Beaverton, OR Receives Award for Most Transparent Government Website

Beaverton is a very diverse community, with more than 100 different languages spoken. Involving residents in civic planning is a high priority and has brought acclaim to the city, not only in the way of awards, but also from citizens. Residents describe their community as “welcoming, friendly, athletic, vibrant and responsible.”

The city’s close proximity to businesses such as Nike, Intel and Columbia Sports attracts a population of tech-savvy, creative people that propel their community to continue progressing and moving forward. Beaverton’s website is an important part of this community vision.

Before CivicPlus

The city’s old site was dated in both appearance and content which did not reflect the community’s vibrant culture. Cynthia Rozanc of the city’s Information Systems Division said there were “too few people to handle too many requests,” which made it difficult to keep information fresh. They looked to CivicPlus for a user-friendly system that would enable even non-technical city staff to update the website more efficiently and promptly.

After CivicPlus

With its new website in place, Beaverton received a Sunny Award for having one of the most transparent government websites in the nation, and was recognized for having one of the top city websites with an A+ grade. They’ve found that users especially enjoy the filtering function of the Calendar module which allows them to see events by one department or all—viewer’s choice. Rozanc says Notify Me is an efficient way to communicate information and Form Center makes it easy to gather feedback from the community. “Form Center is very helpful,” she said. “We usually conduct surveys after each event to help us improve services to our community.”