June 27, 2012
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS – After allowing its website to languish for years, the borough has a fresh Internet identity with an updated look, current staff listings and accurate information on public meetings.
The previous website was criticized for being out of date. Council members who were no longer in office were still listed, and last year’s meeting dates were the only ones available. The old site also had no budget information. State law requires municipalities to post the three most recent budgets online.
The site, which quietly went live on June 22, now includes budgets from 2009 to 2011, a calendar with public meetings for the rest of the year, a departmental contact list and an extensive history of the borough. “There’s still a lot more work we need to do,” Mayor Joseph Parisi said, noting the site still does not have agendas or meeting minutes.
Englewood Cliffs hired QScend Technologies, Inc., a Connecticut-based government software company, earlier this year to overhaul the website for about $14,000. Acting Borough Administrator Lisette Duffy said other vendors offered to update the site for as little as $1,500, but charged extra for web hosting, calendar listings and other features.
“This was the most cost efficient vendor,” she said. “Everything is included.”
The new software allows select officials to update the website; the old system was run by a vendor that charged a monthly fee and $75 per page to change information, Duffy said.
Duffy said she wants to post a wide variety of public records on it to decrease the need for people to file open records requests. She also wants to create a mobile version.