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E-mailFayette County launches Web site
Chris Foreman is a Tribune-Review staff writer and can be reached at 724-836-6646 or via e-mail.
Fayette County is the last of seven Pennsylvania fourth-class counties to publish a Web site. Most of the state's 67 counties have a space on the Internet to introduce their public officials, provide contact information for county departments and distribute public announcements.
Last spring, the commissioners sought help from the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania to assist with the development of the county's pages. The association will play host to the site on its server and administer the pages for a $100 monthly charge that is in addition to the county's $1,979 annual membership fee.
Most of the content was derived from an employee of each county department who helped to compile information that, in some cases, wasn't already available in printed form, said Commissioner Chairwoman Angela Zimmerlink. The county also hired an intern from Laurel Business Institute, John Miller Jr., who aided with design development, software support and network administration, she said.
Miller, of North Union Township, was paid $12.50 an hour for 70 hours of work.
"I am very proud of this Web site because it has the nuts and bolts of county government," said Zimmerlink, who took on a large role in helping with the site's creation. "I wanted it to be informative and still easily navigated."
Besides particulars about the county offices, the Web site also features facts and trivia about the county courthouse in Uniontown, such as the ghosts reputed to have roamed the building's halls and the paintings hung on the walls. The site also has forms that residents can download for building permits, assessment appeals, zoning applications, employment applications, and an application for the county's volunteer youth commission.
The commissioners' page also shows that the 2006 county budget will be online after its passage Thursday.
Zimmerlink said the site is a work in progress, but hopes eventually it can be used for online payments.
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