New County website debute

Times Contributor   

 

It’s a new year and a new website is online for Wheatland County. Residents can check it out at www.wheatlandcounty.ca.

Staff asked for council’s feedback on the site.

“I like that there are more photos and it is colourful, but it will need time to get comfortable with the format,” said Reeve Glenn Koester.

The site features pictures from various events held throughout the county and attended by councillors. Public users can post pictures as well.

There is also a personalization process called ‘My dashboard’ that will link with social networking sites and notify residents of new developments in designated areas. It also allows users to save information from favorite pages. An interesting improvement is that emergency alerts will top the home page, linking to information and advice about the situation. There is also an area called Community Voice where the public can input suggestions and track their forward movement. 

However, councillors questioned that the site will no longer store information for longer than one years time. They would like more information available for themselves and county users. Staff said storage space was a factor, but a request to the county office will allow access to specific information from previous years.

Maps are online and towns, hamlets and villages will soon be able to post information on their community.

There was some discussion whether private businesses would be able to post information.  Councillor Ken Sauve suggested the website’s purpose was to serve the community. Reeve Glenn Koester said there needed to be more discussion on the type of  public information posted and the county’s responsibility for updating, monitoring and maintaining it.

“Let’s just take baby steps. Let’s get our own information posted and keep it maintained, then we can see about expansions,” said Reeve Koester.