Marion County website is online
Whether you've lived in Marion County for ten years or ten days, a new website may be the place to learn even more about your home.
Just point your Internet browser toward www.marioncountyks.org.
This new website has been in the works for quite some time by the Marion County Economic Development Council, a group with representatives from each of Marion County's cities and towns.
The site features an extensive amount of information, ranging from schools to businesses to a variety of area maps. It also has an event calendar, to which people can submit information.
Florence resident Rick Burcky is the website designer. For the past two years, Burcky has maintained an unofficial site for the Florence area (www.florenceweb.net). That site also features links and information for many other towns in the county.
The economic council approached Burcky in August with the proposal of a countywide website, Burcky said.
He jumped at the chance. "I love doing websites," Burcky said.
The challenge of the site wasn't the designing — it was gathering the massive amounts of information from many different places and putting into one location, Burcky said.
He got his information from many sources, from county tourism brochures to Kansas magazine. The economic council also submitted information.
"It was about half and half," Burcky said.
Throughout the planning process, Burcky met on a regular basis with council members Steve Garrett of Hillsboro, Joanna Brazil of Peabody, Margo Yates of Marion, and Sara Cope of Burns. The group was able to guide the website into the direction the council wanted.
Burcky is being paid by the economic council to maintain the site. He works full-time for the City of Florence, he said.
The website can serve many purposes, Burcky said. For people looking to visit the area or even more here, it can provide practical information.
But longtime county residents might also learn some things they didn't know before, he said.
Burcky welcomes information from the public that could be shared on the website, such as calendar events.
"I want as much information as possible," he said.
To contact Burcky, e-mail support@florenceweb.net.
