County Partners with Beacon to Develop New Website CITYOFBEACON.ORG

The City of Beacon has a brand new website, thanks to a shared service partnership with Dutchess County Government. The new website, cityofbeacon.org is now online with a wide variety of helpful tools and information for both residents and visitors including public alerts, events calendars, service directories, and more. The City of Beacon will maintain and update the website content, with Dutchess County Office of Central & Information Services (OCIS) providing hosting and maintenance support. The City of Beacon's website is the first to be developed as part of Dutchess County’s new Information Technology (IT) shared services offerings.

City of Beacon Mayor Randy Casale said, "We wanted a website that delivered the information people need and looked visually appealing. We worked closely with the County’s OCIS team and are thrilled with the results. This is an excellent example of a collaborative project that our residents and visitors will really benefit from."

Dutchess County Executive Marcus J. Molinaro said, "As we continue to transform government to maximize efficiency, we are expanding the ways we can work together with local municipalities to better deliver services and reduce costs. Information Technology (IT) services is key area that many municipalities can use assistance from the County. This project allowed Beacon to capitalize on our award winning technology offerings and offer a vital information service for their residents and visitors."

The County’s OCIS team worked closely with Mayor Casale, City Administrator Meredith Robson and other staff to develop a website that delivers information that is most requested by residents and visitors such as permit applications, event listings, map direction, and meeting schedules. The new website incorporates many of the advanced features found on Dutchess County’s award winning website dutchessny.gov as well as features developed specifically for Beacon and other future municipal sites.

Key features of the new Beacon website include:

• Advanced website navigation – improved menus and easy to use search functions
• Public Alerts and Advisories – includes both emergency and non-emergency advisories
• Consolidated Calendar – featuring both City of Beacon and countywide calendar listings
• BeaconDelivery - Public Outreach Service that allows residents to receive emails or text messages for information / advisories for topics that they subscribe
• Integrated Map Directions to City of Beacon agencies’ locations
• Connection to key County services that residents are most interested in, for instance: Senior Services, Veterans Services, Health & Human Services
• Language Translation of all web pages – Allows residents to select virtually any language to display web pages

The new website also features InfoAccess – a new GIS map-based application developed by DC OCIS. InfoAccess takes a broad-range of location-related information and allows users to view those locations by category on GIS maps and view related information such as census data, parcel data and more. Categories include education, government, health care, recreation, transportation and more, giving users an opportunity to explore what the community has to offer.

The new website is hosted and maintained by DC OCIS at the County’s secure computer center. Beacon staff can make updates to the website through easy-to-use templates, ensuring the information available is current and up-to-date.

"We are excited to be able to leverage the County’s existing technologies to provide a state-of-the-art website to the City of Beacon for far less cost than if the municipality pursued this ambitious project on their own. We look forward to working with other Dutchess County municipalities for shared IT services to help better serve all of our residents," said OCIS Commissioner Tim Mahler.

Dutchess County Legislature Assistant Minority Leader Alison MacAvery, who represents the City of Beacon, noted, "Residents as well as tourists will find the website utilizes the latest technology and yet reflects the City of Beacon’s unique small town character."