Porter County government services will soon be easier to access online. The county commissioners Tuesday approved a pair of contracts for additional services from CivicPlus, totaling almost $106,000 over the next three years.
Assistant to the Commissioners Curt Ellis said one of those will give residents online access to county government services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "It's going to make their interaction with county government easier and better. It's going to save them time. I think I've told you this before, that an ungodly amount — over 60 percent of the people, I believe it is — who access our website do it after-hours," Ellis told the commissioners.
The other contract will let Porter County livestream its government meetings. Currently, the county posts meeting videos to YouTube, but not until several hours or even days after they happen.
To allow for the livestreaming, the commissioners also approved more than $127,000 in technology upgrades to the Commissioners' Chambers. Those will include larger video monitors and better presentation capabilities for those attending in person.
"The ability for vendors to be able to come to this table, bring their own device and plug it in instead of relying on somebody on the side table to handle it for them. They'll be able to project sound through the system, instead of just visual," explained ITS Director Lee Childress.
Equipment costs will be paid from Porter County's share of federal American Rescue Plan funds.
