The Village of Jordan may soon be embracing the computer age.
At the village board meeting on Thursday, Trustee Catherine Ferris brought up her concerns about villageofjordan.org, the village’s official website. Some computers are able to access the site fully, but others, Ferris said, can’t see much of the content.
“It’s not viewable to the majority of the public,” she said. “I thought it was time to fix it, so it was handed over to me. I may start from scratch and come up with a whole new design.”
On the computers in the Eagle Newspapers office, the website is fully functional. On the left side, there are links to the history of the village, a contact list for town employees, a way to contact police and fire officials, a link to the board’s meeting minutes and a calendar. The calendar has not been updated since last year, however, and the most recent meeting minutes are from late in 2011.
Ferris has already started the brainstorming process.
“I definitely have a vision of what the site should look like,” she said. “It needs to focus on the village, and what we have to offer.”
She mentioned an array of things she wants on the site: a services tab, a page on village history, a page on the business district, a directory and a list of all elected officials with a head shot of each.
“We want the website to be like our community, which is close-knit,” Ferris said. “We want people to visit the community. Right now, our website is sterile and incomplete.”
Mayor Richard Patten said the reason the site hasn’t been redesigned recently is because of money and manpower.
Ferris said she will take into consideration any ideas given to her.
Ferris is also investigating if a switch from Verizon DSL to Time Warner for Internet and phone would save any money. She said she’s in the early stages and didn’t have much in the way of numbers, but will do a cost comparison and see if it would be feasible.
Ferris said by the next village meeting, she will have all the leg work completed.
Among other topics discussed was one about replacing a water and sewer valve on Hamilton Road.
“If we get a quality valve, it could save us money in the future,” Patten said.
The board passed a motion that the cost of the valve is not to exceed $5,000.
There also was a request by some residents for the Clinton Terrace and Quince Street neighborhood to have some stop signs put in place. Ferris said there are no stop signs in the neighborhood, only yields. The board is going to look into this matter.
The board also voted to purchase two new cameras that officers wear during traffic stops and other issues, as well as three new chips for the cameras.
Currently, police in the village are required to wear voice-activated recorders. Platten said some of the officers already wear the cameras, and the purchase will make the use more efficient.
The bid for contract work to replace the roof on the village hall has begun. The board said there are four bidders, and the winner should be known soon.
Neil Benjamin Jr. can be reached at [email protected].
