Zimmerlink schedules Web site demonstration
Hoping to show the public and her peers that Fayette County can have a state-of-the-art, low-cost Web site up and running by the end of the year, Commission Chairwoman Angela M. Zimmerlink has scheduled a demonstration of that system for Nov. 17. Zimmerlink said that an official from the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania would demonstrate the PA-Dynamic Site Framework system at 9 a.m. that day in the conference room of the county Public Service Building.
“Many Pennsylvania counties use PA-DSF because it is consistent and compatible to E-Government and state links, as it is the Commonwealth’s software standard for Web site creation and management,” said Zimmerlink in a written invitation to her fellow commissioners and all county departments and agencies.
Zimmerlink said that anyone wishing to view some samples of how Fayette’s Web site would work could log on to four sample Web sites: www.co.westmoreland.pa.us
, www.co.lancaster.pa.us
, www.co.centre.ps.us
and www.co.berks.pa.us
“Fayette County is in a position to provide its employees, residents and other users with a content-management based Web site that is easily navigable and innovative by utilizing the Web services of PA-DSP through CCAP, one of our county associations,” wrote Zimmerlink.
“Our county Web site could be live and usable by year-end … (under) a low-cost agreement with CCAP for their hosting, Web design and training.”
Zimmerlink said she is hopeful of convincing at least one of her fellow commissioners that this is a better and more cost-effective path than starting from scratch, as Vicites and Hardy voted to do Sept. 28 by seeking requests for proposals for a company to create and install a county Web site.
Vicites said the county has already secured a $20,000 grant for that purpose, and Hardy said he wants the best county Web site possible. Hardy and Vicites also said they want a Web site that basically stands out from the pack.
Zimmerlink said she hopes the demonstration sways their thinking.
“Yes, I am, so they can see firsthand that this is not a cookie cutter (Web site) and it could be very beneficial to the county,” said Zimmerlink, who believes the site should be practical, user-friendly and geared toward accessing government services.