August 1, 2012

The new tech advances for the City were unveiled at Tuesday evening’s Committee of the Whole meeting.

MORGANTOWN – The City of Morgantown is proud to announce its new website: MorgantownWV.gov.

The Office of the City Manager and the Communications Office have been working hard to finalize the new page for the last few months. The former website, Morgantown.com, offered residents information about the city since 2002, but advances in technology over the last decade led City administrators to take another look, and to see what else could be offered through a Morgantown website.

The website still has the content that was featured on the old page:
• City Council, Department, and Boards & Commissions information will still be readily available, and will continue to be updated to reflect new projects and aspects each group takes on.
• The same calendar system is being used, but the website also features a new Events page that highlights annual events the city hosts or sponsors
• The News page features the latest events, announcements, programs, projects, and Council news and will replace the current blog at CityofMorgantown.wordpress.com.

But there are additional features that will improve the ease of interacting with your government.

Live Streaming Meeting Video
Comcast Channel 15 currently broadcasts live and replays public meetings that are held in Council Chambers, including City Council, Traffic Commission, Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals, Morgatown Utility Board (MUB), and Morgantown-Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) meetings. Now they’re available online to stream live during the meetings at MorgantownWV.gov under Government>Public Meeting Videos.

If you missed a meeting in the past or would like to see a meeting from a specific date, you can recall old meetings back to May 2012 from the Archive. These uploaded videos will not expire, and future updates to this video service are available.

Archived videos for meetings older than May 2012 are available in the City Clerk’s Office and the Library.

New Citizen Request Manager Application
The City of Morgantown has had a Citizen Request Manager service available online for some time. Now it’s available at your fingertips while out and about in Morgantown.

By downloading the “Mobile Connect CRM” App by developer Govpartner, you can access requests for service and help our city achieve its highest quality of life. You can simply snap a picture of the issue or situation, upload it to your request form, and a City Official will return your request quickly. This can be used to report a BOPARC facility needing maintenance or attention, reporting unregistered rental locations, Rail Trail maintenance, animal abuse, or even vandalism or recurring parking problems.

1.) Download the “Mobile Connect CRM” app on your Apple or Android smartphone. (There are a few – be sure it’s the one from GovPartner.)
2.) When it’s open, click the Settings gear icon in the upper right hand corner to select your site – ours is listed as “MorgantownWV”
3.) You’re now set up to “Create a Request” for service. The app will save any locations you’ve recently used, and you can “View Requests” you’ve already submitted and see the progress.

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We hope that Morgantown residents will welcome our new efforts to expand our presence online and make it easier for our busy citizens to interact with its government. With the implementation of these new services, the Communications office will no longer be uploading news and information to the CityofMorgantown WordPress site. Please update any bookmarks you might have in your browser to the News page at http://www.morgantownwv.gov, or add our site to your RSS feed reader to get notifications when news is posted.

If you have any questions, please contact the Communications office Monday through Friday between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The number there is (304) 284-7426.