Residents can download forms, put in service requests on Web
Gilroy – Looking for the city to clean out a clogged storm drain? Need help sorting out headaches with your landlord?
A few mouse-clicks on the computer and you can find the right numbers to call on the City of Gilroy’s Web site (www.ci.gilroy.ca.us). But for now, you’ll have to flip through the phone book if you want a few minutes with newly elected City Council members Peter Arellano or Dion Bracco, whose pictures and contact information have yet to transplant those of councilmen deposed in the November election.
The online landscape for basic information about local government – everything from e-mail addresses for elected officials to phone numbers for the public works department – varies wildly across local agencies.
In Gilroy, the rosters of at least two of the 11 city boards and commissions are missing, while the remainder are not yet updated to reflect recent appointments. The Planning Commission still lists Bracco and Cat Tucker as members, though Bracco was sworn in as a council member in December and Tucker now serves on the Parks and Recreation Commission.
The city’s Web site allows residents to download permit applications and access other documents and information that rarely changes. But updates on appointments and other timely information will not take root overnight in a city sustaining its online presence with a meager $12,000 budget.
“We just got the list of new commissioners about a week ago,” Gilroy Public Information Officer Joe Kline said. “We do all of our own updates. The good thing is that we can get stuff online fast when we need to. The bad side is that for more general stuff, we have to work it in when we have time.”
For $988,000 more, the city might be able to compete with the Santa Clara County Web site (www.sccgov.org) – winner of national awards for best county government Web site two years running. Rather than using a pre-packaged Web model, the county brings a user-friendly philosophy to its Web design. The site allows the public to navigate based on “Life Events,” a design that groups information under major categories such as Handling Emergencies, Living and Working, and Health and Human Care.
“We implemented ‘Life Events’ in November 2002,” said Satish Ajmani, the county’s chief information officer. “Since then, we have been working on enhancing it and implemented another redesigned Web site this past November. In addition, we added a Services way of navigating the Web site. You can look at it and say ‘I want a marriage license,’ and you can look and find the information for that online.”
Despite having his doubts, Ajmani said he has seen a significant shift from “doing things in line to doing them online,” especially among those who need to pay taxes.
“One day before the cutoff last year, we collected $12 million online,” he said. “The time-saving for people who can afford to do that is phenomenal.”
Taxpayers aren’t the only ones who benefit from the online presence of local agencies. Students attending school in Gilroy increasingly find themselves able to download homework assignments, find band schedules or visit their favorite teacher’s Web site.
The upper grades tend to have the best online information, particularly Gilroy High School and Solorsano Middle School. The high school lists e-mail addresses for teachers, while Solorsano provides e-mail and voice-mail numbers for most teachers. At both schools, a number of programs and teachers have their own Web sites containing detailed contact information and homework assignments.
Nearly all of the district’s elementary schools either have no Web site or a site that no longer functions. A few, such as Glen View and Luigi Aprea elementary schools, appear to be under construction and include spotty information.
Meanwhile the Gilroy Unified School District offers phone, e-mail and address information for board members, although they have yet to include information for Javier Aguirre, the district’s newest board member.
Rob van Herk, an information technology officer for the school district, explained that availability of Web information varies by school because the district is only responsible for its own site. He said that sites specific to schools or programs are updated and maintained by teachers or parent volunteers.
The school district has no current plans, he said, to invest money in Web sites for individual schools.
While the county is constantly researching ways to improve its Web presence – they just finished surveying city Web sites in the county for new ideas – officials at Gilroy City Hall will rely on a less methodic formula to keep their online portal relevant.
“We’re constantly adding new links,” Kline said, “though we do rely on and encourage folks to let us know when they see something misspelled or out of date.”
Online
Clogged storm drain? Need a business permit? Visit www.ci.gilroy.ca.us/services
Agency Web Sites
– Gilroy City Hall: http://www.ci.gilroy.ca.us
– Gilroy Fire Department: http://www.ci.gilroy.ca.us/fire/who_to_call.html
– Gilroy Police Department: http://www.ci.gilroy.ca.us/police/administration.html
– Gilroy Unified School District: http://www.gusd.k12.ca.us/index.php?/community/comm_about_5/
– Santa Clara County government: http://www.sccgov.org
– Santa Clara County Valley Transportation Authority: http://www.vta.org
– CA Department of Forestry (county fire services): http://www.fire.ca.gov/MiscDocuments/unitdisplay.asp?region=10&UID=34
– CA Highway Patrol: http://www.chp.ca.gov/offices/offices.html
Phone and Email by Agency
Gilroy City Hall
council members- phone/email
administrators- phone
boards/commissions- phone
staff- N/A
Gilroy Unified School District
GUSD directors- phone/email
District administrators- phone/email
district staff- phone/email
teachers*-phone/email
Public Safety/County Govt
Gilroy police- phone/email
Gilroy Fire- phone/email
Santa Clara County- phone/email
*does not include e-mail for all teachers and administrators at all schools
