After the Town of Athabasca went live with a brand new website last January, town council has directed administration to investigate ways to fix issues with its home on the web. At council's Sept.
After the Town of Athabasca went live with a brand new website last January, town council has directed administration to investigate ways to fix issues with its home on the web.
At council's Sept. 19 meeting, Mayor Roger Morrill brought the item up for discussion, saying the website “appears to have shortcomings ” and asked for council direction.
Coun. Tanu Evans asked what the concerns are, as the website is less than three years old.
“I don't really agree with redoing the entire thing all over again, because we've been told it's adaptable, ” he said.
Chief administrative officer Robert Jorgensen said the problem is no one on staff has the expertise to run the program “the way it was explained to council. ” He added ratepayers have said it is very difficult to use the search function.
Evans asked why administration would ask for a total redevelopment, and if it would not be better to have someone in to train staff on how to use the website.
Assistant CAO Rachel Ramey said she has been in contact with the company that designed the website and was informed searching is not an option.
Evans said during the last budget season, council approved purchase of a searching software.
“There is no such thing as a searching software, they cannot do it, ” Ramey said.
Coun. Shelly Gurba said it “mystifies ” her that any regular site has a search engine and this one does not.
“We were told… we could search for things quite easily, because the last website was a complete disaster, ” she said. “I thought we were sold something that would've had a search engine and that would've been something we would have verified. ”
Coun. Tim Verhaeghe said whether the website should have been searchable or not is beside the point and the question before council is to develop a new website or not.
“We could have been told all these wonderful things. It didn't happen. Our ACAO is saying it's not searchable, so what do we do? ” he said.
Coun. Steve Schafer made a motion directing administration to investigate other webpage provider's pages to possibly find one that would better suit the town's needs. The motion passed unanimously.
Evans asked administration to also come back with what council purchased during budget season, which former interim CAO Doug Topinka had informed council was searching software.
Positive ticketing support
Town council voted to support the Athabasca and Area Health and Wellness Community Coalition's (AAHWCC) Positive Ticketing program.
Shannon Smith and Joanna Gladue with the community coalition spoke at the council meeting, and said the program has been catching kids “doing the right thing ” for almost a year, and invited the town to be involved by adding the town's logo to the tickets.
“It surprises youth when they get a positive ticket, and I think it does nothing but garner good feelings, ” Smith said.
Gladue said examples of situations that would cause a positive ticket to be issued include crossing the street at a corner and picking garbage off the street. When ticketed, individuals are presented with gift card to businesses in town, such as Tim Hortons, Subway and Athabasca Video.
Smith said Athabasca County has supported the program, and Aspen View Public Schools will soon have its logo added to the tickets.
Coun. Joanne Peckham said the program is a “beautiful community initiative ” and offered her full support.
Gurba moved to support the positive ticketing program, and council unanimously voted in favour.
Community transportation
Peckham brought up the possibility of a community transportation partnership with Athabasca County, and said at town council's Oct. 3 meeting she would be submitting a report about Leduc's community transportation system.
“I just wanted it on record that it would be nice if council entertained this and looked at the possibility of resurrecting a public transportation bus in our community, working in conjunction with the county, ” she said.
Morrill said he “certainly sees the needs are getting there. ”
Peckham made a motion for information. It passed, with Verhaeghe and Evans opposed.
“Assassination of character ”
Peckham brought up a second matter, asking for an apology from council for what she wrote in the agenda package was, “an attempt to attack my credibility and character. ”
She alleged information in the municipal inspection report was a “complete fabrication, ” referring to the community engagement section on page 46 of the report. Peckham made a motion for information.
“There's a letter that went to Municipal Affairs and council, and I struggled for over a week and a half, waiting for anybody to call and apologize for that, ” she said. “I'll own up to anything and everything, but I won't when it's completely false about me. ”
The section on community engagement called for the discontinuation of the communications committee, and spoke about how the one-member communications committee - of which Peckham was the member - released a 2016 Annual Community Report.
“The report opens with a ‘Message from the Deputy Mayor' and this presentation inadvertently sidelines the mayor and the rest of council with their absent voice and recognition in the publication, ” the inspection report reads.
Evans interrupted Morrill while he was giving background on the issue, and asked to make a motion to move on to the next agenda item.
“Part of the report is accepting what has happened, not dredging up the past and dealing with this again and again, ” he said. “I don't really need to sit here with a reminder of the last four years and our inability to get along. ”
Morrill asked council to vote on Peckham's motion for information first, which was defeated. Morrill, Gurba and Peckham voted in favour, while Verhaeghe, Schafer and Evans were opposed.
Evans then made a motion to adjourn.
“Wow - wow, ” Peckham said.
The motion to adjourn passed with Peckham opposed.
