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<p style="font-weight:bold; display: inline; line-height:150%; font-size: 115%;">P.O. BOX 6015 <br />COLUMBIA, MO 65205</p></div>
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<p style="font-size: 150%; font-weight: bold;">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</p>
<p style="font-size: 120%; margin-top: -5px; font-weight:bold;">December 4, 2020</p>
<p style="float:right; font-weight:bold; margin-bottom: 25px; font-size: 100%; text-align:right;">CONTACT: Brian Adkisson
<br />Communications and Creative Services Manager
<br />Community Relations
<br />City of Columbia
<br />Brian.Adkisson@CoMo.gov
<br />573.874.7330</p>
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<div style="font-size: 110%; line-height:150%;"><h1 style="clear:both; margin-top: 75px; margin-bottom: 10px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 130%;">Columbia named as Digital Cities Survey winner for sixth year</h1>
<div class="content"><span style="padding-left: 50px;">(COLUMBIA, MO)</span> - <p style="display:inline;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">For the sixth year, the City of Columbia was named in the Digital Cities Survey top 10 by the Center for Digital Government (CDG), claiming third place in the 75,000 - 124,999 population category. Now in its 20th year, the annual survey recognizes cities using technology to tackle pandemic response while continuing strategic initiatives to enhance services. <br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The survey selected national leaders in the top 12 characteristics of a Digital City: leadership alignment, citizen-centric, cybersecurity, data governance/transparency, data driven government, IT investment, sustainability, resilience, staff/supported, continuous innovation, connected infrastructure and business process alignment<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Innovative cities are utilizing technology and analy
zing data to better serve their citizens, respond quickly to citizen needs around COVID-19, and support digital experience initiatives," said Phil Bertolini, co-director, CDG. "The Center for Digital Government congratulates this year’s winners for their hard work and their efforts to use technology to enhance citizen interactions with government."<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the announcement CDG noted:</span></p>
<div style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Third-place Columbia, Missouri, is adapting to accommodate citizen needs in the area of mobile communications, already having provided digital access to business licenses and permits as well as building and site development, with several other citizen engagement enhancements underway. One project is the new 311 service, which will allow citizens to report common issues through a website or mobile app. That 311 system is part of a larger effort to centralize all citywide mobile applications into one solution. The final product will facilitate two-way digital communication with citizens with common requests for information. The city has surveyed its constituents for input on design and layout modifications to best suit their needs.<br /><br /></span></div>
<div style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Citizens are known to prefer text messaging and the city has provided court system reminders via text message as well as updates from the Office of Sustainability. The city has also deployed contact tracing software with text messaging capabilities and is implementing this functionality to increase the speed and accuracy of contact tracing to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.</span></div>
<span style="font-weight: 400;"><br />"It is a great honor to be selected for this award for the sixth year running," Chief Information Officer Jim Chapdelaine said. "We have made great strides in moving the City forward with our digital transformation. I am proud of our team for their focus on these important initiatives. The support we receive from our city manager and department directors has been tremendous and we are very much appreciative of their efforts, as well, to lead in digitizing our city."<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute focused on technology policy and best practices in state and local government. CDG is a division of e.Republic, the nation’s only media and research company focused exclusively on state and local government and education. <br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The survey honors cities in five population classifications: 500,00
0 or more, 250,000 to 499,999; 125,000 to 249,999; 75,000 to 124,999 and fewer than 75,000.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-top: 15px; margin-bottom: 20px; text-align:center;"><p>City of Columbia Vision<br>
<em>Columbia is the best place for everyone to live, work, learn and play.</em></p>
<p>City of Columbia Mission<br>
<em>To serve the public through democratic, transparent and efficient government.</em></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;">-30-</p>
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