As noted, the $40,000 +/- revamped website for the Town of Christiansburg did meet its latest revised launch date of Jan. 30. To paraphrase Apollo 11 Neil Armstrong's arrival on the moon, this is one small step yet one giant leap is still before council. The renovated site represents a lot of work completed thus far, and remaining to be done.
To briefly recap Christiansburg's foray on the world-wide web, council had a minimalist presence since the late 90's (the internet became a primary public tool by late 1994 and we are located where an abundance of cutting-edge research, technology, interns, students and professors are readily available). The employee who created it moved on, with several others subsequently hired to maintain it who could not or did not. Over time this position's responsibilities expanded or shifted to focus on other duties, and the website became more and more obsolete. Concurrently, no one was dedicated to maintaining the website's content, while quite a bit of money was allocated for various system upgrades.
When adopting the fiscal year 2007-2008 town budget (FY 08-09), council put down $10,000 to upgrade the website. Seven months later, in December 2007, council voted to allocate a total of $35,000 to $40,000 (paid over multiple fiscal years), and budgeted annual maintenance costs of $6,000 from here to infinity for a targeted launch of Summer 2008.
Five months later, May 2008, the consultant had been selected and start up was promised within four to six months (September to November). The final launch date was determined Jan. 20 and the new website was unveiled Jan. 30, 2009 (only six months after the initial target). As with any renovation, the scope of the job grew more apparent once it was started.
When considering spending tens of thousands of dollars for this renovation, council was told "the amount of content is not a key factor in the cost...cost is based on creativity, utility, and ease of use."
This professional website is promised to "enhance the Town and the businesses that are presently located here." An effective website "allows citizens to readily access and download information to do business with the Town," with indications by economic development and tourism experts that 90% of all initial contacts come via website visits.
It was reported there was "unanimous interest" (presumably vis-a-vis council input and/or the five member web committee because no community surveys were conducted) for online bill-pay and other financial transactions. The new website is expected to be capable of supporting this type of functionality at some future point at "little or no extra cost" provided the Town's already purchased accounting software has been installed and upgraded. A plan and commitment to ensure the website is "not only maintained with current and useful information, but continues to grow" is stated on another blog, but not yet detailed on the town's own site or at council meetings.
Check out and sign-up for the "Notify Me" feature to receive either Public Meeting Notices or Parks & Recreation announcements (the one published notice for the rec department is for a boy's sporting event scheduled for August 2010 and their previous web presence for the brochure takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to load now). You may also sign up for "Emergency Notifications" from the Police Department or submit "ideas" for making the website better.
Spend some time exploring, and do sign up for alerts and send in ideas. Let us know, too, if you think this is one small step or a giant leap for the Town of Christiansburg.