San Marino has officially cut ties with “.org” in its website and email addresses to comply with state Assembly Bill 1637, which requires local government entities to obtain a “.gov” domain.
All website links and email addresses are now streamlined under the new domain, redirecting people to the same online resources so that access remains uninterrupted.
The change to “.gov” enhances the city’s commitment to security, compliance and official recognition.
The city encourages community members to edit their city contacts and update their saved website bookmarks on their internet browsers.
Making the transition to the new domain was a discussion City Manager Philippe Eskandar said was being had with the City Council since he arrived in San Marino to fulfill his role back in July 2023.
“It has gone off without a hitch and no noticeable disruptions to our community due to the great behind-the-scenes efforts of our staff and information technology vendors,” Eskandar told the Tribune, as he reflected on the arduous journey taken to reach this point.
Beyond being required by law, this shift is a “great step forward in our service delivery to the community,” Eskander said.
“We now have one domain (@SanMarinoCA.gov) that anyone can use when emailing us or visiting our website; whereas before this transition, we had several different domain addresses depending on which city department you were trying to contact,” he said.
The domain “.gov makes it easier to interact with your government, as well as introduces a host of new security measures to protect the continuity of government operations that are vital to our service delivery. As we look for ways to effectively implement the policies of the City Council, we are constantly looking to leverage technology to streamline operations with minimal impact to our expenditures,” Eskander said.
He also noted that the safety aspect of making the domain more secure is a move that will likely keep the city from online harm in the future.
“Where many cities have entire departments of information technology staff, San Marino has no city staff focused solely on our information technology needs,” Eskandar said. “However, with nearly 150 employees in full- and part-time capacities operating a multimillion-dollar public service agency, it’s critical that we make investments in our information technology needs to safeguard the service delivery of our vital functions, such as police, fire and public works; reduce the potential for threats to our systems; and modernize our practices to be a high-performance service provider.”
The city manager also thanked the City Council for being a cheerleader of the domain switch.
“Our City Council does a great job of supporting these efforts while challenging staff to look for ways to accomplish all of this in a fiscally prudent manner to safeguard our future,” Eskandar said.
The city website is now SanMarinoCA.gov. For more information, contact the city manager’s office at CityManagerOffice@SanMarinoCA.gov or call (626) 300-0788.
First published in the March 21 issue of the San Marino Tribune
