Pueblo County received notice that we will be honored as first place winners in the 2011 Digital Counties Survey, which recognizes leading examples of counties using information and communications technology to empower their citizens. The Digital Counties Survey award is a nationwide award, presented by e.Republic's Center for Digital Government and Digital Communities program, in partnership with the National Association of Counties (NACo).

Digital Communities Director, Todd Sander, said, “Survey responses indicate counties are effectively economizing and finding innovative ways of using technology to meet the higher demand for services during this trying economic time. Counties are consolidating and sharing services to cut down on costs and leveraging technology like virtualization to capture critical savings.”

“The Digital Counties Survey identifies the very best examples of how counties are aligning technology to support strategic priorities and create crucial operational and administrative efficiencies,” said NACo Executive Director Larry E. Naake. “Especially important during these tough economic times, counties across the country are using innovative technologies to reduce county operations costs and enhance service delivery.”

Winners were divided into four population categories that ranked the top 10 counties in the United States. First-place winners in each category emphasized Information Technology initiatives and projects that cut costs and helped their agencies cope with shrinking work forces.

First place in the 150,000 to 249,999 population category went to Pueblo County. Dan Mauro, Pueblo County’s Information Systems director, gave much of the credit to the county’s redesigned Web portal. The website highlights e-government services available in the region. A citizen now can look up any government he or she might need within the Pueblo County area on the county’s portal. The county is also in the process deploying a function that will inform a Pueblo County-area citizen of every service available to him or her simply by entering his or her address.

“A lot of times you don’t know what you’re looking for, like if you’re trying to move to town,” Mauro said, explaining how the new portal is useful. “If you want to check out an address on a new house, it will tell you what your school district is, what the power company is — you’ll know who to call to make inquiries about what the services cost,” said Mauro.

Beyond that accomplishment, survey judges were impressed with the county’s shared services efforts, which are delivering hosted GIS, property assessment and taxation services to five other counties.

This year’s survey was underwritten by Hyland Software, developers of OnBase; Insight Public Sector, Inc.; Juniper Networks; McAfee; Quest Software, Inc.; and Sprint.

The Pueblo County Commissioners will accept the award on Saturday, July 16, in Portland, Oregon
 

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