Public input sought on Linn County website

CEDAR RAPIDS - Linn County officials seek input from the public to help shape a redesign of the county website.

Residents have until the end of February to take part in an online survey at www.linncounty.org. The 10-question survey delves into user experience with the county website.

'Our goal with the website redesign is to create the best product possible for our customers,” Linn County Communications Director Joi Alexander said in a county news release. 'To help us reach this goal, we are encouraging the public to participate in the survey so we can know what's important to them in terms of information they are seeking or functions they are trying to perform.”

The county website saw more than 500,000 visits in 2017, Alexander said Tuesday.

Information gathered in the study, along with staff input and analytics, will be used to create a new county website, Alexander said.

When the redesign begins, Alexander said it is expected to take about 5-6 months.

The website redesign is the latest example of the county's efforts to improve customer satisfaction with Linn County departments and functions.

The program, launched in 2016, involves providing customer-focused training to all county employees, finding ways to streamline services and implementing procedures aimed at making the lives of customers better.

In the Treasurer's Office, employees have been cross-trained and reorganized so they can handle multiple duties, a payment drop box has been installed and a computer kiosk allows customers to access online services for paying property taxes and renewing vehicle registration.

In addition, Linn County Planning and Development has launched a streamlined application process for new home building permits.

Aside from the procedural changes, county officials have been taking part in a training program, called C3, or Customer Centered Culture, aimed at developing all employees - from supervisors to department heads to clerks - into stronger leaders better able to deal with issues facing customers.

l Comments: (319) 339-3175; mitchell.schmidt@thegazette.com