The countdown has begun for a new Web site for the Village of Mineola that is easier to navigate and more interactive.
At last week’s village board meeting, Mineola Village Clerk Joseph Scalero told village board members that development of the Web site is progressing and later predicted it would launch in January.
“I envision moving the Web site from presenting information about the village and its services to making it function-based,” Scalero said.”The Web site is progressing.”
Scalero said the new site will retain basic information about departmental operations. But it also will provide information on what’s required for a building permit, enable residents to download building permits and provide instructions on how to file them. Similar interactive capabilities will be provided for other village licenses.
“It will save people from making a call to get information or coming to Village Hall for certain things,” Scalero said.
Impetus for the Web site makeover has come from residents.
“People know that there is more functionality on other Web sites and have been clamoring for it on ours,” Scalero said.
The current site dates back to 2003, when former Village of Mineola Mayor Jack Martins made a village Web site one of the priorities when he first ran for the office
It has been “tweaked” since, according to Scalero, who added “at some point, you get beyond tweaking.”
Albany-based Virtual Town was retained for the makeover at a cost of about $5,000, which includes maintenance costs for the first year, Scalero said.
The village board members have been reviewing other municipal Web sites over the past several months to determine what sort of features they wanted to see on the Mineola site.
A special notification function will provide residents timely updates on snow emergencies, for example, reminding them to move their cars from the street and letting them know when they can park on the street after the snow emergency is over. Residents also will be able to request topic-specific notification to e-mail, and can ask for text messages to be sent to their cell phones.
“It’s going to take some effort on the part of user. By doing that, they will automatically receive an e-mail when anything changes,” Scalero said.
Residents will be able to access the village code on multiple formats, instead of just the PDF files that pop up now in small boxes on their computer screens. Scalero said the new site will provide access to the newly formatted and updated code book in a large, fully searchable display.
Plans include more interactive functions to be added to the site over time.
“Eventually it will allow things such as online payments for some things,” said Scalero, who noted that the capacity to pay parking tickets online is a frequent suggestion from residents.
A section for news and announcements about upcoming village events, and a calendar of activities, will also be part of a package on the new site.
Eventually, Scalero said, village board meetings now carried on public access stations via Cablevision and Fios will be accessible on the site. But the initial objective is to make information more easily accessible and provide a more robust level of interactivity.
“At the very least, it will have more functions built into so people will find it more useful,” Scalero said.
