The administration of Harford County Executive Barry Glassman announced it has won a 2016 Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties for its public notification system Track-it, a development activity tracker incorporated into the county website.
"Track-it is an enhanced system of public notification created by the Harford County Department of Planning & Zoning under County Executive Barry Glassman to keep citizens informed and engaged in the local development process," the administration stated in a news release. "The Track-it application was internally conceived, designed, and developed using existing hardware, software, and staff to dramatically improve service delivery for citizens without adding to the county budget."
The nonprofit NACo has over 3,000 county governments as members and recognizes innovations in county government through its annual achievement awards program, the administration said. The organization will hold its annual meeting July 22-25 in Long Beach, Calif., hosted by Los Angeles County.
To improve transparency and public access to information, the county Department of Planning & Zoning in March of 2015 implemented Track-it, a simple, intuitive web-based application featuring an interactive map of Harford County with tabbed pages displaying each of the three types of development meetings: Community Input Meetings (CIM), Board of Appeals Hearings (BOA), and Development Advisory Committee Meetings (DAC).
By law, many types of development in Harford County are subject to a public hearing or public meeting. To inform the public, the county is required to post signs on proposed development sites that includes a description of the project and the public meeting date, time, and location.
"This antiquated notification system had significant shortcomings," the Harford administration news release states, noting that signs posted on-site were often difficult or impossible to read from a vehicle and that many sites lack a safe stopping point. The signs offered limited information, meaning anyone seeking project details had to call or visit county offices during business hours, requiring assistance from county staff.
The sign notification system also offered "no comprehensive view of development activity countywide."
Prior to the 2015 roll-out of Track-it, on-site signs were redesigned, simplified, and color-coded to match the tabbed pages of the new web application. The new signs prominently display the Track-it web address www.harfordcountymd.gov/trackit for additional project information from the convenience of a computer, tablet or smartphone.
From the Track-it webpage, selecting an individual project icon provides information such as the meeting date, time and location, contact persons and a project summary. Related project documents from the county's digital document archive, such as plans, approvals and meeting summaries are now directly linked to the Track-it application. Documents can be viewed and printed from the Internet.
According to the county administration, Track-it drew more than 14,000 users in its first year, "and has shown multiple measurable results including improved customer service; reduced staff time responding to constituent queries; reduced reproduction costs for associated documents and enhanced participation in public meetings. Feedback from citizens and the development community has been overwhelmingly positive."
"Using technology to improve transparency and customer service is a cornerstone of my administration and I would like to thank NACo for this important recognition," Glassman said in a statement. "I am also very proud of my Planning & Zoning Director Brad Killian and his team for developing Track-it. Thanks to their efforts, Harford County citizens are empowered to become well-informed and engaged in local planning and development."