City's Web site is up and running

The Web site, www.warren.org, was designed by Warren Pages, a downtown company.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Residents may determine the ward they live in, get information about water or trash rates, and learn about the city budget without leaving their home or picking up the phone.
The city's Web site, www.warren.org, was launched last week and includes information about each department, the city's history, a directory of city employees and general information.
Holly Zoba and Lance Fensterman, owners of Warren Pages, the downtown company that designed and maintains the site, said businesses considering locations check the city's Web site for information.
"I went around to the departments and asked them what the top 10 most requested phone calls are that come to the city," Zoba said.
Information included on the site is designed to reduce the number of phone calls.
"It also makes government available 24 hours," said Robert J. Stahl, city services compliance coordinator.
Zoba said the site will be updated.
"It's always a challenge to keep a site this large current," she said.
Update schedule
That's why they've established a schedule to update information about a certain two or three departments each month.
"We're going to add a feedback form to allow people to tell us what they'd like to see," Zoba said.
Eventually, the site will include ordinances and minutes of council meetings.
The site features links for other information. Stahl said the site also includes a map allowing users to click on the area where they live to find out what ward they live in and access contact information about their council representative.
Fensterman said they tried to approach the design from the perspectives of a business owner considering the city as a location and a resident in search of information.
"We wanted to make it as user-friendly for the most people as possible," he said.
The city previously tried to launch a Web site that was designed in-house but it never got off the ground, Stahl said.
When site design began
Warren Pages started work on the site about a year ago. The company designed the site for the city for $2,500, about 25 percent of the cost normally charged for such a design. One of the trade-offs was that the city would be patient in awaiting completion, Zoba said.
Zoba and Fensterman also own and operate North Perk restaurant, dividing their time between the two businesses.
"We wanted to be the ones to do the work," Fensterman said.
"It was a win-win [situation]," Zoba said. "We wanted to do it, and the city got a nice site in a reasonable amount of time for not much money."
dick@vindy.com