Technology to benefit public
Government offices move
for building renovation
From Staff Reports
The construction of the new
County-City Building will continue
to scatter government offices
throughout the city until the project
is done.
■ Oct. 6, the juvenile courts will
move temporarily to Trabert Hall,
11th and South streets.
Between Dec. 15 and Jan. 15,
these public service offices will
move to temporary locations for
about 18 months:
■ Lancaster County Sheriff’s
Office to Gold’s Galleria, 1033 O St.
■County and district courts to
the former federal building, 129 N.
10th St.
■ Drop box for traffic citations
to an undetermined location near
the County-City Building addition
on Ninth Street.
These offices will be perma
nently moved after Jan. 15:
■ Citizen Information Center to
the Consumer Building, Eighth and
K streets.
■ Building permits to the
County-City Building addition.
■ Parking violations and
finance department to the County
City Building addition.
By Joy Ludwig
Staff Reporter
When Lincoln residents have a
complaint or suggestion for the
City Council, soon they all will be
heard.
And when City Council mem
bers want to show the public where
they will annex property or the
area an ordinance will effect, they
will have technology on their side.
As renovations and construc
tion continues at the County-City
Building, officials are planning
new technology in the City
Council chambers to improve com
munication between government
and public.
Other improvements will help
make government run smoother
and cheaper, said Steve Flanders,
manager of the project.
Construction on a new County
City Building, next to the existing
one, started last year, and should
be done by Dec. 1. Renovation on
the existing building, at 555 S. 10th
St., has begun and will continue
through 1999, Lancaster County
Commissioner Larry Hudkins
said.
“The way things are it looks
like the construction is right on
time,” he said. “(Workers) are
making excellent progress.”
The projects are necessary to
keep up with governing Lincoln’s
steadily growing population,
Flanders said. In the 1970s the
population was 168,000; now there
hre 237,000 people, he said.
“We’ve grown, and we have to
provide more services to the public
and hire more people in order to do
that,” he said. ?
-
6i
I really believe
communication, we)
major impr
Pat Sa
City Council public
For example, technology in the
new City Council chambers would
help residents and council mem
bers communicate with each other
easjer and more effectively, said
Pat Saldana, public information
officer and Citizen Information
Center manager.
“I really believe in terms of
public communication, we’re
going to see some major improve
ments,” she said.
Some technology, such as wire
less microphones for audience
members, will help meet the
Americans with Disabilities Act
requirement that says every person
must be given the necessary acces
sible equipment to be heard.
In the existing chambers,
there’s no easy way for someone in
a wheelchair to get to the podium
and use the public address system
without assistance. Someone else
has to bend the microphone, and,
in some cases, it still may not reach
the speaker in a wheelchair.Other
audio and video equipment also
will enhance presentations. For
example, a video presenter in the
chamber can make maps, video
tapes or three-dimensional items
into video signals, then transmit
them onto television monitors
mounted on the ceilings and on the
council members’ table, she said.
in terms of public
-e going to see some
ovements.”
LDANA
information officer
Right now, she said there is not
even a videocassette recorder in
the chamber, so officials have to
get one from other rooms.
Another welcomed addition,
Saldana said, will be the capability
to use a Geographic Information
System to call up maps of city
streets and zoning areas and trans
fer the images onto the television
monitors.
In the past, she said, officials
have brought in large maps, laid
out the changes on top of them and
presented them from easels behind
the council members’ table.
Council members have to move
during the presentation so the
audience members can see.
“However, if you’re sitting in
the back of the room and some
one’s presenting from a large map,
you can’t see a thing,” Saldana
said.
With the new system, she said,
maps still can be brought in but
three television cameras connected
to the television media center can
focus on the maps so everyone can
see easily.
Saldana said the public meeting
room near the council chamber
will provide extra space when the
council expects a crowd for special
Please see COUNCIL on 12
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