And while larger municipalities in the province are keeping up with the Jones' of the municipal world, there are vast differences in how smaller ones -- especially villages -- are coping with websites, let alone the new trends.
Numerous village websites are at various levels of expertise, from having some that a 5th Grader could manage with today's website management systems to ones on par with cities and towns. The Village of Cap-Pelé's website stands above most other villages, but to be fair, Cap-Pelé's population, tax base, and budget are equal to or greater than some nearby towns.
Note in this comparison of apples to watermelons that Web 2.0 technology enables even the least capable village administrators to manage website content. I know this from personal experience.
The issue is updating the existing generation of village websites -- in many cases still in their first -- to incorporate current web management systems. And, if villages are going to take advantage of this opportunity, they might as well co-ordinate their resources (both financial and human) to make the most of it.
Our villages would be wise to look into a couple of nearby examples. The greater Saint John area municipalities have joined forces to share a common display format. Under the mantle of Enterprise Saint John, the four communities are able to co-ordinate tourism and marketing campaigns, among other things.
While sharing resources may be something villages should consider, larger municipalities often have distinct differences -- personalities -- that they should be promoting on their own sites. It will be interesting to see if this extensive partnership in greater Saint John survives the city's own current website revision.
In Nova Scotia, a partnership between the provincial government (Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations) and the Nova Scotia Association of Municipal Administrators gave birth to the Municipal Website Venture. The mandate "is to substantially improve the standard of (municipal) websites, lower development, operating and promotional costs while empowering municipal staff with no technical background to manage their websites."
This is precisely what many smaller municipalities in New Brunswick should strive for.
The recent Finn Report on municipal reform spoke of self-sufficiency for municipalities. This exercise in New Brunswick would be an excellent opportunity to get the smaller municipalities and Local Service Districts within geographic regions to co-operate and co-ordinate provincial branding, tourism messaging, municipal planning, waste management, etc.
A quick glance at the divisions recommended in the Finn Report highlights numerous partnership possibilities; the most glaring example being the villages of Salisbury and Petitcodiac, whose websites are in great need of an upgrade. The two communities are similar in population and in tax base per resident. They also exist within the same administrative sub-grouping described by Finn.
Another example would be between Hillsborough, Riverside-Albert, and Alma. While the differences between the quality of their currently existing websites and the comparative data of the three are in some cases vast, the opportunity to start planning for collaboration is still there.
Other possibilities exist with the villages of Cocagne, Saint-Antoine, Rexton, Saint-Louis de Kent and the towns of Rexton, Richibucto and Bouctouche or any combination thereof. On the southeastern side, opportunities for partnership abound with the municipalities within the triangle of Grande-Digue, Port Elgin and Dorchester. And the province could piggyback by reaching out to the surrounding residents of Local Service Districts.
This could be done without a province-wide initiative. That said, the province could play a significant role in how a website initiative is developed.
There was a time when Service New Brunswick was a leader in e-government. This is certainly an opportunity to recapture that title, to catch up to our neighbour.
It won't be easy. The process in Nova Scotia began in 2001. Also, Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations are one department, while in New Brunswick they exist as separate portfolios. And how much of a priority can websites be to the day-to-day activities of smaller municipalities?
The problem is that while villages brush aside the importance of websites, the cities and some towns are reaching out to their ratepayers in increasingly interactive ways.
Current website management systems are giving villages a chance to catch up. It's time for them to grab the opportunity and think more strategically; to seek out partners so they don't fall behind.
David Gingras is a Metro Moncton resident and recently earned his National Advanced Certificate in Local Authority Administration (NACLAA).
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Autor(en)/Author(s): David Gingras
Quelle/Source: Times and Transcript, 24.06.2009
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