SALEM — For six weeks, Salem went dark—at least online.
“Welcome to Salem, Connecticut” read the message on the town’s Web site. It was followed by another, less inviting message, “The Town of Salem Web site is temporarily unavailable.”
Now, after remaining shut down for nearly two months, the town’s new, made-over site features rotating, resident-shot photographs of picturesque Salem scenes including old barns, animals grazing in fields, and a snow-covered town hall.
“I love the fact that it kind of links the Web site—the virtual town hall—to the real town hall, where we have all of these great photographs up on the wall,” said First Selectman Bob Ross.
Besides the prominently featured slide-show of town pictures, the site now offers up-to-date event and meeting calendars. There are tabs Web surfers can click on for information that suits them, whether they are visitors, residents, or business owners. Now, each board and commission has its own section where members can post meeting agendas and minutes—a feature that wasn’t available on the previous, volunteer-operated site. The town’s Web site was pulled offline by Ross in October after recent state legislation required municipalities with sites to regularly post those documents.
Users can now also download forms, including license applications, building permits, and marriage certificates.
“This Web site is going to do such a good job of getting information out there for people,” said Robyn McKenney, a selectwoman who oversaw the design of the site. “It’s just one more way people can access information and be a part of things. It’s a real service.”
The site debuted Nov. 17 and it has been so far so good, town officials said.
The site will be updated by town hall employees who were trained by the site’s host and design company, Virtual Town Hall.
A user-friendly, updated town Web site is important for the community, which is making great strides technologically. Earlier this fall, the town has been experimenting with having town meeting participants vote through e-mail. The experiment, called Virtual Town Meeting, is the idea of former First Selectman Peter Sielman, who is developing the project as part of his doctoral work at the University of Connecticut.
A day after the site was taken down, the town held its first real virtual town meeting. Sixteen people voted to approve three issues by e-mailing their votes.
“It’s too bad we had to take the site down for a while,” McKenney said, “but for a little town, I think we have a pretty good commitment to technology.”
By MICHAEL NAUGHTON
Staff Writer