Friday, October 11, 1996

City debuts home page

By ANTHONY WILSON
Staff Writer

With the click of a mouse, Abilenians can learn how to trim $4.40 from their water bills by nixing frivolous toilet flushes.

Or whether they qualify for the part-time nutritionist job at the city health department.
Or that Mayor Gary McCaleb has run in three big-city marathons.

City Hall merged onto the information superhighway Thursday morning when McCaleb ceremoniously clicked its home page on-line on the Worldwide Web.

Its address is http://camalott.com/abilene. Citizens can e-mail City Hall at Abilene@camalott.com.

The city's home page is meant to connect citizens with local government by supplying information ranging from job listings to meeting agendas to council priorities to synopses of city departments. The page is also linked to on-line sites dedicated to Abilene Clean & Proud, the Abilene Police Department and Abilene's Children Today.

"Communication is the key to efficient government," said Debra Guerra, assistant to the city manager. "We see this as a communication tool. This is going to give us the ability to provide information 24 hours a day."

City officials expect the home page's usefulness to expand as they learn how best to use the technology. Some at City Hall envision citizens some day using the Internet to pay their water bills, to apply for permits and to examine documents pertaining to hotly debated issues.

They also hope the page will spark worldwide interest in Abilene by businesses and families searching for a new home.

"We're just beginning to realize the tip of the opportunities technology can give us," said McCaleb, who listed the city's top 10 challenges on the page.

The page will be updated at least every other week. Its design and first-year maintenance will cost $1,650.

"People have been asking when the city was going to get online," Guerra said. "This is a movement among cities. Our page will stack up well for the money and time we've put into it."