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Post by admin on Dec 25, 2008 8:37:45 GMT -5
www.app.com/article/20081225/COMMUNITY/812250359/1285/LOCAL09By Kim Predham • Staff Writer • December 25, 2008 FREEHOLD — The borough's new Web site could be done within months, say volunteers involved in the effort. "It's still on track," Brian Sullivan, chairman of the Community Information Committee, said last week. "We can't wait to get it finished." Revamping the borough's Web site, www. freeholdboro.org, has been a main priority for the committee, which Sullivan said has been working on the project for nearly a year. The site will "definitely" be finished by the spring, says Sullivan. Committee members want the site to better showcase Freehold's attributes, to be updated more frequently, and to include more information about the various entities in town, including the school district, the Police Department and the various boards and committees, Sullivan said. The site likely will have an events calendar and meeting agendas. Sullivan also has plans for e-mail alerts to keep the community informed, he said. He also wants borough administrators and agencies to have greater access to the site so they can post information online more quickly. "Right now, our current site is a great source of information," said Sullivan. But, he said, "You want a Web site to sell your product." Borough Councilman Jaye Sims, liasion to the committee, says he also would like to see municipal ordinances uploaded to the new site for the public's convenience. "If someone wants to look something up, they can do it from the comfort of their own home," Sims said. Committee members have taken inspiration from several different government Web sites, including those for Morris County, Frenchtown in Hunterdon County and Freehold Township, Sullivan said. Rutgers University's Center for Government Services recognized Freehold Township's Web site as the best in the state in 2003, 2006 and 2007, according to the township's public information officer, Patricia Hopkins. The Web site development has been a completely volunteer effort. In addition to the committee, Freehold Township resident Bruce Posner has been creating the site for free, Sullivan said. Alongside the Web site, the committee also has been working on a resident resource packet, which will include much of the same information featured on the Web site. It could be ready by next month, Sims said, and in the future, Sullivan hopes to post the packet online for download.
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Post by admin on Dec 28, 2008 11:12:38 GMT -5
www.app.com/article/20081225/COMMUNITY/812250359/1285/LOCAL09?GID=INFb9jg2aGwdXlqlPkBd0zXNVb59kKNM7W7cyGJLvuo%3DThis has got to be a joke. On track? It has been 14 months!
Anyway, I hope it is worth the wait regardless of when the site is unveiled.
12/26/2008 11:18:28 AM The above quote comes from a reader of the APP site. Usually I do not respond to or address nonsense from other sites, but I do believe this person is a former participant of this one, and provides a nice start for discussion. That person is also a staunch supporter of the Dems ( nothing wrong with that) so I have to wonder if my name weren't attached to the article, would she have taken that shot? Reading that persons former posts here as well as what she put on the APP, one can see a history of taking shots at the GOP and especially Miller. ( again, nothing wrong with that, all are entitled to their views) For start, it has not been fourteen months. Yes, it has taken the CIC far longer than intended in getting this site up. The article states by spring, we hope much sooner. The CIC is far more interested in putting together a good product for the town. We would rather take the time to ensure something that is good and not done in haste. As the article mentions, it is an all volunteer project. None of this will cost the tax payers a single cent. Naturally, a project like that is going to take a bit of time. Besides the above, we certainly ran into a couple of bumps in getting the site up. I will not go into those details, but if they were outlined the author of that post would look that much more foolish. The CIC does wish the site were up by now, but some things are out of our control. The APP article hit upon some of the goals of the new site. One thing to be clear, it will be a very different municipal site. The APP mentioned some towns we looked at, but the new FB site will look very different, yet still have quality information on it. The current site is very good for some basic information. The CIC will build on that foundation. As mentioned, the site has to be able to sell the town, something the current one does not do. The current site is very static, meaning there is little in the way of changes from month to month. ( It took forever just to get Jaye Sims picture up there!) The new site will be far more fluid. A visitor can check in one day and go back to it weeks or a month later and find new information. People will want to go back to see what is happening. The new site will also be more of an umbrella of the town. The current one deals with what is inside borough hall, the new one will be looking outside of borough hall as well. Also not mentioned in the article is the addition of meeting minutes and agendas. We hope that will include all committees, not just he council. One of the goals of the new site is to give all of the committees more exposure. We are also happy with the addition of the email alerts that can be sent out. The above is just a nice summary of what is to come. The new site will bring us into the 21st century and have a lot more to it. I am glad the resident Resource Packet was mentioned. That has been the sister project to the site. It is a reality that many people do not have internet access, or choose to go on line very much. The packet will help those people out. It will also be a good tool for new residents. In our research, we found other towns are doing the same. Again, we are playing catch up. In gathering the information for the packet we also gained a lot of much needed information for the new site. What ever we gather, if it is not in the packet, it will be o the site. The CIC looks very forward to unveiling these projects in the very near future. We have a number of other projects that we are anxious to get into, but will wait until these projects are completed. Although progress may appear slow, there is a lot of energy and camaraderie on the CIC. A lot of work has gone into these and other projects. There will be plenty more coming in the new year.
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Post by novillero on Dec 28, 2008 18:31:02 GMT -5
I did not read the comments on that site, but that very thought did go through my head...
Anyway, like you said, it's all volunteer, which means that people do it when they are able. Of course, many people would have wished the turn around to be a matter of weeks, but that isn't realistic either.
I like the e-mail alerts, that will be a very good feature.
Also, the anticipation of putting up the ordinances. I do not know why we just don't have a third party site display the ordinances, unless there is some cost involved.
Lastly, the other feature of the site should include minutes of meetings. Biran mentioned that in his response, but was not specific. Is that going to happen, or is that something that the committee would like to happen?
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Post by admin on Dec 29, 2008 18:06:47 GMT -5
I did not read the comments on that site, but that very thought did go through my head... Anyway, like you said, it's all volunteer, which means that people do it when they are able. Of course, many people would have wished the turn around to be a matter of weeks, but that isn't realistic either. Believe me, Novillero, nobody is more sensitive to how slow this project has been than the CIC. The very first quote from me in the article is that we can't wait to get it done. That is no exaggeration! But we will do it right. AS mentioned, there are a number of reasons/setbacks we had. I purposely did not air them out because I do not want to play blame game or drag it down. We are moving ahead and have the highest hopes of providing a good product for the town we serve. Another interesting perspective on CIC. As mentioned, we really did some research on a number of things. One thing we found out is that many governing entities have communications/public relations offices. They are filled with paid staff. The CIC is doing mostly the same thing on a volunteer level. In a town that is not wealthy, I can only hope that residents can appreciate the value in that. Same thing with the web site. The town could blow a nice bundle on it, but we are avoiding that. Another bonus to the volunteers on CIC, they re all very dedicated to this town. In a sense a paid person is more of a mercenary. We have a vested interest. The groups serving on CIC is a very upbeat and caring bunch. Some of them serve on multiple boards. And I have to say, Jaye Sims has been more than a council rep who just shows up. He is really into the CIC and very much a part of the team. So Novillero, I can say with pleasure that the CIC is something your tax dollars are not paying for. Not a bad deal? |
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Post by novillero on May 22, 2009 8:22:27 GMT -5
I did not read the comments on that site, but that very thought did go through my head... Anyway, like you said, it's all volunteer, which means that people do it when they are able. Of course, many people would have wished the turn around to be a matter of weeks, but that isn't realistic either. Believe me, Novillero, nobody is more sensitive to how slow this project has been than the CIC. The very first quote from me in the article is that we can't wait to get it done. That is no exaggeration! But we will do it right. AS mentioned, there are a number of reasons/setbacks we had. I purposely did not air them out because I do not want to play blame game or drag it down. We are moving ahead and have the highest hopes of providing a good product for the town we serve. Another interesting perspective on CIC. As mentioned, we really did some research on a number of things. One thing we found out is that many governing entities have communications/public relations offices. They are filled with paid staff. The CIC is doing mostly the same thing on a volunteer level. In a town that is not wealthy, I can only hope that residents can appreciate the value in that. Same thing with the web site. The town could blow a nice bundle on it, but we are avoiding that. Another bonus to the volunteers on CIC, they re all very dedicated to this town. In a sense a paid person is more of a mercenary. We have a vested interest. The groups serving on CIC is a very upbeat and caring bunch. Some of them serve on multiple boards. And I have to say, Jaye Sims has been more than a council rep who just shows up. He is really into the CIC and very much a part of the team. So Novillero, I can say with pleasure that the CIC is something your tax dollars are not paying for. Not a bad deal? any news on the website, particularly alerts or minutes, agendas, budgets... maybe the CIC should wait until the campaign season starts and then council can take credit for it then. |
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Post by admin on May 22, 2009 19:17:07 GMT -5
Believe me, Novillero, nobody is more sensitive to how slow this project has been than the CIC. The very first quote from me in the article is that we can't wait to get it done. That is no exaggeration! But we will do it right. AS mentioned, there are a number of reasons/setbacks we had. I purposely did not air them out because I do not want to play blame game or drag it down. We are moving ahead and have the highest hopes of providing a good product for the town we serve. Another interesting perspective on CIC. As mentioned, we really did some research on a number of things. One thing we found out is that many governing entities have communications/public relations offices. They are filled with paid staff. The CIC is doing mostly the same thing on a volunteer level. In a town that is not wealthy, I can only hope that residents can appreciate the value in that. Same thing with the web site. The town could blow a nice bundle on it, but we are avoiding that. Another bonus to the volunteers on CIC, they re all very dedicated to this town. In a sense a paid person is more of a mercenary. We have a vested interest. The groups serving on CIC is a very upbeat and caring bunch. Some of them serve on multiple boards. And I have to say, Jaye Sims has been more than a council rep who just shows up. He is really into the CIC and very much a part of the team. So Novillero, I can say with pleasure that the CIC is something your tax dollars are not paying for. Not a bad deal? any news on the website, particularly alerts or minutes, agendas, budgets... maybe the CIC should wait until the campaign season starts and then council can take credit for it then. Yes, the site is still being worked on. This sucker has been a real bear. At this point, it is mostly in my hands. I take full blame in this lengthy delay. It has not been an easy task. We are not just building a new site, but tearing down an old one. There had been a lot of work in rearranging and setting the site up so that it meets our needs and is very user friendly. The site also came with several bugs that we are working out. My big problem right now is time in front of the computer. I have very little believe it or not. We are picking up a new CIC member who I hope will also be of help. Surprisingly, most current CIC members are not very tech savvy, including me. That is why we are somewhat taking time, to do it right the first time. On the positive side, not long ago I was in borough hall showing an employee how to use the site and what it can do. That means we are getting there. We have few more things to work out so that we have it where we want it. Putting the actual information into the site is very easy. It is the admin functions that have to be worked out. The employee I was working with really liked it. If I provided the link and people saw it, you could easily identify it as a Freehold Borough site and see the potential it will have. |
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