Las Vegas unveils revamped website

Diana Sahagun

Friday, Jan. 25, 2002 | 9:10 a.m.

Parts of Las Vegas City Hall next week will be open to residents 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

A computer and modem is all that is required for entry.

The city's revamped website (www.ci.las-vegas.nv.us), slated to debut next week, will allow residents to pay sewer bills and access information on city properties, for example. In time, users will be able to watch council meetings on their computer monitors.

City staff members have spent 18 months creating the new site, adding links and updating site characteristics that haven't changed in years.

The new site will replace one last updated in 1998 that users have complained is hard to navigate and is visually lacking.

The new site was created in-house for less than $200,000. Had the city contracted with a private company to create the site the cost could have reached $2.7 million, city officials say.

Joseph Marcella, director of the city's Information Technologies Department, said before proceeding with the project the city hired a consultant who surveyed residents in an effort to gauge their needs.

The survey found that the current site was geared more toward city departments, as opposed to public users. The new site will offer information that is constantly updated.

The goal, Marcella said, was to create a "virtual government" in which people can access services -- pay bills and register for classes offered by the city -- without leaving home.

The metallic blue home page will have links geared toward visitors, new residents and established residents and businesses.

"You would be surprised how many people access our site looking for hotel and marriage license information," said Elaine Sanchez, a city spokeswoman who helped prepare the site's content.

For visitors to Las Vegas, the site offers links to hotels, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Clark County Marriage License Bureau. For new residents, the site has, for example, links to utilities and a map of council districts.

The services offered online also will help to free up city workers. The city last year implemented the online capability for residents to pay parking tickets, check the status of building permits and access business licensing information -- the work of 4.5 full-time employees per month.

The site will also offer a feature called "Ask Me," which, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., will allow users to pose questions to City Hall staff.