I have always thought regionally, the City of Omaha has a good functioning website. Could it look better? Well, anything can look better. But does it function well. I think so.
We spend thousands of dollars a year to host a city website, it should function and it should be the FIRST place people go for information. In the wake of the latest communication breakdown with city hall, there was mass confusion on messaging that I attributed to the city relying to much on Facebook games and not what we already have, a city website.
Is there anything wrong with having a city Twitter page or Facebook page? Not at all, but it should NOT be the place to get OFFICIAL information especially in the wake of a natural disaster.
As you can see below, Omaha’s site is easy to navigate. One of the features I found intriguing, besides the fact that there is tons of news and information scrolling across the page constantly, is you have a language translation option. I’m not sure how many languages are spoken in Sioux Falls, but I do recall a SFSD official saying something that it is well over 50. The other great feature about the search engine is it actually works! When you type in a topic, it will provide links and those links will send you to the place you need to go ON THE CITY WEBSITE, not some other site that doesn’t work in some browsers (like the SF city website does).
When it comes to messaging and communicating with the public, I always tell people that the KISS theory works the best. It’s simple, let’s just use the city website to get out this official information, and when someone asks ‘Where do I go?’ You answer, ‘Siouxfalls.org will provide you with all the information you need.
I love technology, but like everything else, if something isn’t broke, don’t fix it. The city’s website could work just fine in disseminating information, now if we can just get the mayor and city employees off of Facebook long enough to make it operational and functional.
Glad we’re paying our Minister of Innovation & Technology Jason Reisdorfer $200k/yr to sow mass confusion with storm updates scattered all over FB + the COSF web site. Of course, it was tough for him to keep on top of that, since he was out picking up sticks instead of being the head of high tech – as evidenced by his activities update post on the ‘SF Politics’ FB page: “Tune out the noise everyone. The volunteer effort happening right now is incredible. I’ve been out 3 different times with 3 different crews…”.
Our mayor is an IT guy and Omaha has a better website!!!
Omaha has female mayors. We’ve never had one!!!
Omaha has 2.5 times the population of Sioux Falls. Their general fund budget is the same as the Sioux Falls budget. They had no tax increase for 2020 but we had a big one. They have state income tax but it’s reached a point where the real cost of living is the same. A single family home is cheaper. Wages are higher.
I have been to this site in years past. Omaha is two and a half times larger than SF, yet nearly all SF director positions pay more than Omaha? What is wrong with that picture?
And do you think Jason used PTO when he was ‘volunteering’ or on salary? We will never know because we still haven’t heard if taxpayers paid for Cotter’s trip to Haiti.
Maybe they should be reminded it that it doesn’t count as volunteering if you are getting paid.
Does the mayor roll up his sleeves & wash windows at City Hall to show what a can-do guy he is? It’s SUCH BS to have the dude who was elected to be the chief exec (mayor) of our municipality – and the college dropout he hired at a higher salary than his own to be his IT Minister – out seizing photo opps while they’re picking up branches. It’s fine to get a first hand look, but THEN get back in an office, delegate some authority and dictate some memos about the RIGHT way to avoid mass confusion the next time the wind blows.
Is the City of Sioux Falls web site accessible from locations outside the US yet? Or are they still barring access to “foreigners” (or residents who are abroad and want to know what’s going on – or have some business to conduct with the city at home)?