Want to check on job openings with the City of San Antonio, adopt a pet, or teach your children fire safety skills? All these City services and more are now available with the click of your mouse on the City's Internet website.

Another initiative is coming soon to a shopping mall near you. The Community Link Kiosk Project is the first of its kind in the country to offer the ability to pay for City services with a credit card while also offering access to City information and to the Internet with the touch of a button.

Four kiosks will soon be online to the City network and will provide City services, some of which previously required a trip downtown when payment was required. Using your credit card, you will be able to pay traffic fines, parking tickets or even buy a garage sale permit. The kiosks will be located in North Star Mall, Ingram Park Mall, South Park Mall and Windsor Park Mall. Current plans call for adding more City services and several more kiosks over the next two years.

The multimedia kiosks use touch-screen technology and a laser printer to provide copies of screen displays and documents. A separate receipt printer provides documentation for your credit card transaction. Access to the City Home Page and to other City web pages is available, although no access is provided to links not on the City webserver and no e-mail service is provided.

The City's Internet pages, produced by more than two dozen webmasters, reflect a wide variety of web-page building styles yet they all share the common goal of extending City services via the internet to empower the public.

The City of San Antonio started its website in 1995 when the new Central Library opened with enhanced computer support. The first home page featuring the Central Library even had a picture. Two years later, the City site has grown to serve as an information source, feedback mechanism and service delivery vehicle for the Mayor, City Council and almost all 34 City departments.

Each of the City's departments have a different "corporate culture' reflected in its pages, from the wooden board background used by Building Inspections to the soft green for Parks and Recreation, and the "Mission Impossible" music played by the Fire Department.

The pages are brought together by the Information Services Department, the City's computer, telephone, radio, communication network department. ISD also provides the directory pages listing all departments and services, including the home pages for the Mayor and City Council. The weekly City Council Agenda is also offered on this page.

City Hall News is published by the Office of Community Relations and is designed to keep San Antonio web surfers informed about what's going on in their local government. The website, which is updated weekly, includes recent news releases from the Public Information Office, a television guide to Channel 21, the City's government access channel, a community newsletter as well as information on the City's latest fiscal budget and a number of interesting features on City issues and services.

If you know someone planning a visit to San Antonio or a group holding a convention, check out the Convention & Visitors Bureau site. There you will find information on the Alamo, the Riverwalk and other popular tourist attractions. The site also offers details on things to see and do, upcoming events, a golf guide, lodging and much more.

For people on the go, the Police Department offers a minute-by-minute traffic accident report taken directly from 911 calls. This page automatically refreshes every two minutes and is so current you can sometimes see the same accident reported more than once until the dispatcher determines that only one accident has occurred.

Fire safety education offered on the Fire Department site can start as soon as your little one can use a mouse. Sparky the fire dog and Dare L. Dragon provide word games and coloring pictures to print while teaching lifesaving messages. Adults can find pictures of old fires and firefighting apparatus as well as an interesting history of the Fire Department in San Antonio. The Final Alarm link provides a fine audio, poetic and visual tribute to those firefighters that have fallen in the line of duty.

Businesses may be interested in the bid list for upcoming City purchases or an application to be added to the list of vendors notified by the City when relevant bids are issued. This application, like many City forms, is not suitable for electronic submission since it requires a signature. However, many forms are available for printing from the department pages. Mail or fax can save a trip downtown.

Job applications fall into the same category but you can find all the job openings and specifications at the Human Resources site. Application forms will soon be available for printing.

If you want to know what the City Code says about junk vehicles, look at the Code Compliance page, or for any part of the City Code, see the link on the home page to search the database maintained as part of the City's codification contract.

One of the newest and most innovative sites is the Animal Adoption page from the Health Department. You can actually shop online for your next pet by looking at the pictures and information displayed on available adoptees.

The Public Library not only began the City's home page, its staff maintains one of the richest sites. From the Library's home page, you can telnet to the "card" catalog and find an available copy of the latest John Grisham novel. The Youthwired page is put together by young adults using a grant from Microsoft and the American Library Association. This is an on-going project for which your teen-ager may be eligible.

If you know someone without Internet access, send them to any branch of the San Antonio Public Library where they will find public access computers available to search the Library databases or surf the Internet.

The City of San Antonio will continue to look for ways to use computer technology to maximize customer service as we move into the 21st century.

Nancy Dean is the Assistant Information Systems Service Manager for the City of San Antonio and a member of Alamo PC.