CITY OF HOUSTON eGOVERNMENT CENTER SELECTED BEST MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT WEBSITE IN TEXAS Statewide Municipal Information Officers Recognize Houston
June 10, 2003 -- The City of Houston eGovernment Center bested fellow finalists Corpus Christi and Dallas as the best municipal government website in Texas. Houston was awarded the recognition at the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers (TAMIO) Spring Conference in Corpus Christi, TX on June 6, 2003.
TAMIO, first organized in 1974, is a statewide association of public information and communications managers who work in municipal government or similar agencies. TAMIO lauded www.cityofhouston.gov for its useful layout and ease of navigation.
"Providing good customer service to our citizens via technology is one of our goals," said Information Technology Department Director and Chief Information Officer Richard Lewis, "I'm very pleased at the recognition our site has received, and we're looking forward to providing more information to our citizens and expanding our online services."
In response to high citizen demand, online payment of water bills is scheduled to debut by the end of 2003. A 90-page City of Houston Spanish translated website, one of the most voluminous among major metropolitan city websites, debuted December 10, 2002. Other recent features include Online Auctions, Online Tee Times, and a Calendar of Events. The Online Ticket Pay feature has been used more than 20,000 times, resulting in over $2 million collected by the City of Houston via the Internet.
"Citizens receiving more services online instead of in line makes sense in the digital age," said Mayor Lee P. Brown. "I congratulate all the creative and technical City employees who have worked hard to make the eGovernment Center the best in Texas."
Earlier this year Mayor Brown was named "2002 Public Technologist of the Year" by Public Technology, Inc. (PTI), a national non-profit technology research and development organization based in Washington, DC whose mission is to bring the benefits of technology to local governments.
