Ready, Set, Click
The Town Website Committee met for the last time before launch on Tuesday 20 Jan 09. At this meeting, a punch list of finishing touches was developed and a launch date of next Friday 30 Jan 09 was established. This effort represents a big step in open and accessible town government, and has been developed with the full support of Council with the goal of informing town residents, existing and potential business, and visitors with the activities, public meetings and information, and amenities that are available within the Town. The Website Committee is comprised of two Town Staff Members (Adam Carpenetti and Nichole Hair), one Citizen Member (Kim Weitkamp), Mayor Ballengee and myself. The Committee and the Council realize that the new website is a living project; a plan and commitment is in place to see that the website is not only maintained with current and useful information, but continues to grow. A few highlights of the new website are as follows:
1. Pulldown Menus for 'Living In', 'Doing Business In', and 'Visiting' Christiansburg
2. Town Code, Comprehensive Plan, and Budget (Town Code is being reviewed and updated by end of 2009)
3. Community Calendar (Public Meetings, Recreation, Emergency Services, etc.)
4. E-Notifications (on-line registration for citizens to be notified of a variety of activities)
5. Wide variety of downloadable documents, forms, applications, etc.
6. Meeting Agendas and Minutes for Council and Planning Commission
The effort to reach next week's launch date has been significant, and by this time in 2010 it is likely that the amount of information available will double. The point here is that a website is never really "complete" since it should always be evolving and becoming more useful, but at this time we should celebrate the step of progress that this represents for the Town.
Brad Stipes
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Reader Comments (9)
One of the great links I found about municipal websites can be found here: http://govdelivery.com/blog/2008/12/5-considerations-when-choosing.html.
I wish we had seen it before we redid our site. Maybe this will help you guys some!
Looking forward to the new site!
How about video web cast of the town meetings? Set up a video recording device to record the PC and TC meetings then post them on the town's website.
Lisa - Thanks. I'm passing this along for use as a group reference. As you can see we're pretty much down the chute for launch but this provides some good ideas for the future.
Jaba - This would take action by council and to date has not been discussed much. I've heard a lot about the website over the years and the need for a facelift, but not so much about this. Guess we'll gauge the next step together as a community.
Would you feel comfortable with having video footage of council meetings posted on the Towns offical website?
Jaba -
Am I comfortable with video? Yes.
Do I feel strongly about this at present, enough so to vigorously advocate it (costs, production, etc)? No.
Would I support others who felt strongly about it and had a good plan for doing so? Yes.
Congratulation on the launch of the website. Now, we're going to count on you to keep it alive:) What a lot of citizens won't understand is that websites are not stagnant. They take on a life of their own and require virtually constant monitoring to keep things up to date. I think it is great that you accomplished what you did in as short a time as you had to work with. Sure, I got one up quickly, but I didn't have bureaucracy to deal with. I didn't have about a 100 egos to deal with. I didn't have to deal with people who really aren't yet comfortable with computers and the the internet. While I had a few hurdles, I was basically on my own to set up and go. Thankfully, you do have resources I didn't have. My $39 scanner from Big Lots required that I had to scan each page individually which was really time consuming. Just having documents and forms available on your website, should streamline the processes involved and save tax money.
This is a great start and, if maintained and grown, will be a real asset to the town. Thanks for your persistence. Don't let up the pressure! Kudos to all the staff that helped you put the package together.
Carol - Thanks. Credit rightfully goes to a significant group of town staff that worked hard on this from within; I would certainly offend if I tried to name them all but they know who they are and that they are appreciated. The Website Committee knows there is still a lot of work to be done and that the site requires perpetual care. An ongoing maintenance program is in place to see that this is done.
On an aside, Council approved $40K for website development plus $6K/yr ($500/mo) for maintenance. The town paid CivicPlus just under $29K for website development assistance; add to that monthly website hosting charges, some additional hourly efforts over the last three months to populate the site, and some last-minute advertising that is being done to get the word out, and I believe the total project cost is still less than $35K.
Hold Up. The website is better, but it lacks information as well as being aniquated when you consider
the technology available . It is way behind in comparision to other comprobale websites. Taxpayers deserve a modern , interactive , and informtive website
for the many dollars spent on this project.
I think praise should be given when we, ( if we ever do),
get a modern website with up to date information.
Rinky Dink -
Thanks for taking time to comment. Please be more specific with your suggestions, and we'll take these into account.