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Aurora wins two national digital government awards after citywide website and 311 overhaul
Summary
The City of Aurora was named a winner of two awards at the 15th annual Digital Government Awards after launching a new website, engagement site, email system and a MyAurora 311 mobile app, city communications manager John Zagluol said on Chicago Live.
The City of Aurora has been named a winner of two national honors at the 15th annual Digital Government Awards after completing a major overhaul of its public-facing digital systems, communications manager John Zagluol said in an interview on Chicago Live.
"We launched a brand new website, a brand new engagement website, and a brand new email service in addition to our MyAurora 311 customer service system," Zagluol said. He described the work as a cross-department effort with the mayor's office, communications and marketing, IT, customer service and an outside vendor.
Zagluol told the host the previous website dated to about 2015 and had problems with internal search, mobile friendliness and ADA accessibility, which prompted the redesign. "For a city our size, the second largest city in the state of Illinois, we needed to make sure that we had a robust and good working digital infrastructure," he said.
New tools the city highlighted include a MyAurora 311 mobile app that allows residents to take a photo of a problem and submit requests 24/7, an engagement site to communicate about large projects, and a newsletter system that reaches more than 160,000 email addresses and phone numbers for weekly newsletters and alerts.
Zagluol also said the digital work is intended to support both routine and urgent communications. "If there are critical issues and serious things that we need to get out there to the public, fortunately, due to this new technology, we're able to get that out there very quickly," he said.
As part of the recognition, Zagluol said he received a local-level Changemaker of the Year award from Granicus for his role on the project, which he described as an honor but emphasized it reflected a team effort.
The city did not provide details on costs, contract vendors or a timeline for further digital rollouts in the interview. Zagluol credited Customer Relations Manager Ricky Benjamin by name for leading the 311 improvements and said staff across departments contributed to the effort. The city launched the new website "last year," according to Zagluol.
The interview closed with Zagluol saying the upgrades aim to make services and information easier to find and to increase transparency and resident engagement.
