How Baltic's new website is making city info more accessible

This is a paid piece from the Sioux Metro Growth Alliance.

Simplified: The City of Baltic recently launched an updated website with new capabilities and ways to make city information more easily accessible to the public.

Why it matters

• Discussions about the need for a new site started during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic when city officials were looking for a way to share videos of city council meetings, City Administrator Becka Wulf said.
• The new site will have the capability to share recordings of board meetings. It'll also let residents pay their utility bills online, find common city forms, and easily see information on local city events.
• The goal is to make information accessible and user-friendly, Wulf said.

"I think the most important thing this provides is a vehicle to get out information in a timely manner to our citizens," Wulf said.

What are some new features on the site?  

The site has many of the same resources it's always had, Wulf said, but the difference is now those resources are easier to find.

The site's Economic Development page, for example, shares a list of businesses with links to their websites, information on hours, location and contact details.

The city calendar allows people to click on a public meeting and pull up all agendas, meeting minutes and videos of those meetings. (The video feature is coming soon, Wulf said. It's not quite live yet.)

"We really want people to be able to see and experience the meeting without having to physically show up," Wulf said.

Residents can also pay utility bills online, a new feature.

Common city forms are also available, meaning residents won't have to take a trip to City Hall if they need a pet license or need to open a new utilities account.

What happens next?

The site is mostly live, though a few features are still being rolled out, Wulf said.