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Town of Lynnfield Launches New Website
On behalf of the Board of Selectmen I am pleased to announce a new and significantly improved website for the Town of Lynnfield. Coupled with the new site design, functionality that will allow residents to stay informed on Town News and Board and Commission agendas by a new email subscription service has been added. Interested parties can visit the site, choose the topics they are most interested in and enter their email address to begin receiving updates by email. By getting more and more people to use the information and services that are available on our website, we believe that we will be able to handle the ever increasing volume of phone calls and requests for services that both state and federal mandates are forcing on local governments.
According to independent research, more than 60% of the US population is currently connected to the Internet using high speed broadband connections, and more citizens than ever before prefer to get their "non-sensitive" government information themselves rather than picking up the phone or visiting Town Hall. In its continuing efforts to provide better citizen services and contain costs, the Town has embarked on an aggressive plan to provide more and more services electronically where possible, thereby giving existing staff more time to deal with the more complex services for citizens.
The new site includes a calendar of public meetings, minutes of past meetings, and information on each department along with more downloadable forms for doing business with the Town. We have also revamped the navigation in order to make that information easier to find. Links to the most frequently visited pages will be prominently displayed on the home page rather than forcing visitors to navigate through the site, not knowing which department provides a service or form.
In addition to the new site design and content, we are pleased to announce a new video streaming service. In the very near future, citizens local and remote, will be able to watch the Board of Selectmen and School Committee meetings via their Internet connection and will be able to review past meetings that have been archived and indexed to the Boards’ agendas. This indexing functionality will make it possible for viewers to watch on their computers at home just that section of the meeting that meets their specific interest.
Virtual Town hall, a Maine based company with offices in Maynard Mass, provided the site design and development, along with navigation guidance based on over 10 years of experience with municipal websites. Virtual Town Hall is one of the leaders in municipal websites nationwide with over 220 clients in 13 states, including Massachusetts.
"We are firm believers in an open approach to government", said Randy Perry, President of Virtual Town Hall. "A town's website is open to the public 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our philosophy, with few exceptions, is any information, form or service you can get at Town Hall should be available to the public from your website. By making that information available, you are instantly increasing the productivity of Town staff, while better informing the public of where their tax dollars are being spent."
We hope you enjoy our new website. From time to time, I will be posting comments on this “Blog” concerning town affairs. These posts will be aimed to inform the public of important issues being addressed by your elected and appointed officials. You can also subscribe to this Blog and receive my posts via e-mail. You can also comment on these postings or raise other issues by e-mailing me at william-gustus@town.lynnfield.ma.us.
Thanks,
Bill Gustus
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