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Website Design, all-articles, all-news
What is aesthetically pleasing is not always functional or reliable. Anyone who has ever been duped into buying a recently cleaned-up used car has likely learned that lesson. It may appear shiny on the outside, and give off that clean, new car scent. It may even have an upgraded sound system, heated leather seats, and high-end rims, but when it comes to the vehicle’s most essential features: safety, performance, and reliability, what is hidden beneath that shiny veneer?
all-articles, all-news, parks and recreation
It’s officially spring, which means summer is fast approaching. Soon, the kids will be out of school, the days will belong, the sun will be out, and everyone in your community will be looking to get active and enjoy the natural resources of their hometown. Whether your community is known for its challenging hiking trails, family-friendly parks, crystal clear lakes, or desert rock climbing, you need a marketing plan to promote your local indoor and outdoor parks and rec facilities, and all the classes, leagues, and activities your community has to offer. To help you plan for a successful summer, we have your complete guide to promoting your summer events, no matter the size of your community, or your parks and rec staff.
all-articles, all-news, parks and recreation
Your parks and rec department is committed to offering equitable access to activities and resources in your community for all citizens, regardless of their age or physical ability. Your staff works hard all year to ensure all facilities are compliant with requirements of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) and remain in safe, full operational order. However, what about your digital operations?
Human Resources, all-articles, all-news
Is your municipality attempting to leverage an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for your human resource (HR) department needs? Too often ERP systems are foisted upon HR departments with the belief that the integrated HR modules will serve their needs. Instead, the result is the requirement to rely on a financial software system that creates disjointed employee data and leaves HR teams unable to identify, hire, and retain top talent. It's time you learned the key differences between ERPs and human resource management software (HRMS) solutions, and why only one is designed to identify, hire, and retain top talent.
all-articles, all-news, Emergency Notifications
Winter is finally ready to head back into hibernation mode, which means it is time to bring out the umbrellas, sunscreen, and bug repellant. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Zika virus is still a nationally notifiable condition throughout the United States. As of March 2018, across the U.S., there have been 433 symptomatic Zika virus disease cases reported. In five of the cases, the disease was acquired through presumed local mosquito-borne transmission in Florida and Texas.
Website Design, all-articles, all-news, Processes, Communication, content
Pause from reading this blog and think about a typical day in the office. Count the number of desktop applications and Web-based software solutions you use daily. Your list will likely include your email client, enterprise resource planning software, CRM tool, government website content management system, a mass notification tool… you get the point.
all-articles, all-news, Agendas and Meetings
The Open Meetings Act (OMA) is a state law that requires meetings of public bodies to be open to the public with a small number of specific exclusions. Its purpose is to ensure that public entities conduct actions openly and with transparency for all constituents, and it requires that such transparency efforts be demonstrated through the use of open, public meetings. It is the responsibility of city and county clerks to ensure their municipality complies with the specific regulations of the OMA in their state. What follows is general information about complying with OMA regulations. However, all clerks should familiarize themselves with the particular requirements of their city or county.
Human Resources, all-articles, all-news
If your municipality is attempting to leverage an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for your human resource (HR) department needs, we know you’re frustrated. At its core, ERP software is intended as a financial system to track revenue, expenditures, and goods. With personnel being part of a businesses revenue equation, some private and public sector entities are attempting to use an ERP instead of a fully integrated human resource management system (HRMS) solution. However, any HR manager knows that to hire and retain talent effectively, you need a people-based solution, not access to financial software. Too often ERP systems are foisted upon HR departments with the belief that the integrated HR modules will serve their needs. Instead, the result is the requirement to rely on a financial software system that creates disjointed employee data and leaves HR teams unable to identify, hire, and retain top talent.
all-articles, all-news, Emergency Notifications
The product innovators at CivicReady® are committed to continually enhancing our emergency notification system to accommodate all the channels that citizens use to receive information, and all the technical applications available to target those who could be in the path of danger. CivicReady’s latest enhancements aim to give citizens greater customization when receiving emergency alerts and to target subscribers based on hyper-targeted geolocation capabilities. When used in conjunction with CivicReady’s robust mass notification platform, local governments can provide the most powerful, and customizable emergency alert notifications possible to their subscribers.
Website Design, all-articles, all-news
Technology unites us. It brings people together, encourages sharing, expands knowledge, and allows us to work better, smarter, and faster. It is not just in our personal lives that technology is having this unifying effect. Technology enables businesses to run more efficiently than ever before. It allows team members on opposite sides of a city to collaborate seamlessly, and it allows us to process complex transactions and post omnichannel communications in a single step.
Website Design, all-articles, all-news
74 percent of social media marketers use visual assets in their social media marketing. Why? They know the impact that images have on informing and engaging visitors. They know that when people hear information, they're likely to remember only 10 percent of it three days later, but when a relevant image is paired with that same information, people retain 65 percent of the information three days later. Incorporating beautiful, unique, local imagery into your social media posts should be an impactful aspect of your social media strategy.
Human Resources, all-articles, all-news
Your community is changing, and your citizens’ needs are changing too. It should be no surprise then for us to tell you that your applicant pool is also changing, as are the strategies effective human resource managers will need to take to identify, recruit, and hire top talent in 2018. You should be continually evaluating your recruiting methods and determining which recruitment channels, messages, and outreach efforts are most successful in identifying qualified new hires. To help ensure you are focusing your efforts on proven recruitment methods, we are offering five strategies that forward-thinking municipalities should be focusing on when hiring in 2018.
all-articles, all-news, Communication, Emergency Notifications
2017 brought some of the most severe, and the most devastating natural disasters in modern American history. Not only did Hurricanes Irma, Maria, and Harvey wreak havoc in the Gulf and cause hundreds of billions of dollars of damage, but extreme weather was to blame for destruction and devastation from coast to coast. There were hailstorms in Colorado, Midwest tornadoes, and draughts that worsened conditions in California, leaving parts of the state destroyed by wildfires.
all-articles, all-news, Agendas and Meetings
The role of the city clerk is nearly as established and long-standing as local government itself. For decades, city clerks have served as an essential link between local government leaders and the people they serve. Over time, this role has evolved from handing out permit applications to walk-in residents to meeting digital transparency requirements through cloud-based agenda and meeting management solutions. As citizens become increasingly dependent upon digital technology, and the role of the city clerk remains steadfastly ingrained in our municipal operations, service-minded clerks must learn to adapt their workflows and approach their citizen engagements from a digital-first mindset. Here are four ways to be successful.
Website Design, all-articles, all-news, Communication
As citizens, we all want to love where we live. We want our community to feel like home, to be a place that gives us a sense of pride, and the type of city, town, or village we want to work hard to protect and maintain. If you’re searching for new, unique ways to engage the residents of your community and promote the type of community love that all local governments hope to instill, you’re not alone.
We’re often inspired by the creative ways that communities connect to their residents, which is why we’ve compiled a list of 12 inspiring examples of citizen engagement initiatives for smart cities like yours. Take a look at our list below for ideas and actionable tips on how to execute similar programs in your community.
Website Design, all-articles, all-news, Communication, all
The need to enable citizens to obtain local information and resources from a mobile device is not new. The latest data from the Pew Research Center tells us that 95 percent of Americans own a cell phone, and 77 percent own a smartphone—a 35 percent increase in only six years. Data also shows that not only are more Americans owning smartphones; they are using them to access services—including services offered by their local government. According to DigitalGov, In December 2016 mobile devices accounted for 43 percent of all traffic to U.S. government websites, a trend that continued throughout 2017.
all-articles, all-news, Communication, Emergency Notifications, all
On Saturday, January 13, residents of the state of Hawaii spent an agonizing 38 minutes believing they were about to be the victims of a missile attack. During those 38 minutes, loved ones came together, tears were shed, and citizens raced to find the safest form of shelter. The panic was caused by an alert distributed from the state’s emergency notification system—an alert that ended up being distributed in error.
Human Resources, all-articles, all-news
Raise your hand if you use LinkedIn as part of your recruitment strategy. Now, keep your hand in the air if you do anything else in LinkedIn other than posting job ads. I’m envisioning that your hand just went down, but don’t be discouraged. You’re not alone. At its core, LinkedIn is a social networking tool that aims to help passive and active job seekers to advance their careers, and help employers find quality candidates. What better way to accomplish this than by utilizing the tool’s job posting functionality?
Human Resources, all-articles, all-news
Beginning January 1, 2018, California employers may no longer ask job candidates, in writing or orally, for their current or previous salary information. In addition, employers must provide applicants, upon request, with a pay range for the open position for which the applicant has applied. The change comes in response to Assembly Bill No. 168, which was passed by the California state legislature on October 12, 2017. The bill applies to both public and private sector California employers, regardless of size.
As a municipal clerk, your enemy is the clock. You have a slate full of responsibilities and live in a deadline-driven environment where you are perpetually working to pull documents, content, agendas, minutes, and other vital materials together before the next meeting, or respond to citizen requests expeditiously. One way that municipal clerks can expedite the agenda creation process and help to ensure well organized and efficient meetings is through the use of a consent agenda. This time-saving tool streamlines routine meeting item approvals and frees up meeting time for the discussion of matters that require the greatest amount of attention and deliberation.
all-articles, all-news, Agendas and Meetings
As a municipal clerk, you take a hands-on approach to your work. You have to. You’re often seen as the staff member with all the answers when either citizens or internal staff members are looking for information. Whether it’s the latest agenda, the minutes from four meetings ago, a permit application, or a registration form, you’re the one who can put their hands on any essential document in the administration the fastest. Being so closely involved in a document management process often results in a tendency to take a very manual approach to file creation and maintenance. The problem for clerks, however, is that with shrinking budgets, smaller staffs, and greater expectations for on-demand access to a wider variety of civic resources, time is too limited for any processes to be inefficient.
all-articles, all-news, Communication, Emergency Notifications
Every parent fears the loss of their child, and every community leader fears such a nightmare taking place in their municipality. The AMBER AlertTM voluntary missing child notification program has been successful since its inception in helping to reunite missing and abducted children with their families. Public safety officers that utilize a mass notification system that integrates with the nation’s wireless emergency alert (WEA) system have the ability to help reunite missing children with their families by issuing AMBER Alert messages. To successfully and effectively issue AMBERT Alerts, it’s important to understand the program’s communication guidelines, which are summarized below.
all-articles, all-news, parks and recreation
The days are getting shorter, and the air is getting cooler. Coming off hot summer days and seemingly limitless possibilities to be active and explore your community, your parks and recreation department may be starting to see dwindling citizen participation numbers when you look at registrations in your parks and recreation management system. Don’t worry; it’s not just your community.
Human Resources, all-articles, all-news
Think right now about your best employees. What are the characteristics that make him/her so exceptional? Most likely they demonstrate a dedicated work ethic, go above and beyond, take on more than is asked of them, and stress the details to ensure the highest quality results. Not only do these characteristics help to define the most valuable employees, they are characteristics that can lead to employee burnout. When employees reach their breaking point, it can result in missed days of work due to illness, stress that can negatively impact their mood, or—worst of all—a resignation letter hitting your desk like a torpedo.
all-articles, all-news, parks and recreation
Your community is unique, yet the power to learn from the success stories and proven strategies of your neighboring communities is crucial to success. Motivating citizens to explore your local parks and engage in community activities will always be your quest and your challenge. Understanding how your parks department’s engagement compares to national benchmarks will help you to focus in on specific opportunities for improvement and leverage powerful practices from leaders in recreation planning and development. To help you begin the process of determining how your community compares to national standards and identifying areas of focus for 2018, we’ve identified five key benchmarks for consideration from the National Recreation and Parks Association’s (NRPA) Agency Performance Review.
all-articles, all-news, Agendas and Meetings
It can be a frustrating, repeating cycle that you just can’t break. Every time you begin to prepare for your municipality’s next board meeting, you contact all staff and board members and ask for agenda items. You give them a specific, hard deadline, and then you wait. And wait. Your deadline approaches and you’ve received one or two responses. You start reminding individual staff members and you get a few more items. Then three revisions. Then your deadline passes. And you wait. More reminders. More revisions. More outstanding items. Now it’s the day of the meeting and you’re scrambling to organize a still-changing agenda and supporting documents, all while trying not to over-stress. After all, this is what happens every month, so it’s okay, right?
all-articles, all-news, Communication, Emergency Notifications
When an emergency impacts your community, you can’t let any barriers stand in the way of getting every citizen the information they need to take immediate action. To help you better serve the diverse needs of your community, CivicReady® is pleased to announce its new multilingual translation functionality. Now, whenever you share emergency or routine email, text, or voice notifications with your citizens, your messages can be automatically translated into one of 11 languages based on the subscriber’s pre-set preference. This new functionality within the CivicReady mass notification system helps to ensure that all citizens can quickly receive and act on urgent information, with no confusion or delays.
all-articles, all-news, Agendas and Meetings
CivicPlus® has announced that it has acquired BoardSync, a leader in agenda and meeting management solutions for municipalities. The addition will allow CivicPlus to offer a CivicClerk® product solution and will expand its product portfolio, strengthening its offering as a comprehensive solution provider for local government.
all-articles, all-news, parks and recreation
There will always be a place for paper. There will always be a need for tangible communications, and there will always be those among us who prefer the sensation of holding literature in their hands, scribbling notes in the margins, and storing documents in drawers for later use. The reality, however, is that the number of citizens who prefer paper is dwindling; shrinking every day as the number of smart phones, tablets, e-readers, and even wearable devices adopted by citizens continues to skyrocket.
all-articles, all-news, parks and recreation
It’s estimated that the average American teenager spends approximately nine hours per day using digital media. Nine hours. That’s more hours than many of us sleep at night. It’s the length of time it would take you to drive from New York City to southern Ohio. Teens are watching TV, movies, and videos; playing video games; and checking social media, and they’re doing it using more devices than ever before. Thanks to the growth of the internet of things (IoT), not only are kids spending time watching television, they’re using smart phones, tablets, smart watches, and internet connected video games, which means parents are fighting for their child’s attention from even more devices.
