From the campaign through the first two years of his term, Warren County Commissioner Jeff Eggleston has kept a focus on the Warren County website.

On Tuesday, the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP) recognized Eggleston’s efforts and the website by awarding it its “Excellence in Websites Award.”

The award was created to “honor counties for outstanding communication, internal and external, through the use of innovative website design and practices,” according to the CCAP application.

Website development was a priority for Eggleston and his fellow commissioners coming into office, Eggleston said.

“As a professional web developer prior to coming into office, it was clear that website and social media development would be a focus in this term,” Eggleston said. “It seemed straightforward to me. I’ve built comparable sites for larger organizations, so the notion of saving money and offering my services was a no-brainer.”

In redeveloping the site, Eggleston focused on: greater levels of accessibility for mobile devices and people with disabilities; making more data available; greater department connectivity; increased transparency; improved access to open records; easier access to voting data; a comprehensive calendar system; social media integration; and job posting and promotion.

Vendor quotes for a new website reached past $10,000, he said. He built the site on personal time over six months in 2016. “The final website did not cost the county a cent in development costs.”

“Aside from the monetary savings due to the internal development of this site, the county has also seen a decrease in foot traffic in some of its departments,” he said. “The community’s increased access to information, most notably in the assessment department… has reduced requests for data at the courthouse. This has left more time for county assessors to handle their core responsibilities, rather than answering routine questions and researching data for users.”

At the CCAP annual conference Tuesday in Erie, CCAP President Harlan Shober, Washington County commissioner, presented the award to Eggleston and Warren County Chief Clerk Pam Matve.

“I hold this organization in high regard,” Eggleston said of CCAP. “They’ve taught me so much in the past year-and-a-half and their insights are incredibly valuable. They are top-of-the-line. To get any award from CCAP is a great honor.”