Executive Summary
What is
E-Government?
E-Government
Strategy
State and Local E-Government
Seattle City Government
Overview:
The function of city government is the management of local affairs and services such as law enforcement, public utilities, and garbage collection. The City of Seattle has established a solid web presence and is pursuing many E-government initiatives.
Discussion:
As with the county, the city�s site features a prominent City Highlights section which offers local news and information. Living in Seattle features links such as Emergency Services, Utilities, and Your Government links. To the right are Hot Information, and links to the Mayor and the City Council. It also provides many online services, such as the Seattle Channel which is a local interactive news and information site; Citybid whereby a business can bid online for city contracts; a Street light trouble report ; and the Municipal Court.
Analysis:
The City of Seattle�s website is fairly interactive and very informative about the city government and life in the city. The Seattle Channel offers a look at life in the city and provides a local interactive news and information site; the Channel�s Get Involved link leads one directly to several links for citizen involvement such as volunteer groups, city boards and the notification of public meetings. The Citybid page provides contractors with a means of competing for city projects. While this page is not interactive, and requires the downloading of forms which must be submitted as hardcopies, a registered contractor will receive email notifications of upcoming city projects that will be placed out for bid. The Street light trouble report is simple to use and allows a citizen to report a problem with a street light. The Municipal Court site lists links to such topics as paying for tickets, jury service, job opportunities and Court information. This site is strictly informational and not interactive, except for the link to pay tickets which only works if you know your ticket number or case number.
Recommendations:
The recommendation for the City of Seattle site is to enable greater interactivity, eliminate the need for submission of hard copy forms, and simplify the home page.
Links
City of Seattle http://www.cityofseattle.net/
Online Services http://www.cityofseattle.net/html/business/online.htm
The Seattle Channel http://www.seattlechannel.org/
CityBid http://citybid.ebidsystems.com/
Street Light Trouble http://www.cityofseattle.net/light/streetlight/
Municipal Court http://www.cityofseattle.net/courts/general/courtinformation.htm