Some of our towns need to update their websites

This week I went back to reading, “The New Digital Age: Reshaping The Future of People, Nations and Businesses,” by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen. I started reading the book in April 2016, then set it aside. But every time I’d write about internet benefits to rural Maine, I’d think of intriguing ideas discovered in “The New Digital Age.”

I’ve written before about establishing internet networks in Piscataquis County. But before I get too far ahead of myself, I thought I’d look at websites already available in Piscataquis.

Municipal web sites ought to have the most appeal among Piscataquis residents, non-residents interested in visiting, recreating, researching genealogy, and people interested in doing business in the county. Taxes, licenses, property deeds, courts, police and fire departments, schools, voter registration — these essentials should be part of municipal websites.

This column is not a critique of these websites. These are my observations, which likely mirror observations of other visitors — residents and non-residents — to these websites.

I began my search on the Piscataquis County website itself. Then, using the Piscataquis County website’s list, I visited all of the Piscataquis municipal sites. I was looking for a few specifics. Are the websites:

Current?
User-friendly? That is, easy to find what I’m looking for, such as a name, phone number, email address if I have questions?
Designed for easy use with smartphones and tablets?

Each of those criteria are standard for websites built today — including free blogs offered by WordPress.com and other companies.

By far, the Three Rivers Community (TRC) websites created by the towns of Atkinson, Bowerbank, Brownville, LaGrange, Lake View, Medford, Milo, and Sebec are the county’s best. In their own words, “TRC was founded 20 years ago, and has grown in many directions to suit the needs of our communities. We have local news, a community calendar, local town offices, local organization pages, community event information, and live local webcams!”

The people maintaining the TRC sites do a splendid job. Everything appears current. All of the various directories offered — businesses, organizations, services — include nice photos, contact info, and direct links to these places. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to each TRC web site, including the discovery of new places I look forward to visiting.

Also, the TRC municipal sites are an active presence on social media — Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. That’s great. People will still look to municipal websites for municipal basics, but social media is, more and more, the place to let the public know about community events. TRC has even set up places on social media where their community members can buy, sell, and swap items.

I’m making a note to speak with the TRC administrators about their work. The TRC sites even adapt to easy viewing on my iPhone 5.

The Sangerville and Greenville websites are fine but the links to them on the Piscataquis County website municipal list need correcting.

Old web info is confusing. For instance, Monson’s website stopped listing events in 2013. Their home page still advertises their “Town Meeting March 16, 2015.” There’s evidence Monson has moved municipal notices to Facebook only. If so, why not make that clear on their municipal website?

People quite often underestimate the time it takes to keep a website current. Still, when people need info from my municipal website, they assume the entity responsible for creating and/or maintaining the site is on the ball.

Like the Three Rivers Community.

Scott K. Fish has served as a communications staffer for Maine Senate and House Republican caucuses, and was communications director for Senate President Kevin Raye. He founded and edited AsMaineGoes.com and served as director of communications/public relations for Maine’s Department of Corrections until 2015. He is now using his communications skills to serve clients in the private sector.