Posts tagged website
City of Boulder launches new website
Jul 29th
The City of Boulder has launched a new website at bouldercolorado.gov. The site includes a new layout and design as well as several features aimed at making it easier for users to access government services and information. The last time the city launched a new site design was in 2006. View the City of Boulder Website Infographic to see a visual progression of the city’s website since 1999.
Key to the new site is its responsive design, which means the site is resizable for any screen, including any mobile device.
“It’s a new era in website design,” said City of Boulder Director of Information Technology Don Ingle. “We knew going into this effort that not only did our website need to have an updated look, it also needed to accommodate mobile web users. More and more people are accessing Internet content from mobile devices, leaving designs based on desktop screen widths a thing of the past.”
The city’s site also features more photos and videos throughout its pages. Navigational options featured on the new home page were selected based on hit and search data as well as topic timeliness.
Inside Boulder News – New City Website (Select the image below to watch the video)
New website services include:
- A new Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) tool called Inquire Boulder (www.inquireboulder.com) that serves as a customer service portal.
Users can go to Inquire Boulder to ask the city questions, look up FAQs and submit requests for services like pothole repair, graffiti response, park shelter rentals, park and trail maintenance, code enforcement, damaged city trees and much more. An Inquire Boulder app is also available for iPhone and Android mobile devices.
- Online access to public records for City Council and boards and commissions.
The city is launching a public portal to documents that are on file for council, boards and commissions from the last three years, where available. This can be accessed at bouldercolorado.gov/central-records, from the scrolling buttons on the city’s homepage, or from individual council, boards and commissions pages. By providing online access to these materials, users can search key words to find meeting documents, rather than having to know the date the meeting occurred. Additional documents will be added to the public portal in a phased approach.
- Open data resources in a central place.
The city previously provided open data files like GIS data and other land use resources, but they were scattered throughout the website, buried in multiple locations. By combining and featuring the city’s open data sets, Boulder joins the ranks of many other municipal governments providing open data services.
“Perhaps the most unique feature of the new website is something our users can’t see, and that’s our partnership with the City of Arvada,” said Ingle.
As part of the redesign effort, the city chose to switch to a new content management system, the database-driven application that houses webpage content and provides a user interface for the staff that posts the content to the site. Rather than purchasing a new system from an outside vendor, Boulder entered into a unique partnership with the City of Arvada to share and mutually enhance the customized content management system that Arvada had developed. As a result, the city acquired the system at no cost. As part of the partnership, both cities have agreed to share enhancements to the system as they develop new features that meet their needs.
“Partnering with Arvada was definitely an ‘outside of the box’ decision, but it made a lot of sense for several reasons,” said Ingle. “We were able to get a system that was developed specifically with local government needs in mind, from the perspective of the staff that use it to communicate with the public, rather than from a vendor. It also allows us to make specific enhancements to it in the future. The partnership will save both municipalities and taxpayers money while mutually supporting our online communication goals.”
The cities were jointly awarded second place in the 2012 Best of the Web (BOW) City Portal Category from the e.Republic’s Center for Digital Government for this collaborative approach to share and jointly pursue innovation for a specialized website content management system.
The city spent approximately $25,000 on the new site design by Vision Internet, a company that specializes in designing websites for local government entities. The Inquire Boulder CRM system provided by Government Outreach, which specializes in CRM systems for local governments, amounted to $19,000 for implementation and annual costs thereafter for system hosting and support.
During the redesign effort, the city also endeavored to clean up its content from the old site. As a result, the city eliminated approximately 8,000 pages of outdated and inaccurate or duplicate information and now hosts a trimmed up site of approximately 4,000 pages.
–CITY–
Open Space/Mountain Park news
Jul 22nd
Beginning today, July 22, Community Ditch Trail will be closed at State Highway 93. The closure is likely to last for most of the next year in order to facilitate the installation of an underpass that will allow trail users to cross SH 93 without mixing with highway traffic. All trails in the area will remain open for use, but may offer only an out and back experience during the closure. There will be extensive construction activity in the area of the underpass and the department asks that all users respect the closure and avoid the construction zone for their and other’s safety. Traffic on SH 93 will also be affected. However, the highway will remain open during construction with various lane restrictions.
NEWS
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Media Contacts:
Jim Reeder, Open Space and Mountain Parks, 303-413-7640
Sarah Huntley, Media Relations, 303-441-3155
Work to begin on underpass on Community Ditch Trail at State Highway 93
The City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) department announced today that work will begin on the long-awaited underpass on Community Ditch Trail at State Highway 93 (Hwy. 93) on Monday, July 22. When completed, trail users will cross under Hwy. 93 rather than mixing with traffic on the highway.
The underpass is one part of a larger Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) project. Hwy. 93, from State Highway 170 to State Highway 128, will also be widened to create wider shoulders and be overlain with new asphalt. The work will be done by a CDOT contractor.
The underpass is expected to be in use by July of next year. Vehicular traffic will be affected by the construction work with some lane closures. However, the highway will remain open for the duration of the construction work.
“OSMP has wanted to create a safer crossing of 93 for many years. Safety for our trail users is a priority, and we are excited to learn that installation will begin next week,” said Jim Reeder, OSMP division manager. “We anticipate that more users will begin to explore and enjoy the Community Ditch Trail once this project is complete.”
While the underpass is being built, however, existing users should know that the existing crossing via Hwy. 93 will be closed. This means that several trails will temporarily become out-and-back trails, starting on July 22. Individuals can check the department’s website at www.osmp.org for information about which trails are affected.
For more information, call OSMP at 303-441-3440.¡¡ Additional information can also be found on www.osmp.org.
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Boulder County Sheriff Orders Fire Ban
Jun 12th
State statutes authorize counties to impose a fire ban “to a degree and in a manner that the Board of County Commissioners deems necessary to reduce the danger of wildfires within those portions of the unincorporated areas of the county where the danger of forest or grass fires is found to be high based on competent evidence.”
This fire ban allows for:
Indoor fires in fireplaces or stoves
Smoking indoors or within an enclosed vehicle
Campfires in improved and maintained public campgrounds that are currently open to the public, as long as the fuel for such fires are smaller than two feet in diameter by three feet in height.
Liquid or gas fuel stove use on private and public lands
Charcoal grill use on private and public land
Smoking outdoors in areas free of flammable material
It bans all other outdoor burning, slash fires, use of any kind of fireworks, model rockets, and all other outdoor spark or flame producing activities.
The fire ban does not affect open fires within incorporated cities and towns; however citizens must comply with applicable ordinances and regulations in their respective cities and towns.
The fire ban will be in effect until the Sheriff finds that the hazardous conditions have subsided.
Anyone found in violation of the fire ban may be convicted of a class 2 petty offense and may be subject to a $500 fine, in addition to any possible civil penalties. Higher fines may be imposed for subsequent offenses.
For current fire and shooting restrictions for United States Forest Service properties go to the following website:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/arp/alerts-notices
For current fire restrictions in Eldorado Canyon State Park go to the following website:
http://www.parks.state.co.us/Parks/eldoradocanyon/Pages/EldoradoCanyonHome.aspx
Sheriff’s Office press release