Montgomery County Website Wins Award

Information provided by Montgomery County Commissioners:

The new Montgomery County website has won statewide recognition for excellence, according to a press release from the county.

The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania recognized the Montgomery County website design during its 127th Annual Conference in Erie. The Excellence in Website Design Award is designed to "to honor outstanding work by the counties in the area of websites.” According to the CCAP, Montgomery County “launched and enhanced their county’s website as a progressive move towards better communication and enhanced ways to conduct county business.”

“We are extremely pleased and honored to have received this award,” said Josh Shapiro, chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners.  “We appreciate the work CCAP invested in this award, and we are pleased that they recognized what we believe to be one of the finest governmental websites in the country.”

When Shapiro took office in January 2012, he and fellow commissioners Leslie Richards and Bruce Castor, put a high priority on upgrading the county website and social media efforts to significantly improve the communication between county government and its constituents.

“The building blocks of our administration have been communication, transparency and efficiency in government, and we believe that this website is vital in our administration’s efforts to live up to those objectives,” Shapiro said.  He pointed to the user friendly facets of the website as well as the county’s policy to post important documents such as requests for proposals, budgets and quarterly financial reports, as well as ethics and procurement policies. 

After a competitive bidding process, Montgomery County contracted with CivicPlus of Manhattan, Kansas to design the website.  The county team that piloted the project from its inception included Anthony Olivieri, director of ITS; Ellen Schaible, senior project manager; Tom Pepe, internet solutions manager; Marina Bradley, web editor; Debbie Ross, IT analyst; Doug Keffer, infrastructure manager Information Technology; Chris Smith, executive administrator to Commissioner Shapiro; Jessica Willingham, communications assistant/public relations coordinator; Uri Monson, chief financial officer; and, Frank Custer, director of communications. 

CCAP is the voice of county government, a statewide, nonprofit, nonpartisan association representing all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. CCAP membership includes county commissioners, council members, county executives, administrators, chief clerks and solicitors. Founded in 1886, CCAP is an affiliate of the National Association of Counties.