LYNWOOD'S NEW E-GOVERNMENT SYSTEM PROVIDES CUSTOMIZED 24/7 WEB ACCESS TO THE PUBLIC

SAN DIEGO, CA, April 12, 2002 -- A Southern California City has joined the ranks of the few advanced local governments offering transactional services through their websites. The City of Lynwood, located in southern Los Angeles County, has implemented RequestPartner, an online service request system from GovPartner.

Lynwood's Mayor, Arturo Reyes, explained that "by implementing this web-enabled software system we will improve the City's internal efficiency and also provide 24/7 access to our residents and anyone doing business with the City."

The City will debut the system on its website (www.lynwood.ca.us) in May, offering the following features and benefits for city officials and the public:

Personal Accounts: The public can establish personal accounts with their unique user-name and password to avoid entering routine contact information when submitting a request. They can also use this personal account to log on to the city website and check for up-to-the-minute updates on action taken to respond to their requests.
Automatic Responses: The new system will automatically send a personalized email to anyone who enters a request through the website and provides an email address. Staff can also send emails to the public through RequestPartner, and auto-print detailed response letters for anyone who would like a response but does not have access to an email account.
Powerful reports for city management: Routine or custom reports can be created in seconds to assist city officials with planning, budgeting and managing resources and personnel.
Website information management: Non IT-staff can quickly and easily update or edit information on the city's website, including creation of custom web-forms linked to a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section.

"Our new online service request system will allow us to better manage requests from the public - not to mention the added value of improved service via the Internet," said Lynwood's City Manager, Faustin Gonzales. "Although our community is not among those with the highest rate of Internet connected homes and businesses, we know that the numbers will continue to rise and are now ready to lead those we serve into doing business with the City online to save them time and money."

"We have found that the most important element for a successful e-Government program is leadership from the top officials," concludes GovPartner President Jon Rodriguez. "Lynwood is a perfect example of a local government becoming an e-Government model thanks to leadership from a forward-looking city council and management team."

About the City of Lynwood

The City of Lynwood is located in the southeast part of Los Angeles County. Lynwood is home to St. Francis Hospital, a Regional Justice Center, and Helen Grace Chocolates. The City was incorporated in 1921 and is home to more than 70,000 residents, as well businesses and large industrial operations.

The City has been awarded the All-America City and City Livability Awards. Lynwood is one of the first cities in California to offer an online service request system with transactional capabilities and the ability for the public to create personal accounts to track the status of their requests. For more information, please call Autra Adams or visit www.lynwood.ca.us.

About GovPartner

GovPartner is a leading provider of e-Government solutions for cities, counties and special district government agencies. An affiliate company of Berryman & Henigar, Inc., GovPartner also works in partnership with the City of Sunnyvale and Microsoft Corporation.

Among GovPartner's offerings are various web-enabled software systems, including PermitPartner™ (online permitting), RequestPartner™ (online service requests) and ReservePartner™ (online parks and recreation) - all available through a hosted model. GovPartner also provides a powerful workflow management system, CommunityDevelopmentPartner™, which interacts with the online transactional systems. For more information, please call 888.256.5777 or visit www.govpartner.com).

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