After years in the works, the town’s new website is finally live.
“With the old website, we were at the end of the runway,” said Chief Innovation Officer Chris McClure. “With a new website, we’re at the beginning of a new runway. It’s certainly better.”
According to McClure, the new town website, belmont-ma.gov, was built from the ground up ” with a focus on simplicity. “
“It is much more mobile-friendly, much more mobile-responsive in terms of how it operates on a phone or a tablet,” he added. “It’s much more accessible.”
The process, which included involvement from the town administrator’s office and community input, culminated with a soft launch in early December—allowing McClure to work out any kinks—and a hard launch this week. Town Meeting members were first introduced to it at the November special Town Meeting.
“I came in at the tail end of the process,” McClure said. “So I was happy to be able to get it across the finish line here.”
According to McClure, the new website’s search system is more advanced than the previous one. It allows users to conduct more specific searches and use sophisticated search tools to help narrow down results. The site’s dedicated document center, archive center, agenda and meeting center, and others allow users to find written and video records of meetings.
“We can link the meetings not only to the agendas and minutes but also the Belmont Media Center video,” he said.
But it doesn’t stop there. Additions to the site are in development and ongoing.
In particular, McClure is looking into creating a more user-friendly, robust GIS map of the town, integrating descriptive information with various locations, including a grave finder, historic houses, and a trash/recycling pickup schedule.
“It’s obviously not perfect. We have a long way to go, but we look forward to making improvements and we’re ready to start promoting it.”
McClure said if they haven’t already, residents should sign up for news and announcements and emergency alerts. Residents can create an account to manage their individual subscriptions.