Streamline Blog

Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District had wanted an internal staff site for years, but when the COVID-19 pandemic occurred it became critical that they tackle the project right away. They were used to being closely connected and celebrating accomplishments, and wanted a way to continue doing those important things during the stay-at-home orders. The district spans three different work sites, has employees who work remotely around the clock, and had closed their offices to the public. Yet in spite of these challenges, the district was determined to find a way to collaborate remotely and support the great culture they had built over the years.

In 2019, wildfires across the west coast brought attention to local fire departments and districts, putting a spotlight on outreach and effective communication to protect the public. A local Oregon district, Philomath Fire and Rescue, responded immediately, and made the push to upgrade their technology to accommodate these fast-paced and growing needs. The district understood that a key part of making this successful was to make sure their internal team was working efficiently to show the public that they are operating on all cylinders.

I want to share a story from the Carmel Area Wastewater District - a story that highlights the amazing work special districts do behind the scenes, as well as the great job they’ve done sharing critical information with the public during the covid crisis.

Twain Harte CSD plays a big role in their community by providing a variety of essential services, however finding an efficient way to communicate with the public wasn’t always easy. While they had a website built by consultants on a free platform, it was so challenging to use that no one at the district could make changes. The result was only the most basic information was posted, the formatting was always a mess, and website usage suffered. This was particularly painful during emergency events, like droughts and wildfires, when staff were then required to handle a large number of phone calls and walk-in inquiries, host community meetings, and send costly mailers.

Streamline is the only company in the world building online tools just for special districts. Why is that?

Learning technology can be such a long and dedicated process that it’s easy to assume everyone has the same knowledge you do. Things that a lot of techy folks think are basic might in fact be known by only a lucky few. From things like shortcuts that make browsing the internet easier, to how to select and manipulate large amounts of files at once, to “hidden” computing features like copy/paste. These tricks and tips aren’t obvious, but are really helpful for technology users to know.

We just finished up our second quarterly Streamline Live! webinar, where we announced some exciting new products and handed out quarantine-themed customer awards. We also held a mock public meeting (wearing ridiculous wigs, of course) to try and decide which remote meeting option was best for our imaginary district.