What's on your Web site?
Common Cause grades the towns
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

On a scale of six Ashburnham received a perfect score, Townsend a two, Ashby a one and Westminster a zero

That six earned Ashburnham recognition from Common Cause of Massachusetts for their Web site awards. This is the third time the organization has reviewed municipal Web sites for their content and this is the first time Ashburnham has received a perfect score.

"I am very grateful that the department heads and the committees are really using the Web," Ashburnham Town Administrator Kevin Paicos said.

He said over the course of the past 18 months the town has become more technologically engaged. Town employees now have their own e-mail addresses as well as Internet hook-ups.

There is a move for department heads to put copies of commonly requested forms up on the site as well as other information, Paicos said. The information from committee meetings to their minutes are submitted to the Webmaster, Ken Dolder, who then puts everything online.

Common Cause looked for six pieces of information to appear on town Web sites on a regular basis, including meeting agendas and the minutes from those meetings.

Townsend's earned marks for posting selectmen agendas and the general bylaws.

Ashby received their single point for having the same information posted.

Others categories including postings for the town budget, town meeting warrants and town meeting results.

Townsend's Town Administrator Greg Barnes said his town's site is run by two volunteers and has experienced major upgrades in the last two years. He said they understand Common Cause's critique but noted the town meeting warrant goes up as the election approaches.

"We have plans to add to the site," he said.

Barnes added there is important information on the site that wasn't judged by Common Cause, such as contact phone numbers for town employees, frequently used forms, and a new payment option for some town bills.

Westminster Town Coordinator Karen Murphy said they are fully aware the town Web site lacks information, but adds that now that the town offices are all on the Internet and a single network, the site will improve.

"We realize it's an area that we really have to improve," she said. "We recognize that it is the first place people start to look for information."

The town is switching to an in-house designer instead of a contractor.

"We're restructuring the whole thing," she said. "We're really pushing the departments to determine what forms they want to have online."

Wilson said her group wants towns to realize Web sites can be like a library - a continual resource for information - instead of simply a bulletin board where information goes up and then comes off.

"Its function isn't just to alert people but to inform them about things in the past," she said.

Ashby's Web site includes the town reports, but Wilson said that information, especially the budget data, is two years old and is not as helpful as this year's budget would be to residents.

"It is still somewhat perplexing why a community would have a Web site and not have any information on there," Wilson said.

She said once the Web site is set up it is a simple process to add information to it.

Common Cause plans to review municipal Web sites for the same set of information every March. Wilson hopes that they can add more stars to their list.

The Web is the way of the present, she said.

"The information can be accessed 24- 7 and in the privacy of a resident's own house, which means they don't have to be embarrassed to ask the question or to even have to put themselves out thre.

"No one has to know when you are building up your base of information," she said. "(The W e b s i t e ) p r o - v i d e s a real resource for citizens."

The sites do not have to be graphically orientated or even very high-tech for them to score the needed points.

The Ashburnham site is "a basic Web site. It's not fancy," Wilson said.

Other communities can "have incredible Web sites but have no information on them," and these sites would not score well.

"We believe the more information that is out there the more likely people are to get involved," she said.