By CANDI HIGLEY

Spanish Fork Press

Thanks to many valuable resources like the Spanish Fork Community Network and Channel 17, Spanish Fork has been listed as one of the World’s top “Intelligent Communities” by the Intelligent Community Forum for the second year in a row.

The International group picks cities from around the world that have helped to better serve their residents and businesses by using broadband technology.

The Spanish Fork Community Network or SFCN has been in Spanish Fork for several years. This valuable resource has allowed residents and businesses to access the internet and use the resources that they find there.

The city has also utilized Channel 17 to provide broadcasts of community events and to bring the community information by broadcasting live City meetings. The city has also recently developed “The HUB,” which is an online complaint and request tracking system. They have also created an online bill pay partnership which will allow residents to have 24-hour access to their utility bills and payments and will allow them to monitor their account from anywhere in the world with Internet access. The system will also store 12 months of account history and will allow residents to track their utility usage and compare it to the prior year to help residents better manage their expenses.

The city is also preparing future online services which will include recreation signups and many other services.

Twenty-one other cities were listed with Spanish Fork and they include: Adel Georgia, Burlington Ontario Canada, Cleveland Ohio, Dubai City UAE, Evora Portugal, Fredericton New Brunswick Canada, Gangnam, Seoul Korea, Ichikawa Japan, London England, Manchester England, Melbourne Australia, Monmouth Illinois, Nunavut Canada, Ottawa Ontario Canada, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Sudbury Ontario Canada, Taipei Taiwan, Tinajin China, Vasteras Sweden and Waterloo Ontario Canada.

This group of cities will be narrowed to seven in January and the finalists will then compete to be named “The Intelligent Community of the Year.”

This story appeared in Spanish Fork Press on page A4.