Innovative IT projects reap honors

Some of government's best technology innovations got kudos Monday from the National League of Cities' technology division.

Public Technology Inc., announced the winners in its 1999 Technology Achievement Awards, called Solutions. The organization created the annual honors to encourage and honor innovation in local government.

The winners are:

* Smart Permit: San Carlos and six other San Francisco Bay area communities won first place among small jurisdictions for their online permit program. People can apply for permits online using a program developed by the participating communities.

* Information Technology Consortium: Hampton, Va., organized an information technology group in which IT directors from neighboring communities meet monthly to share information and collaborate on projects.

* Public Access Initiatives: Fairfax County, Va., developed initiatives to bring government to the people. It installed information kiosks and interactive voice response units and turned the county World Wide Web site into a place to transact business.

Taking honorable mention are: San Diego's traffic collision reporting system; New York City's emergency operations center; Gaithersburg, Md.'s, Web site and the city's idea to use college students to man its help desk; Tuscon, Ariz.'s sustainable master-planned community; and the Poudre Fire Authority in Fort Collins, Colo., for its time-saving Web-based system for organizing the inspections process.

PTI will honor the award-winners at the organization's annual conference April 6-8 in Denver.