Carbondale’s government may get a new address that would make it more accessible to citizens, a Carbondale official says. City government offices would not move to a new location in town, though.

Lou Morgan, deputy finance director, said he submitted a plan to City Manager Jeff Doherty examining the benefits of Carbondale getting a home page address on the Internet.

Both Doherty and Morgan said the possibilities are endless as far as placing information on the Internet about Carbondale. But they say the primary reason is to make city government more accessible.

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Doherty said citizens with access to the Internet could e-mail city government with their concerns, eliminating a back log of phone messages. He said city officials would receive their messages, and citizens would know their messages were received, instead of waiting for a phone call to be returned.

Morgan said he sees a lot of opportunities for Carbondale on the Internet. This could make city government more accessible and bring exposure of Carbondale to people all over the world who are surfing the Internet, he said.

Morgan said the exposure on the Internet could attract visitors to Carbondale or those wanting to move to the city.

Doherty said the service will be simple at first.

We are looking at placing (basic) information about Carbondale on the Internet, he said. Also, we would set up e-mail addresses for city workers.

Doherty also said the city would be interested in placing a link on the SIUC home page. He said those looking at SIUC as a place to come to school would be able to learn about the city, as well as the University.

Morgan said any funding required for the home page would come from existing funds, not from new taxes.

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Morgan said there are possibilities of other pages containing Carbondale’s services that could join the Carbondale home page in the future. He said he did not know what other city services would be interested at this time.

Debbie Moore, Carbondale Convention and Tourism Bureau director, said the Illinois Bureau of Tourism is going online in March. She said the Internet site will have every tourism attraction in Illinois represented, including Carbondale’s Tourism Bureau. She said the Bureau’s page would provide a link to Carbondale’s city government page if the city page goes online.

Doherty said he is looking at other cities that have gone online. He said he and Morgan are going to make final decisions soon.