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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
City of Duluth Communications Office
Mayor Roger J. Reinert
411 West First Street • Duluth, Minnesota 55802 • www.duluthmn.gov
411 West First Street • Duluth, Minnesota 55802 • www.duluthmn.gov
For more information, please call 218-730-5309
DATE: 11/18/2014
SUBJECT: Duluth Named One of the Top Ten Digital Cities in America
BY: Daniel Fanning, Communications & Policy Director - Mayor's Office
SUBJECT: Duluth Named One of the Top Ten Digital Cities in America
BY: Daniel Fanning, Communications & Policy Director - Mayor's Office
Duluth Named One of the Top Ten Digital Cities in America
Award Honors Cities with “Best Practices in Public Information and Communications Technology”
[Duluth, MN] – The Center for Digital Government has named Duluth, MN one of the top 10 digital cities in the United States, in the category of cities with a population between 75,000 – 124,999. The awards honor cities with “best practices in public sector information and communications technology.”
In their announcement, the Center for Digital Government stated that this year’s honors targeted which initiatives cities were most proud of in areas of citizen engagement, communications, public policy, operations and technology & data.
“This year’s Digital Cities’ winners brought about impressive change across all aspects of government by leveraging information technology investments to expand open government, citizen participation and shared services,” said Todd Sander, Executive Director of the Center for Digital Government. “Winning cities spanned the nation, indicating a trend that more and more cities are making it a priority that digital government be easier to access, navigate and interact with.”
Duluth was recognized for a number of recent initiatives including: a newly designed city website (duluthmn.gov) which was designed by staff, effective use of social media to inform and engage the public, new web streaming capabilities, newly added virtual tours, online video State of the City addresses, an application development project, use of a virtual server, and centralized print projects which reduces paper and energy consumption. Duluth was also praised for the City’s IT Governance process for IT Strategic Planning and use of the National Citizens Survey to ensure the City’s goals are in line with feedback provided by citizens. In addition, Duluth recently became the first city in Minnesota to provide closed captioning of City Council meetings and other city government functions.
“One of our main priorities over the last several years has been to constantly seek to improve communication and transparency in city government,” said Mayor Don Ness. “This recognition is a credit to our dedicated team at City Hall, especially our staff in the IT department and in communications. Through the use of digital technology and other initiatives, we’ve made tremendous progress in ensuring our citizens can stay engaged and informed.”
Congratulations to the 2014 Digital Cities Survey Winners:
75,000 – 124,999 population:
1st City of Avondale, AZ
2nd City of Ann Arbor, MI
2nd City of Greenville, NC
3rd City of Boulder, CO
3rd City of Roanoke, VA
4th City of Davenport, IA
4th City of Santa Monica, CA
4th City of Westminster, CO
5th City of Lynchburg, VA
6th City of Sugar Land, TX
7th City of Independence, MO
7th City of Richardson, TX
8th City of West Palm Beach, FL
9th City of Boca Raton, FL
10th City of Duluth, MN
For additional information on the Center for Digital Government and/or to view other awardees, please visit: http://www.digitalcommunities.com/survey/cities/
For more information on the award and the City's efforts, please contact Daniel Fanning, City of Duluth, at (218) 730-5307 or dfanning@duluthmn.gov or Janet Grenslitt, Director of Surveys and Awards –Center for Digital Cities, at jgrenslitt@centerdigitalgov.com
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