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Hart County (GA)

www.hartcountyga.org

Hart County, Georgia, an area about one hour from Atlanta which has been experiencing double-digit growth, offers comprehensive data for businesses as well as residents on its new website. 

Named after Nancy Hart, a Revolutionary War heroine, the county is also the site of the Cherokee Nation's Center of the World, commemorated by a roadside monument.  With its rich history, 222 miles of shoreline around man-made Lake Hartwell and the Savannah River, and active civic and arts life, Hart County is now a popular tourism and recreational destination as well as a thriving center for economic development.

The website is quite extensive compared with the sites of other counties of similar size, organizing an almost overwhelming amount of information within pages devoted to its commission, boards, authorities and departments, including extensive archives of meeting minutes. In contrast with the conventional practice of listing departments in a convenient sidebar, the departmental websites are accessible primarily by clicking on links in a color-coded organizational chart.

The county's interest in economic development is evidenced by links scattered throughout the home page to downtown development and main street revitalization projects, the county's first comprehensive plan, land use maps, statistics, a new recreation center and baseball field, and contractor bidding opportunities.

This is clearly a fine, up-to-date, working website, but is primarily designed for one-way communication. Those who wish to use the net to contact government officials 24/7 will find it a bit frustrating.  The only e-mail link on the home page is to its webmaster's e-mail address, not to the County Administrator or Commissioners. The directory, accessible from each page, provides phone numbers of key departments, but no names, e-mail addresses or even links to the departmental web pages.  The latter do, in fact, have an e-mail address for the top departmental official, but that is three clicks down in the hierarchy.

As long as we are being critical of this otherwise exemplary site, we might add that we find the visual noise in the background distracting and unnecessary.  The attractive page design can stand on its own, thank you very much, without the little gray pinstripes all over its white space!