and the municipality's Infoline (412-343-0400).

Dormont retooled its Web site about six months ago to give it a fresher look, with new links and improved content, Borough Manager John Marquart said.

Peters Manager Michael A. Silvestri said his township's site has been up only about six months, but that its popularity is growing. In February, it received 4,562 hits.

"We just knew that in Peters there's a high penetration of Internet access," Silvestri said.

He said the site already has saved the township money in copying fees because residents are downloading meeting minutes or ordinances from home or at the public library. Silvestri himself uses the site to look up information.

He said it was affordable to set up the site. It cost $1,920 from the township budget to buy the license to a template from govoffice.com , plus $225 for some other set-up expenses. The site costs only $150 a year to maintain. He said the time and money is worth it to give people better access to government. He's not alone.

"Our intent all along has been to get information to our residents," Upper St. Clair's Hull said. Township officials receive job applications through the site, and residents can search the public library's card catalog and reserve books, or they may print ordinances and download forms. The site averages 3,500 hits each month.

Upper St. Clair spends about $20,000 a year to maintain its site. And now, Hull is overseeing an overhaul with a new look and jazzier menus. It should be complete by late summer or early fall.

Green Tree sometimes runs contests on its site, with trivia questions that can be answered by perusing its pages. Prizes are gift certificates to local restaurants. Webmaster Debbie Gawryla said Web traffic increases during such contests. Monthly hits range from 1,000 to 1,500. One of the most successful components is the ability to register for the town's reverse 911 system online instead of making phone calls.

Nearly all the South suburban sites offer a history of the town and some demographics. Most list ways to contact public officials. But the more ambitious sites offer maps and street listings, meeting agendas, vendor bid information, frequently asked questions, registration forms for recreation, meeting minutes, links to community organizations and voting information.

Many communities operate their own sites. Upper St. Clair's is maintained by a part-time designer, and the site is on a server the township shares with the school district. The Mt. Lebanon and Peters sites are hosted by govoffice.com and updated by local Web masters. Dormont pays a resident an hourly rate for updates and even launched its site a few years ago by trading advertising space for technical programming assistance. Green Tree's Gawryla, who is also the borough's part-time stenographer and newsletter editor, telecommutes to her job, where she spends up to 10 hours a week updating the site from home.

Other communities use free Web hosting services. Seven Mon Valley communities operate their Web sites through the Steel Valley Council of Governments on the Three Rivers Free Net site, which is part of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. The service is free and the data is updated by the municipalities, said Cathy Chaparro, an Internet technology specialist with TRFN.

Many Web organizers said the sites evolve constantly. Mt. Lebanon's site will soon allow residents to submit a building permit application online, rather than just downloading it. The site also will be tied to the municipality's Intranet, allowing access to more information.

And residents will be able to submit their e-mail addresses to have automatic mail sent to them when an area of interest is updated.

And while the Peters site has more information than most communities, Silvestri said it is being expanded to include such features as recreation registration and online purchasing, plus the addition of maps.

Dormont officials are looking at ways its site can help local businesses. Marquart said one idea is to partner with landlords to feature vacant storefronts online to help bring in new businesses.

Mt. Lebanon's Matthews would like to see his municipality add detailed agendas for each board and authority along with complete minutes from each meeting and more timely updates, but he generally likes what he sees so far. "I think it's leaps forward."

Contributing to this story were staff writer Mary Niederberger; Tri-State Sports & News Service writers Al Lowe, Jim Hosek, Margaret Smykla, Sarah Zablotsky, Jim McMahon and Beth Hope-Cushey; and freelance writers Jonathan Barnes, Mary Ravasio, Mary Carney and Jackie Day.