The Massachusetts Municipal Association(MMA) publishes a magazine called Municipal Advocate. The latest issue examines Municipal Web Sites. One article points to 91 communities that have been recognized by the citizens group, Common Cause of Massachusetts, for promoting transparency in Government by posting government records online. Dartmouth is not among them.
Another article details the objectives ...
...that excellent municipal websites strive to achieve. These objectives include informing and empowering citizens, raise the level of government accountability, provide financial and bond market disclosure information, deliver government services more efficiently, encourage communication, and attract business and tourism.
I think that a good website can help Dartmouth with all these objectives. And before you comment about how we just don't have enough people or resources to have an excellent website, let me point out that some of the towns cited by Common Cause are tiny. Becket and Egremont have fewer than 1,800 residents. Local towns recognized by Common Cause, Westport, Lakeville and Carver, hardly have large staffs. In the town of Douglas, Selectman Mitch Cohen uploads meetings to the town website. I think the time required to have a decent website is not that large, what is missing is commitment and the vision to get the most out of the website.
I looked for links to the articles online but did not find them. Sorry I can't give you links.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Town websites lauded (but not ours)
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29 comments:
Transparency has been a serious problem in Dartmouth and continues to be so even with all the claims to the contrary. Questions are asked by the public and the responses given are either defensive, personal attacks, vague statements or answers that have nothing to do with the question posed. Our town leaders have given the impression of being arrogant, beyond reproach and insulted for even being questioned. This attitude has not changed even with the serious problems facing this town and the demand from citizens for answers. Consider this. If you were giving a company your business, would you feel confidence and trust in that company if you could never get a straight answer from them concerning how your money was being used, what the services and products actually cost, if the company was looking for the most efficient ways to spend your money? I certainly wouldn't.
Could we use volunteers to work on Dartmouth's website, or does it have to be an intern from UMD or a Town employee doing this? We are always hearing about getting interns to help out. Maybe someone could do some website work and get some abatement on taxes as a result, if qualified to do so. This should be someone really in need, if that could be identified or maybe that is not legal to do.
How much is the town making use of the residents' skills and experience?
you cant run a town depending on volunteeers for everything. you want a better up to date website , hire someone or a company to do it. Companies budget money for their IT needs but here its an afterthought.
I agree that our website could use a LOT of help.
I do know that Gagne has issued a call to the community for a volunteer to help with it at least 3 times over the last 2 years. No takers.
I also know that part of the last Gen. Gov. override that was passed included a stipend to be offered in exchange for services. The plan was to ask UMD or another school if there was a student interested. I don't know where that stands.
I agree with Bill that if it were deemed a higher priority it would get done in some fashion. I believe that there are too many non-computer folks in our government mix, so the power of computers is not realized on many fronts.
Proof of this is the reams of paper that get produced to disseminate information. When the BRTF asked for data we needed a wheelbarrow to haul it around despite our request to get it electronically. Spreadsheets are a "new fangled invention" in some venues.
I hope they are using both sides of the paper!!! Not to be funny, but I do remember Nathalie Dias mentioning using both sides very early on when cost-saving measures were discussed, as something very easy to do. It surely makes sense, considering the amount of paperwork that is generated and just given out at SB work sessions and meetings alone. It's a small thing, to be sure, but it's a start, and, again, very easy.
Bill, are they using both sides of the paper???
I remember Michael Gagne's asking for help on a few occasions, too, as well as getting an intern, which I thought we had. It's too bad it has not gotten any farther. If inputting information were all it entailed, many people might be interested. I would, but I can't format, so if anything fancy or complicated, or even just minimal formatting, were needed, I'm out. I'm just good at the typing. It's a shame that can't be done by someone in the community, though. It would be a big help to Michael Courville.
I also seem to recall that Michael Gagne said he would type up the Executive Session minutes if that's what they (SB) wanted him to spend his time on, which is obviously not the best use of his time now, and he knows it, but that does not excuse the fact that they were not typed up or put in some readable form for the public at the time they should have been made ready. It's the law that they be made available to the public as soon as everything in the Session has been resolved.
Plus the fact that it will take him time to look for the Executive Session minutes that Diane, Bill, and others have asked for, not to mention the time to copy them and money charged to the person asking for the minutes, to do so for both the look-up and copying, and you know no one will ever get see them, even though MGL requires they be made available under the above circumstances, and even though there are penalties to the town for not doing so, if it were pursued.
I dont think the problem has to do with transparency. I think the problem has to do with lack of personell to get it done. one or two people cant do all the IT required by town hall. we need to spend some money and get another body and updated equipment.
I don't think the problem is lack of transparency OR lack of personnel...it is more the lack of basic computer/typing skills exhibited by town employees. Most middle/upper managers AND administrators these days have these skills, and do not rely upon a secretary or typing pool to create basic documents for them. What a waste!
How many of you here know what it takes to build and maintain a good website? This is not a 5-minute a day task as this requires a trained professional with the time to do it. This is where Bill I find fault with your leadership style in that you perpetuate the notion that this kind of a task shouldn’t be too difficult: “I think the time required to have a decent website is not that large, what is missing is commitment and the vision too get the most out of the website.” Why Bill would you make such a statement? Have you ever built and maintained a website the size of the Town of Dartmouth’s Bill? I have and I know for a fact that to have a decent website it’s a “large” job, requiring time, programming knowledge, some sort of web development software design knowledge, image processing software knowledge, server knowledge, and the list goes on. While technological improvements have made it easier to put up a simple site to host your family photos, a town website to be used as an effective communication tool as Dartmouth’s should be is a far cry from being that simple.
An effective web site also requires a communications plan and a professional to develop and implement it, which yes many towns and cities have, again another important detail you leave out. I seem to recall members of the parent group speaking extensively about the subject to the Select Board at one time, I have seen some of the communications the parents group have created to keep the parents connected. You may not like their message but they have to some extent formed an effective network of communication.
Does anyone know when we are getting a mayor? What happened to this exploration?
Anonymous, My 78 year old mother has built and maintains a website with more functionality and information than the Town of Dartmouth site. She is a retired RN with no special knowledge of programming, image processing, web design, servers, etc. The tools she uses do all of that for her. What she does have is a commitment to helping her far flung family of children (6), and grandchild (13) and various aunts, uncles and cousins stay connected. It took her a while to get started but now the site is kept up to date quite easily. Bulletin boards, pictures, video, discussion threads on gardening, recipes and books, and more.
School Committee member Phil Lenz maintains a website that is more informative and functional than that of the town as well.
While I do not have a website now, I have built and maintained a site for a youth sports program which was updated weekly and sometimes daily.
As I said above, I think what is missing is the vision for what a good website can provide for the residents and a commitment to make it happen. The task is not the problem. It is not technical know how or the time required, it is a lack of understanding of how a website can be integrated into the daily work of the town employees.
I will say it again Mr. Trimble "An effective web site also requires a communications plan and a professional to develop and implement it, which yes many towns and cities have, again another important detail you leave out."
Phil Lenz is a a certified IT and Networks Adminstrator!
So in addition to his full time job, a family and his sc commitments you are assuming he should have time to develop and maintain the town's website? Bill you are wrong that it is manageable by a volunteer. Knowing how this group will nit pik it to death I doubt you will get any volunteers.
He's also the webmaster for the Demellopto.com website.
I have not suggested that volunteers or Mr. Lenz provide a town website. I have advocated integrating the town website into the operation of the town. For example, rather than phoning, emailing, sending memos or what ever is now done to provide public notice of meetings, why not have the responsible clerks just post it to the town website? It would be easier and probably cheaper and certainly more efficient than the current system. And, yes, many towns without IT professionals have websites that provide information to their citizens in a timely manner. Many of our town departments already have and maintain websites outside of the town website. The library, Youth Commission ,police, schools, and harbormaster to name a few. So don't tell me that there is no expertise available to do this. Come on, my 78 year old mother can do it! Some town departments are already doing it!
As you note, "in addition to his full time job, a family and his sc commitments", Mr Lenz has time to provide useful information on a website.
As for paper use, this town produces prodigious quantities of paper that could and should be reduced by transferring information by electronic means. The rest of the world has already done that because it saves money.
I think it is safe to say that Gagne and Icaponi are not computer literate. If they must have an IT person(and they did) at a SB mtg to press a Power Point button...oh well, you get my drift.
Individuals who are in administration and finance should have knowledge in IT. It isn't rocket science. Sometimes though, you just can't teach an old dog new tricks! Aren't there training/educational opportunities that these two could have attended over the years to LEARN IT? As usual, we have to work with people who are not up to the job.
Most of us, to keep our jobs, HAVE to learn to be computer literate, and many of us HAVE to learn certain programs to keep our jobs, as well. There are always other people who are computer literate and willing to learn whatever is necessary to get/keep a job, and are not only willing, but are happy, to step into our shoes if we are not willing to enter the 21st century and protect our job and livelihood by learning what the majority of the rest of the world already knows (including, very young kids, I might add) and that is how to use a computer and use it for the time- and cost-saving tool it is, over and above the information and knowledge it opens up for us.
Just out of curiosity, why do we allow some of our town employees to remain computer illiterate? It's no secret that some are. But no one challenges their lack of knowledge, so time continues to be wasted doing things the "old-fashioned" way.
Those in administrative positions have no excuse to not make use of the technology available to all of us, technology that even young children use. My boss told me I had to attend classes to learn different programs. I had no choice, and I had to travel a distance to do so. If I didn't want to do so, there was always someone waiting in the wings to take over my job.
Apparently, the SB has had no problem allowing this type of inefficiency to continue. How difficult would it be to tell some of these employees that they have to take some classes? After all, doesn't the town pay for these classes?
I would be embarrassed to think the school children know more about the working of a computer than I do, if I were these particular employees. If the school children are learning to use computers, isn't it time the SB tell these employees to do so, as well, and sign them up for some classes? (Maybe they could join the kids in class??)
All kidding aside, this is not a laughing matter. If there are employees who are computer illiterate, there is no excuse for not doing something about it.
Maybe if they learned to use the computer, more work would get done, and done faster, and they could assume some of the computer work they have to have their staff do. And since we are told they are short-handed to begin with, wouldn't it be beneficial to be able to do some of the work they rely on others to do? The work needs doing. I would think they would appreciate being able to do it faster, rather than plodding along, wasting time when there is a far easier way of doing things. Odd way of defining job security in today's world. Usually, today if you remained a dinosaur, you in your job would be extinct and you'd find yourself in the tar pit of the unemployment line.
Of course, getting one project done means moving on to the next one. Maybe we'd be able to get a plan for the town.
Why is our town administrator asking for volunteers? Why not take some courses and then you can do your own job, Mike?
If you ask me, computer knowledge is a must for a town administrator. I think our town is in a time warp!
We need someone who can do the job. It does not take HOURS to update a website once it is up and running. Of course, just like everything else, Mike says he's too busy. I guess he's too busy for his job.
Mr. Trimble since it is so easy that your grandmother has done it and since your counterpart on the School Committee Mr. Lenz has created a wonderfully informative website as a School Committee Member why don't you volunteer as to do the same as a Select Board Member and help out Mr. Gagne with the Town web site? You could make a town blog available as an addition to the town website.
Actually my mother has a family website. I have thought about taking on the town website. I may do it if I can get approval.
I can't believe we are still talking about the town website and a plan for Dartmouth!
The website is a shame. Look at some of the other websites in towns throughout MA. ALL town information is out there for the residents to see.
As far as a plan for Dartmouth, I think it's nice to vote on it, but I thought it was the law. Isn't it stated in the Charter? Also, wasn't a plan one of the first recommendations from the DOR? What are we waiting for, Dartmouth??
Hi Bill,
First ,thanks to everyone for their kind words regarding my website efforts. In response to
Anon 9:58 www.dartmouthspathtothefuture.blogspot.com has been created as a town blog. If you have a question about something or how somethings done or whatever interests you post a question and it can be discussed by ADULTS not this petty bickering that everyone seems to favor. Yes Anon posting will be enabled but dont post anything you dont want you children to read.
Cmon, since when are 12 and under reading this. Be truthful, argue for change.
Every time I hear Phil say, "I'm a webmaster," I think get your ego out of the clouds. Does he have a PHD in IT?
no he doesnt have a phd in IT but unlike most people in town he's using what he knows trying to make a change for the better.And he's not paid to do it. He doesnt have his head in the clouds. Computers and technology is what he does. I dont see anybody doing it except for Phil and Bill.
Phil Lenz is one of the most genuine gentlemen that gives tirelessly of his time for this community. Anon 8:28 maybe you should do something more constructive with your time and instead of complaining about someone working hard for change why don't you offer to help him or Bill. They both are trying to do something constructive by improving communication in the town and while I may not always agree with Bill I applaud any effort in improving and fostering it, as long as it remains a positive exchange of ideas and not degrade into a negative jealous whine as exemplified here by anonymous 8:28
Phil, although I applaud your effort to create a new blog, I have to question your introduction to it here on this blog. Issues have become very emotional on all sides and it has been going on for too long without any indication of possible resolution. I am referring to a very divided town. Some people just feel the need to vent out of frustration so yes, there can be petty bickering but a lot of useful information and ideas have come from Bill's blog. Bill wastes a lot of time addressing some of the comments and comes under attack quite often but his efforts are appreciated. It would be nice if your new blog had only "adult" comments and I wish you luck with that. However some of the petty bickering has led to other thoughts, ideas & perspectives. I know there have been several occasions when Frank Gracie has stepped in to offer factual information when the comments have digressed. His comments are always welcomed and he usually provides us with new information. Bill can't do it all so having additional bloggers is helpful. However, you have to take the good with the bad. Controversy can be a useful tool.
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