Fayetteville was named a top 10 American digital city by the Center for Digital Governments and Digital Communities Program in early November.

Fayetteville is ranked 7th overall in cities with the population range from 30,000 to 74,999, according to the Digital Communities website.

“The highest-ranking cities in the survey showed great strides in consolidating and enabling shared services, government transparency and communications interoperability,” said Todd Sander, director of Digital Communities.

Among the city’s digital strengths is Access Fayetteville, the city’s official website, which has been transformed in recent years, said Don Marr, chief of staff.

When Mayor Lioneld Jordan was elected, transition teams were formed and one of those teams focused on things that they would like to see the city do in terms of improving communication and its interaction with the public, Marr said.

The website was one of the city’s first focuses, he said.

“We wanted this to be a portal into our city and not just as a means to get information out,” Marr said.

Public input was critical in determining changes to the website, Marr said.

The site became more visually appealing and allowed citizens to watch government meetings, get updates on road construction and crime data, and use many other interactive features, he said.

The city also has begun to  use social media more effectively, said Julie McQuade, community outreach coordinator

“Things that are put onto the website are immediately fed to Twitter and Facebook,” McQuade said.

McQuade also helped build a new website called Community Link that allows citizens to sign up to volunteer in the community or post about volunteer events, she said.

“The Community Link website allows users to contribute ideas in pretty much anyway you can imagine,” McQuade said.

“It is the citizens’ government,” Marr said.

Another focus of the city was to eliminate the amount of paper that was used in daily government processes, Marr said.

“We’ve tried to look at it holistically. How many times does a human touch something? How many pieces of paper do we use, and how do we automate it?” Marr said.

Now, city workers can request time online. Residents can pay their utility bill, complete paperwork and fill out city job applications, Marr said.

Residents are able also to pay for parking on Dickson Street by their phone if they sign up for the pay-by-phone application, Marr said. The system alerts users when time is running out on their parking space, and they can add more time by simply using their cell phone, he said. City officials also has installed cameras at traffic lights so that the lights are not on a timer where someone is waiting at the light for a long period of time with no other cars around, Marr said.

“We aren’t focused on technology because of an award. It’s a great measuring stick, but we are focused on the citizen,” Marr said.