WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING
Denton Record Chronicle
After reviewing most of the municipal websites in Denton County, Texas, Peggy Heinke-Wolfe, a reporter for the Denton Record Chronicle noticed that few had all of the state required information on them and most were not easy to navigate. However, she found that those designed by Cave Consulting not only appeared to be in compliance with state law and were easy to navigate, but also were rich with information. She was so impressed, she decided to write a profile on the founder, Todd Cave.
Town of Ponder
"I wish we could record all of the great comments we get on the website from people who come into Town Hall".
City of Clifton
"We are really enjoying the website. It is really a great tool!"
Charles McLean, City Manager
City of Springtown
"The City Council really likes the new website. Thanks for all of your help."
Jhanna Bogan, City Secretary
City of Weimar
"We love our new website. We get compliments on it all of the time."
Dolores Stoever, City Secretary
City of Italy
"I wanted to let you know that I've had quite a few compliments from other folks outside the city. One of the more negative Ellis County blogs called it "unbelievably beautiful" and patted us on the back for including the terms for elected officials, another said it was very easy to navigate and had lots of good information. Our Judge in Waxahachie said he has heard lots of compliments from the DA's office and other agencies. He said it one of the best he's seen and definitely the best in the county. It was well worth the wait to get this up and I appreciate you understanding exactly what I envisioned. GREAT JOB!!!"
Cynthia Olguin, City Secretary/Administrator
City of Lucas
"The first day the new website was up, a random citizen contacted Cave Consulting and said 'The new website is AMAZING!! Thank you--you did a great job.' We also like the easy tools you provide which allow us to upload our documents from our Laserfiche document management system to the web so the public can easily access information without accessing our network.""
City of Newark
Using Cave Consulting's EZ-Edit system, website changes become as routine as typing a memo in a word processor. Sherry Edgemon, City Secretary of Newark, proclaims; "We make changes to our site everyday. I've never owned my own computer, but this program is so easy, I am able to not only post council agendas each month, but also upload public notices and information about our local festivals. I love the expiration date feature, which allows me to post a council agenda, but display it only up to the council meeting date. The agenda page automatically disappears after that date. I don't have to remember to delete the agenda page after the council meeting.
Sherry says, "Some of our older residents prefer to visit city hall, just to get out of the house and socialize. We will probably always have that kind of interaction. However, whenever anyone calls or visits the city for information, we always recommend that they check our website. With Cave Consulting's help, the website almost always answers their questions. Once that resident has successfully obtained information from our site, the next time they have a question they will usually look on our website first. Obtaining information from our site is always faster than calling or visiting city hall."
Cris Cromer, Newark Volunteer Fire Department, uses the city's EZ-Edit website weekly to display pictures of the fire department in action. "I think it is very important for our community to know what our volunteer fire department is doing for them. The more they see our presence, the better chance we will have of getting them to donate to our fund raisers. We are a volunteer organization and donated funds are critical for our continued operation."
The City of Newark also utilized YourDoc which has been a great benefit to the city. According to Sherry Edgemon, City Secretary of Newark, "citizen requests for documents are often vague and require hours of staff time to locate. Confirmation of an easement or annexation, for example, could require a staffer to look through years of council meeting minutes and/or ordinances, reading every page. Using YourDOC, documents such as annexations and easements, complete with associated maps, can be retrieved in seconds using keyword searches."
City of Pilot Point
About YourDoc - Vicky Varnau, City Secretary of Pilot Point notes, "It feels good knowing our document "eggs" are not in one basket where a single mishap could destroy them all. YourDOC paid off the very first day as we utilized it to help satisfy a major open-records request. It saved us hours in research, copying and filing."
About EZ-Edit - Ryan Kelly, City Manager of Pilot Point said, "At first, we were skeptical of the Cave Consulting EZ-Edit municipal website concept. After all, the city already had a website and could have just had it revamped. However, after Cave Consulting showed us how a high-information website would provide immediate answers to most citizens' questions, we realized just how much we could reduce city staff time and effort that would normally be required to deal with citizen requests." He added "We are convinced that the small investment we have made in our site will pay dividends to the city for years to come."