OCEAN CITY - With its prominent offerings of beach tags, concert schedules and other public events, Ocean City's municipal website arguably has catered more to tourists than local residents.
Click here to view the website.
That is about to change, under a makeover designed to provide more public services over the Internet.
The city plans to let the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Tourism's website handle much of the promotion and marketing of the island while the city's website caters more to local residents and taxpayers.
"As other communities are struggling to provide basic services, Ocean City is taking steps to improve the customer experience by leveraging technology," said Max Hurst, the city's director of information technology.
With its beach-themed welcome page inviting visitors to "picture yourself in Ocean City," the site looks less like a dry municipal page than a sophisticated marketing advertisement. The welcome page features the resort's advertising mascots - a family of flip-flops - that when clicked takes visitors to the Chamber of Commerce site.
Buried incongruously on the site are city services such as notices to bidders, applications for permits ranging from mercantile to zoning, and even a way to pay for a parking ticket online.
Hurst submitted a strategy plan to the city business administrator outlining the changes, which will allow various departments to make changes to the city's website simultaneously.
The city will continue to offer things such as beach tags, event schedules and parking suggestions. But Hurst said he plans to tie the site into social networks such as Facebook and will be able to stream videos such as meeting footage now broadcast on public access television.
The new site also will let the city track public requests for information such as applications for zoning permits.
"Our focus is customer-centric," Hurst said. "Our new site will focus on municipal services and will provide a virtual City Hall with access to every municipal function and service."
City Clerk Linda P. MacIntyre said a more transparent website will take some of the pressure off her office, which can receive dozens of calls a week about routine matters such as meeting dates, times and agendas.
"I'm excited about the change. It's a long time in coming," she said. "My focus on council is to have the agendas being available to the public online along with all boards and commissions."
Many of these are already posted, but can be a little tricky to navigate, she said.
And more people are turning to the web first to find a quick answer to a simple question, she said.
"People are more comfortable looking to websites now," she said. "We can walk people through it. Once we change it up, it will make it friendlier for the user."
The city plans to launch its new web page May 1, Hurst said.
Contact Michael Miller:
609-463-6712
MMiller@pressofac.com
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