The City of Danville has been named by the Center for Digital Government as one of the top cities with populations up to 75,000 for its use of technology.
In its 2019 Digital Cities Survey, the center ranked Danville second in its population size group – directly behind the City of Weston, Fla. Now in its 19th year, the annual survey recognizes cities making smart investments in technologies from infrastructure and citizen engagement to data storage and cybersecurity.
“We are honored to be recognized as a Digital Cities Survey winner,” Inez Rodenburg, Director of Information Technology for the City of Danville, said Tuesday. “This prestigious award recognizes the advancements in technology the City has made over the past year.”
In that time, the City’s information technology team has completed several projects, including new crime dashboards for police, a branded mobile app, a metrics dashboard for performance management and interdepartmental collaboration, and an upgraded VoIP communications system.
Citizen-centric practices have focused on improving government experience through connected applications, mobility, and open data. The City provides a portfolio of applications to help build citizen engagement, including GIS-based story maps, the Danville VA mobile app, the City’s budget visualization tool, the City’s Social Media Hub, and the City’s Geographic Data Hub.
Currently, the staff is working on setting up a one-stop-shop permitting portal for residents that will integrate with its enterprise resource planning system, as well as researching smart city opportunities such as camera analytics to publish downtown’s real-time parking availability to the public.
Rodenburg said the technology enhancements lean on effective collaboration with other organizations.
“Through successful collaboration efforts with Smart Cville, Averett University, and the Southern Piedmont Technology Council, the City has been able to leverage resources and ideas to help foster technology advancements,” Rodenburg said.
Teri Takai, executive director for the Center for Digital Government, said this year’s Digital Cities winners are working to make their communities more secure, user-friendly, efficient, and resilient.
“Their efforts are making technology a driver of better, smarter, more responsive government,” Takai said.
The survey honors cities in five population classifications: 500,000 or more, 250,000 to 499,999; 125,000 to 249,999; 75,000 to 124,999 and fewer than 75,000. The City of Norfolk ranked first in cities with populations of 125,000 to 249,999. The City of Lynchburg ranked first in the group with populations of 75,000 to 124,999.
The cities of Alexandria and Virginia Beach also were ranked in the top-10 in their population sizes.
The top-10 ranked cities will be honored Thursday at an awards dinner during the National League of Cities’ annual conference in San Antonio, Texas.
About the Center for Digital Government: The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute focused on information technology policies and best practices in state and local governments. CDG is a division of e.Republic, the nation’s only media and research company focused exclusively on state and local government and education.