SAN MARCOS -- City officials are using an interactive survey on their new Web site to boost the amount of two-way communication between City Hall and residents.

City spokeswoman Jenny Peterson said Thursday that the city pays nothing extra for the feature, which lets city officials solicit residents' feedback on any issue.

An initial survey posted on the site for the past couple of months gives residents a chance to share their opinions and ask questions about a proposed property maintenance ordinance that the city is considering.

A survey asking residents whether they would prefer to receive the city's quarterly newsletter electronically rather than through the mail, as they do now, will be next, Peterson said.

Residents have always been able to voice their opinions at City Council or commission workshops and meetings. Letters and e-mails to City Hall are another way for people to tell city officials what they're thinking.

Peterson said city officials see the survey as a way to reach a wider audience, though.

"A lot of people can't make it to a meeting," she said. "But they can go online and share their opinions. And then that information is shared with the decision-makers."

Unveiled in March, the new Web site is hosted by a company that charges San Marcos $200 a month for its services.

The Web site replaced an in-house version whose limitations became a source of concern when a series of wildfires swept through the region in October 2007.

During the emergency, which forced thousands to evacuate, a huge spike in the number of people logging onto the city's Web site in search of fire-related information caused the city server to crash repeatedly.

Moving the site to a professional Web hosting company's server greatly increased the amount of traffic the site can handle without going down, Peterson said. The $200-per-month fee that the city pays for the service includes the survey tool, she added.

"The only cost is staff time to go in and build it, and it's a very easy process," said Peterson, who took on the job in addition to her regular duties. "So I think it's a very cost-effective way of opening two-way communication with our residents."

The city's Student and Neighborhood Relations Commission has been working on the proposed property maintenance ordinance for the last few months. If approved by the City Council, the ordinance would establish minimum appearance and maintenance standards for all types of properties in the city.

Commission meetings and a public workshop on the proposal drew just a handful of residents. The commission asked the city's staff to gather more feedback via an online survey.

Deputy City Manager Lydia Romero, who is overseeing the proposed ordinance's development, said Thursday that about 50 people have logged onto the Web site to weigh in on the issue so far.

The responses have included positive reviews of the proposal, questions about specific aspects of it and notes about potential red flags in the draft ordinance, she said.

The 24/7 nature of online surveys makes them extremely convenient, Romero added.

"I find it helpful because people tend not to like to go to meetings," she said. "And they hear about (the survey option), they read about it in the newspapers, they go onto the Web site, and at their leisure, at night, whenever they decide to do it, they can have a direct link and comment on what government is doing."

Click on "What's New" and then "News" on the city's Web site at city's Web site to find the draft ordinance or take the survey.

Call staff writer Andrea Moss at 760-739-6654.