Residents can look forward to a new town website by Sept. 15, according to Selectman Leo Blair. Blair expects the development of the website to proceed in three stages: implementation of the basic website by mid-September; the addition of e-mail capability sometime later; and the eventual addition of streaming video.
After Annual Town Meeting approved funds for the project, Town Administrator Tim Bragan, Finance Director Lorraine Leonard, and Blair met with Millard Rose, the head of website developer Virtual Town Hall, to set the project in motion. Blair noted that several residents who have web expertise have volunteered to help plan the architecture of the site. He hopes to establish a committee of three residents to work with Virtual Town Hall.
The full use of the website will require coordination with the Cable Committee, Blair said. He explained that the committee is considering the purchase of a digital encoder so video operators can index videos even as they are being made. Later, those who view videos through the town website will be able to go directly to any indexed topic from a meeting.
