Ontario touts new Web site design
Tuesday, October 10, 2006 10:47 AM PDT
Andy Gates | Argus Observer
ONTARIO
The Web site for the city of Ontario received a face lift recently, and now internet surfers should be able to access more public documents online.
Ontario Technology Manager Dan Stieneke implemented the new site, which holds thousands of scanned documents, including, ordinances, contracts, resolutions, lease agreements, city permits, deeds, meetings minutes and city codes, Stieneke said in an e-mail.
The site suffered a hiccup and crashed Wednesday, but it was back up by Thursday morning, Stieneke said.
The new site does not include the most current meetings packets or agendas - citizens should visit the city's main Web site at http://ontariooregon.org for that information, Stieneke said in the e-mail.
Ontario City Recorder Tori Barnett scanned documents for the new Web site, Ontario City Manager Scott Trainor said.
Stieneke said he hopes to have more public information on the new Web site as time progresses.
“The goal is to scan everything but the kitchen sink, though that will take some time,” Stieneke said in the e-mail.
Technology to archive these documents has been available within the city internally for a few years, and public access has been a longterm hope, Stieneke said in the e-mail.
“The plan has always been to make it available publicly. I upgraded our Web server last weekend, so I did this at the same time,” Stieneke said via e-mail of the improvements.
The public documents Web site has a link off of the city's main Web site, and includes some documents that date back to the early 1900s, Stieneke said.
Trainor is excited about the site, and though citizens did not request it, it should help the public with questions they may have for the city, he said.
“This is one way to provide information to public in an easy, accessible manner,” Trainor said.
Business license resolution?
A business directory is something Ontario City Councilwoman Audrey Jacobs recently said she would like to see in Ontario.
An online business directory for Ontario can be found online at http://business.ontariooregon.org, and it serves as a central location for local businesses to publish their contact information and provide a basic description of their services, Stieneke said in the e-mail.
Only a sample of Ontario's businesses are presently posted, though, which could change in the future, officials said.
A resolution to implement business licenses should soon hit the City Council, and if it passes, businesses would be indexed on the Web site as licenses are issued, Trainor said.
In the past, the business license idea has gained little ground locally, but Trainor said the new resolution is more comprehensive. Trainor said if it's struck down again then the future of the business directory Web site is unclear. The problem with indexing businesses without licenses, Trainor said, is that the city does not have a comprehensive gauge on all the businesses operating in the city.
“We don't know all the businesses in town,” Trainor said.
Sidewalk vendors and door-to-door salesmen, though, are issued business licenses, Trainor said.
If the business license resolution fails again, Trainor said, the Ontario business Web site may still emerge.
“It's still important to get that information out there,” one way or another, Trainor said.
