Mendon will redesign city's Web site for easier use

By Marty Archibald

November 13, 2005 | MENDON -- With just one look at the city's Web site it is obvious that very few updates have been made since 2002. All of that is about to change with the adoption of a new system. The City Council hopes that the new system will make it much easier to post various kinds of information.

"We've needed this for a long time," Councilwoman Leslie Larson said of the changes.

The idea of changing the Web site's format was brought forward by Travis Rodak. Rodak, who is new to the city, used the city's current site to find city information and when he couldn't find everything he would have liked he suggested the changes to the council. Rodak thinks the changes will be very advantageous to the city, as does the council.

"Some city Web sites are hokey," said Rodak. "I don't want Mendon's to be one of those."

Rodak's main goal is to make it much easier to post items on the site. With the new system he said it would be much easier to post such things as a city calendar, photos, polls and surveys. Rodak said that residents would also be able to easily provide feedback on message boards and share stories and recipes.

Council members were more concerned about the posting of other information.

"The other thing we really need there is our ordinances," said Larson. Along with the city ordinances the council would like to see water and business license applications available for print along with other city documents.

Events can also be posted by the council or community members for everybody to see. The city would have the option of approving what events are on the site if they would like.

Rodak said all of this would be very simple using what he called a contact management solution. He says it is as simple as typing or scanning in the information you want and deciding where you want it to be on the website, the program will do the rest.

"It does not require programming knowledge," said Rodak. It's as easy to use as a simple word processor, he said.

Rodak is also working on the library's website. Rodak says he is currently in the graphical design process and expects both sites to be up by the new year. The city's site can be found at Mendoncity.org and the library's site at Mendoncottage.org.

Other items the council discussed include:
--the closing of 500 North on Monday to allow work to be done at the railroad crossing. The road will remain closed through Friday.
--unanimously approved the creation of a trails committee.
--discussed the progress of the Mendon Station restoration. Mayor Sydney Larsen said it is a little behind schedule, but progress is still being made. More donations are needed he said.

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