Tinley Park is logging on and entering the 21st century.
The village is overhauling its Web site, adding modern conveniences we’ve all come to expect and preparing for the future of its municipal cable TV channel.
“We’re trying to get into the 21st century,” Trustee David Seaman said.
It’s a process that’s lagged because of a lack of money and a lack of priorities.
“When I arrived as clerk, I found some things which needed updating,” said Village Clerk Pat Rea, who was appointed to the post last year after the former clerk died. “We were simply not up to speed.”
Plus, there’s the issue of money.
“It’s a financial thing,” Mayor Ed Zabrocki said. “We’re taking it one phase at a time.”
The time has come.
The modernization is set to begin in 2010, and it all begins with credit cards.
Plastic hasn’t been an payment option before in the village.
But now the village is preparing to start accepting credit cards as a form of payment for village licenses, fees and permits.
That convenience will expand online, and residents soon will be able to pay their water bills, the fees for their vehicle stickers and other fees all with the click of a button.
“The way you do in the rest of the world,” Seaman said with a chuckle.
There’s also a plan to overhaul the village’s Web site.
Village marketing director Donna Framke has asked a village board committee for $29,000 to redesign and reorganize the site, which has sat unchanged for nearly a decade.
“There’s so much information on it, and it’s not well-organized,” she said.
Officials know now is the time to catch up because people increasingly rely on and flock to the Internet.
“It’s a window to our community,” he said.
Meanwhile, officials are looking to digitize other village services – everything from reporting nuisances such as potholes to posting more detailed information about village projects and amenities.
The village-run Channel 4 TV station – which the mayor described as “vintage” – also is slated for an upgrade.
The system is updated manually by village employees using technology from the 1980s.
Framke has asked trustees to allocate $26,000 for the installation of a fiber optic line and to update the equipment that controls the station.
It’s a step to prepare for enhanced programming to air and reach a majority of residents in Tinley Park, Framke said.
Funding for the upgrades will be discussed by officials during budget negotiations next month.
Trustees this month already approved allowing credit cards as a form of payment.
Read the original article from SouthTown Star.
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