Boone County Commissioners Launch ‘Living In Boone County’ Website
February 2022
The Boone County commissioners have launched a comprehensive website with the purpose of encouraging residents of all six communities within the county to engage in dialogue with the commissioners and county government department heads. “Living In Boone County” serves as a repository for credible and timely information on a myriad of topics and projects that county’s leadership is actively working on.
The topics that are posted on the Living In Boone County website and respective social media platforms are current and relevant to the county’s taxpayers. And the commissioners wish to use this user-friendly website as a place to create open dialogue and to seek input from the county’s residents and business owners. The official boonecounty.in.gov is independent of the livinginboonecounty.com site and is still operating as the county’s reference and resource site with county departments’ and government offices’ functions and operations listed on that site.
Drilling Deeper Into the Functions of Boone County Government
There are dedicated tabs on the Living In Boone County website that highlight the various areas of government and interest that impact the overall quality of life for residents of the county. One can seek detailed information on projects and topics related to public health, public safety, county infrastructure, county departments and on the proposed justice center.
“I think what Living In Boone County does is it really communicates the significance and the contributions that Boone County government makes to the overall quality of life,” Commissioner Tom Santelli stated. “We are growing as a county, and we want to help people understand the importance and the impact the county government has on local businesses and daily lives. We build the infrastructure that attracts organizations such as the Little League and other major developments that have located within Boone County. In the last seven years, we’ve added billions of dollars of new opportunities and new developments. All of the county’s leadership, such as the commissioners, the sheriff, the judges, the prosecutor, community corrections, the coroner, etc., have a dramatic impact on the quality of life.”
Santelli added, “When I sit down with somebody for a couple of hours, they say, ‘We just didn’t know of the importance and the impact.’ So, communicating that so that people can be involved, so that we can get their ideas is important and is the purpose of Living In Boone County. And it adds another level of transparency and comfort that the residents and business owners can walk away with.”
Visitors of Living In Boone County will be able to drill deeper into a topic or a project that is being managed by commissioners and/or other elected and appointed county officials. Boone County Commissioner and President of the County Commissioners Jeff Wolfe shared his thoughts on the purpose of Living In Boone County.
“The commissioners have a goal when we go to a public meeting or when we go to an event that somebody doesn’t walk up to us and say, ‘We had no idea what you were doing.’” Wolfe said. “We want to get rid of that doubt that the public has as to what’s happening behind the scenes. Because we want to be transparent. We want to put information right in front of everybody and say, ‘This is what we’re working on.’ We want people to understand why we make the decisions that we’re making to push the community forward. And I think reassuring the county that we’re not hiding anything from them is key. We want you to know what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and how much money we’re spending to do it. We want you to be a part of it and for you to know that we are wide open to your questions and your input. I think a lot of what happens with public relations is that it becomes a defensive tool, and I don’t want it to be a defensive tool. I want Living In Boone County to be a source of open dialogue with the Boone County community.”
There are Q&A sections of the website that are posted and updated that reflect some of the community’s questions that have been submitted to the commissioners over the last several weeks, and there is an opportunity under the “Contact Us” page where folks can leave a question that will be answered by one of commissioners or respective department head, and a response will be provided in a timely manner.
Additionally, under the public health, public safety and infrastructure tabs on the website, folks can read about resources that are available in the areas of behavioral health for adults and youth, substance abuse and addiction disorders, pandemic-related information from the Boone County Health Department, child advocacy, infrastructure projects for buildings, roads and bridges, and so much more.
Be sure to check out the website at livinginboonecounty.com and follow Living In Boone County on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates on county projects and related topics.
Writer:
Janelle Morrison
Photography:
Submitted