Lackawanna County’s Information Technology Department has done it again!!
The IT division has received national recognition two years running for both its innovative use of technology and for disseminating information about the programs and services offered by Lackawanna County. The award is from the Center for Digital Government and the Digital Communities Program – a division of parent company e.Republic.
According to Commissioners Jim Wansacz, Corey D. O’Brien and Patrick M. O’Malley, Lackawanna County finished fifth in the 150,000 – 249,999 population category of the Digital Counties survey.
The Commissioners noted that this is a great honor to be a 2012 survey winner, and it also recognized the staff’s strategic use of funds by “doing more with less.”
“This is great news for us,” said Commissioner Jim Wansacz. “It shows the ingenuity and talent of our staff in putting out a good product on the internet for all to see and maintaining and advancing the technology in-house in a cost effective manner.”
“We have had some great breakthroughs in the IT department and this award substantiates it,” explained Commissioner Corey D. O’Brien. “Jeff Mando and his staff has done more with less and saved taxpayers a great deal. The online records and wireless availability in both county buildings and on courthouse square are tremendous developments.”
“This is great news. It is also very important for us to have advanced IT amenities for serving the public and selling our area to prospects that are looking to invest here,” said Commissioner Patrick M. O’Malley. “These types of accolades let people and companies know that Lackawanna County has the cutting edge infrastructure to compete for new jobs, company relocations and sophisticated computing opportunities.”
“It’s an honor being recognized as one of the best nationally, but, more importantly, it’s wonderful to see that Counties all over the United States are working hard towards one goal, to advance technology and make things better for generations to come, ” said Jeff Mando, Director of Information Technology. “I’m proud to just be a part of it.”
Each year, the Center for Digital Government in association with the National Association of Counties (NACo) research and recognize the top ten counties nationally for being the most advanced and innovative in the field of information and communication technology.
While the competition gets tougher each year, Lackawanna County shows no signs of letting-up. This year’s Digital Counties Survey focused on ICT policies and social inclusion programs. Lackawanna County demonstrated advancements in the areas of public records availability, wireless technology, financial awareness, social media, and its creative use of virtualization. The County also showed progress over last year’s achievements, utilized innovative solutions, and revealed a commitment to collaboration within and outside the organization.
As noted, Lackawanna County placed fifth this year nationally, competing against thousands of other counties of the same size in the mainland USA national category.
Counties are evaluated independently on different criteria than the previous year. Mr. Mando noted that many of Lackawanna County’s innovations have served as “models” for other areas to emulate, making the competition tougher.
This year’s 10 th annual survey was underwritten by Computer Discount Warehouse Government (CDWG), Symantec, Quest Software, Cisco and Motorola.
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