WESTLOCK – Westlock County will be using recently-garnered public feedback, as well an input from council and admin, to revamp its website.
The county’s website survey, which ran Oct. 21 to Nov. 5, asked a series of questions what residents were looking for on the site, which kind of device they use to access it and how often they’re on it. Also, as part of the survey, 27 topics for inclusion on the new site were listed — from maps and forms to community group information, the budget and recreation and tourism. The survey also asked residents if they’d be interested in receiving a monthly county newsletter via e-mail.
CAO Kay Spiess said it’s important that ratepayers can access information about the municipality quickly and easily and that’s just not possible with the current site. She said having a good, useful site is “extremely valuable” and noted that they’ve also re-engaged on social media and “if people want accurate, sourced information follow our Facebook and social media. We will be more active and that is the direct source of information.”
“I know before me coming here I went to the website to look for certain information, even about policies and I couldn’t find anything. It was my view of the website that triggered a rebuild, but as I dug into it, I found that previous councillors also had concerns as they were getting calls from ratepayers saying it was hard to find information,” said Spiess, noting their social media channels will also tie into the site.
The new edition will include the main pieces asked for by council, staff and the public and Spiess said via add-ons they’ll add livestreaming of council meetings, plus also have the ability archive the recordings.
“We’ll pick the pieces that are selected and then place it into the new structure. The hope that people will be able to find things by business function,” she continued. “It’s probably going to take a bit of time, but we’ll do it. If people want more information on policies or past studies, then we’ll get it on there also.”
Spiess also envisions more interaction with ratepayers via videos on a variety of topics, although getting that up and going probably won’t happen until 2022.
“I’d like to be able to have some cool interactive videos so things like, how do we do a shoulder pull and why? How do council meetings run?” she said. “I want us to be able to educate the public on what municipal government does. People need to understand that municipal government touches their lives every day and it’s actually the most important stream of governance.”
New reeve Christine Wiese said she isn’t a big fan of the current website calling it “pretty painful” to use and said that one of her concerns as a resident was that she didn’t feel she knew what was going on at the municipality. Going forward she said the county needs to do a better job of informing residents — whether that’s through the newspaper, website, social media and even the electronic message board in front of the county office.
“We need to make it some place that delivers easy access for people to stay engaged and be involved and be aware of where their money is being spent,” said Wiese.
“I’m committed to doing a better job of engaging and listening to residents’ concerns by building better communications.”
