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Wednesday, December 07, 2016

NorCo Web Page Flop Fixed

Yesterday, I gave you a rather scathing critique of Northampton County's new webpage. It must have hit a nerve because a number of changes have been made.
  • Photographs of three Lehigh County businesses were running as part of a photo slideshow at the top of the homepage. They have been removed and replaced with photos of three Northampton County businesses. I have no problem with regionalization, but a county website should focus on its own businesses. 
  • There now is a direct link, from the home page, for online payment of real estate taxes, as well as fines and costs in criminal matters.
  • There now is a direct link, from the home page, to Northampton County's underutilized mapping.
  • There now is a direct link, from the home page, to Northampton County Council meeting videos.
  • There now is a direct link, from the home page, to the courts' webpage.
  • You can now search for opinions from the courts' web page.      
Was that so hard?

One of the biggest mistakes this county makes is that it consistently fails to seek input from the people on the front lines. John Callahan called this "continuous improvement" when he ran for Executive. John Brown claimed that he would implement it as well, but has instead imposed a top-down approach, in which people who are here temporarily presume they know how the wheels of government turn. Even worse, Brown has at times relied on government by consultant instead of just speaking to the people in the trenches.

You won't find them at the Pomfret Club.

There is no direct link for custody petitions and that's most likely because none of these so-called experts understand.
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7 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 7, 2016 at 7:59 AM

    Hopefully this mess will discontinue after next year elections. This crew of incompetents must be removed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 7, 2016 at 8:32 AM

    So, I clicked on over to the New and Improved! web site to check out the direct link to "Electronic Payments for Current Northampton County Real Estate Taxes". Why is the fee "... the service provider, charges a 3% convenience fee for payment processing which will be added to your transaction amount." a percent? This is a transaction with a fixed cost to the service provider. The Service Provider does not do any more work for a large payment than for a small payment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Agent 99December 7, 2016 at 9:02 AM

    Thank you, Bernie . . . obviously your blog is being read by the powers that be.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bernie O'HareDecember 7, 2016 at 9:21 AM

    " the service provider, charges a 3% convenience fee "

    I agree that a 3% "convenience" fee on a tax bill is obscene. I could see a small amount to defray processing costs and make a slight profit, but charging three per cent is theft. The county does not exist to make banks richer and this should be examined.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bernie O'HareDecember 7, 2016 at 9:38 AM

    "Thank you, Bernie . . . obviously your blog is being read by the powers that be."

    Except Seth Vaughn. He claims nobody reads it and that he will be re-elected and "Who cares?" if he misses the most important meeting of the year.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousDecember 7, 2016 at 9:51 AM

    Time to vote Brown the clown out! And some of his cronies on council too!

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousDecember 8, 2016 at 6:19 PM

    Amen to that. Only one more year

    ReplyDelete

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