COVINGTON, KY – With changes still being made, the new City website went live this morning at www.covingtonky.gov. The City hopes to capture the public’s feedback in its last week of testing and has implemented a built-in feedback feature that visitors can open on any page of the site to submit feedback.
The focus of the new website design is to be iterative; the site will make information available to all stakeholders in an online environment supported by a rigorous maintenance schedule that encourages a constant stream of dialogue between administrator and user. Incorporation of responsive design means the content layout changes to fit screen size whether covingtonky.gov is being viewed on a laptop, a tablet or a mobile device.
Covingtonky.gov is a portal site to which all City of Covington’s partners’ websites can be linked, while still communicating City of Covington messaging in an exciting and engaging way that tailors to key audiences: residents, businesses visitors, and other stakeholders interested in operational aspects of the municipality or local government.
One new feature of the website is '311 Online', a source for information regarding non-emergency services. Users can find information regarding specific requests like reporting a pothole or ordering a trash receptacle, for example.
According to Natalie Bowers, Marketing & Communications Director for the City, "This site will constantly be adding, changing and updating information. For example, we have initially populated the '311 Online' feature showing information on about a hundred service requests, but we are hoping this list will grow to three times that amount in the next year. As the public’s need for municipal information is conveyed and understood in more detail, we can respond by providing helpful information that simply answers people’s questions on how to access City services."
A public survey was released at the beginning of the website redesign project in March 2013 to capture citizen opinions and needs. Some of the top requests included better design visibility, more information on core municipal services and accurate, up-to-date information.
The new website was designed by Systems Insight, Inc., a Covington-based web development firm. Systems Insight donated over 50 percent of the cost of developing the website. Systems Insight provided project management, programming input, design architecture, navigability and functionality.
Users visiting the site are encourage to submit their experiential feedback by pressing the tab seen on the right side of the screen.
A presentation on the new site is scheduled for the Commission meeting on October 8 at 6pm.