Poughkeepsie… Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro announced the County’s Office of Central and Information Services (OCIS) has rolled out the Arlington Fire District’s enhanced website, AFD.org, the latest in a series of partnerships the County has entered with local municipalities to save costs by sharing services. The new website, which went live in December, features a consolidated calendar, which includes listings for public meetings, fire prevention, safety and events; a “Maps and Directions” function for fire stations; and the ability for residents to listen to audio from public board meetings. The site is fully responsive to work with smartphones, tablets and other devices. The new website is one of several components of a long-term, multi-faceted shared-services agreement between Dutchess County Government and the Arlington Fire District.
County Executive Molinaro said, “Dutchess County is proud to have partnered with the Arlington Fire District to create a state-of-the-art website for residents and local businesses to utilize. Projects like this, in which Dutchess County Government partners with surrounding communities to share our expertise and resources, not only provides residents enhanced services, but also save taxpayers money. Between the hosted infrastructure, onsite support services, hosting and support of the new website, this partnership is projected to save taxpayers in the Arlington Fire District some $20,000 annually over the next five years. We are pleased to partner with Chief Tory Gallante and the Board of Fire Commissioners to deliver a better product to residents and save them money at the same time.”
As part of the district’s five-year plan agreement with the County, OCIS began the transition of infrastructure and website redevelopment in 2015. OCIS now hosts the infrastructure, eliminating the need for the district to replace aging servers and network Internet equipment. OCIS will also supply on-site operational support and support at all four of the districts’ fire stations, strategic planning services, and other information technology (IT) services, as needed to improve operations.
OCIS Commissioner Timothy E. Mahler said, “I thank my dedicated OCIS staff members for their hard work, resulting in a new hosted computer infrastructure and the new enhanced website in which the Arlington Fire District and the taxpayers it protects are better served and can take pride. OCIS personnel has fulfilled County Executive Molinaro’s mission to consolidate government while making it work smarter and more efficiently to the benefit of taxpayers. The success of this partnership with the Arlington Fire District should be encouraging to other local municipalities looking to partner with Dutchess County on similar joint ventures.”
Arlington Fire District Chief Tory Gallante said, “Dutchess County’s OCIS has done a tremendous job designing, hosting and maintaining such a fine website, which residents and first responders alike can easily navigate to obtain pertinent information. I commend County Executive Molinaro for his commitment to his shared-services initiative which can benefit many agencies around Dutchess County – not only fire districts – and provide taxpayers significant savings. I thank Dutchess County for its innovative shared-services program, and I recommend other offices in our neighboring communities explore the enhanced services and tax relief it can offer them.”
Earlier this year, OCIS’s efforts were nationally recognized, as Digital Counties Survey once again ranked Dutchess County Government second in the country for its use of information and communications technology, for counties with population size between 250,000-499,999. The annual survey, conducted by the Center for Digital Government (CDG) and the National Association of Counties (NACo), recognizes the nation’s best examples of technology use to improve services and boost efficiencies to better serve residents. Dutchess County is only one of two counties in the country to consistently rank in the nation’s top 10 for each of the past 12 years.
More information about Dutchess County’s Shared Services Initiatives is available here.