WESTFIELD – The City of Westfield recently launched its new website, www.cityofwestfield.org.
Designed by the government website experts at CivicPlus, the new site reflects the personality of the City of Westfield while incorporating a host of new and improved features and tools designed to help residents & visitors quickly locate the information and services they need.
“The City’s new web site reflects the direction we are taking for the future of Westfield,” said Mayor Daniel M. Knapik. “We have faith in our community to engage in what’s going on in the City. Reporting, notifying, and contact tools are all new features that allow for that engagement and dialogue to happen.”
The new homepage is easy to navigate and breaks down information for residents, businesses and visitors. A search feature takes citizens directly to specific information while interactive online forms currently under development will allow citizens to complete their business, including online employment application submissions. Reporting a concern or requesting information from the City of Westfield also is easier than ever. Visitors simply click the “Report a Concern” button on the left of every page to access an online submissions listing, which will automatically enter work requests to respective departments. A new feature, “Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)”, has been added to further assist citizens with inquiries. There is also an application available for iPhones, “Citizen Request Tracker,” which allows requests to be entered with a photo attachment.
“There are many new features of the website, including social media and citizen interaction that we are continuing to develop. The Technology Center team has been interacting with many departments within the City to streamline their updates to the website. We are excited about this new website and hope that it provides the citizens with greater access to the City,” said Information Technology Manager, Lenore Bernashe. “Online payments have been set up to allow for debit/credit card payment of real estate, personal property, motor vehicle excise, and combined utility bills.”
In addition to emergency information, a new “Notify Me” option on the homepage allows visitors to sign up to receive alerts from specific departments about special events, bids, public meetings, job opportunities and a variety of other City of Westfield activities. Citizens may choose to be notified via email or mobile phone text message.
Other features and functionality of the new City of Westfield website include clickable interactive maps and a centralized location to store and view meeting agendas and minutes. Videos of the meetings of City Council, School Committee, Planning Board, and other city programming and special events will continue to be available for viewing on demand.
“Modernizing our technology tools, online bill pay, increased and enhanced use of electronic communication and social media were and still are major goals of mine when I took office in 2010,” said Knapik. “I am pleased to say, that we have finally arrived and will continue to enhance the website to promote additional interaction opportunities for our citizens.”
Visit the City of Westfield’s new website at www.cityofwestfield.org.
