New website info
These departments will be included on the new website: board of commissioners, tax assessors, tax commissioner, planning and zoning, superior court, probate court, magistrate court, EMA/EMA, senior center, public works/landfill, elections, rec department, sheriff's office, 911, jail and coroner.
Oglethorpe County’s government website is undergoing a makeover and is scheduled to relaunch in February with a design that county officials say will feature new levels of transparency, accessibility and convenience.
County administrator Jason Lewis said the redesign comes after the U.S. Department of Justice mandated all government websites must be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by April 2027. That means every document and meeting video placed on the website must be accessible for those with disabilities.
“This was kind of fortuitous for us because we’ve been making a big push for accessibility for all citizens, regardless of whether they have a disability or not,” Lewis said.
He added the new website will allow viewers to manipulate colors and text if they have a visual impairment. All videos will have the option for closed captioning for those with hearing impairments.
Planning assistant and permitting administrator Teresa Campbell said the new website will cost $79,802.40 to build and maintain in the first year, while the annual recurring cost is $65,832.80, which will come from the county’s general fund.
The site, which will have a new web address, will house each county department’s items in one place instead of being scattered like the current website (oglethorpecountyga.gov).
“The whole point in this is, first of all, to be ADA compliant, but to make it a lot easier for everybody to find where they need to be,” Campbell said. “Everything will live in our county website.”
She added the new website’s features will also be helpful to boards and departments.
“The convenience for the public is also convenient for us,” Campbell said.
The website will include a new open records request system, called NextRequest, that will allow anyone to file for county department documents, email communication information, social media archives and other options.
“There’s no hiding anything,” Campbell said. “It’s full transparency.”
The system will allow anybody to search certain words related to their request, and it will state if the open records have been previously requested. Campbell said this could save employees time searching for a request that has already been filed, and people could save money by not paying a filing cost.
The website will also contain a public portal with searchable department agendas, meeting minutes and reports. Whereas the current website separates monthly agendas and meeting minutes, the new website will put everything in one location.
Campbell said the Planning and Zoning Board tested the new portal during its meeting last week, and the Board of Commissioners plans to test it later this month.
For each meeting, the agenda, agenda packet, meeting minutes and meeting media will be located under one link. Campbell said residents who have an account will also be able to create alerts for meetings.
A mass notifications portal isn’t live, but Campbell said the county hopes to send alerts for issues like severe weather and road closures by text, email or through an app. CodeRED, which is the current tool, will be replaced by CivicReady.
Anyone who was signed up for CodeRED will automatically be signed up for CivicReady.
The portal will also be available for internal communications.
“Some people might use it more than others, but it’ll be helpful for every department to have access and knowledge on how to use it when needed,” Campbell said.
The website is being created with the help of CivicPlus, a nationwide, local government website-building platform. CivicPlus is leading trainings for Campbell, so she can train Oglethorpe County departments.
Campbell said the creation process of the website started this summer because trainings take 6-9 months. Campbell said each department, like EMS and the Sheriff’s Office, must be “all squared away” and feel comfortable before the website can go live in February.
Some features, such as the agenda and meeting minutes public portal, can be incorporated now, though.
“I think that there’s a lot of departments that are glad we’re doing it because it kind of streamlines their process of them getting information out,” Lewis said.