6 Ways to Improve the Town of Walpole Website

1. Add Expanded Contact Information for Board of Selectmen
Believe it or not, the only shred of contact information on the existing Board of Selectmen webpage is the phone number for the Board's secretary.  You won't find an email for the Board unless you actually dig deeper into the town website to look at the Contacts page.  But what happens if you just want to send an email to one Selectman in particular?  With the existing town website, you apparently can't.  (But you can check out my own list of emails.)
It would be a great improvement if each selectman had a Walpole-Ma.gov email address and they were listed, along with the main Board of Selectmen email address, on the Board of Selectmen web page.  Additionally, there should be photos of each Selectman and a brief biography.  Furthermore, for those who may not be able to use email or don't have an email address even in this day and age, a simple web contact form that goes directly to the Board of Selectmen and allows you to share your concerns would be a much-needed addition.

2. Add the ACTUAL Town Budget WITH the line items
While it is superb that the Walpole town website does currently have a number of different budget-related documents, in order to get to them you must navigate to the Town Administrator's page and then scroll down in order to see even one iota of evidence that said documents are posted.  Town budgets should be featured prominently on the homepage, and should have a page of their own.  Furthermore, the budget should be downloadable in its entire form - which means hundreds of pages.  The actual physical black budget books are very detailed and include lengthy line item explanations that justify every dollar of taxpayer expenditures.  Surprisingly, this is not available online.  If it would be too large a file to place online all in one piece, it should be split up and be available in multiple different parts.

3. Add More Public Documents Proactively
The Town of Walpole already has a very expansive list of public documents, ranging from forms and fee schedules to applications for membership on boards and public health fact sheets.  It would be a welcome improvement to see the annual street listing added as well, to supplement the Town Report that is already online.  Additionally, Walpole could do what Worcester has done with their voter lists and add a searchable database of all registered voters in Walpole.  This is public record anyway.  Further, let's make town government truly transparent and add a searchable database of all Walpole town salaries.  If I had a little more time, I would volunteer to do this myself on my own website, like what The Boston Herald has done with state salaries.  This information is in each year's annual report, so why not post this independently on the website, too?

4. Employees of the Month should be Promoted and Updated
Some Walpole residents may not even be aware that Walpole has an Employee of the Month program, but indeed it does.  According to the town website however, the last time it had an honoree was in September - when Police Chief Richard Stillman received the award.  If we are going to have an Employee of the Month program, the Town should take great care to make sure that it is featured prominently on the homepage and is updated month-by-month with pictures of every employee who has won.  If not, then there is no need for this program.

5. Pages for New Residents and Businesses Looking to Open in Walpole
We have already established on this blog that Walpole is not "The Friendly Town", as much as it claims to be, because of its anti-diversity high school mascot and anti-business environment.  It would be a great improvement, however, if the Walpole town website had a page specifically for businesses looking to expand to, or open up in Walpole.  Currently, the Economic Development & Grants webpage has links to a "Permitting in the Town of Walpole" handbook, and two pdf documents regarding how to grow and develop in Walpole and resources business owners can use.  These documents should be put on a separate page.  The Town of Amherst, MA, for example, has a webpage with links to each permitting form that can be downloaded, information about commercial recycling, information about inspections, and more.  Walpole should do this too.

Additionally, Amherst has a page dedicated to discussing what the town has to offer in terms of residency.  There is information about recycling, public transportation, history, housing, employment, and more.

6. Town Meeting Results and Archived Results - All on One Page!

All town meeting results and information should be archived and put on to a separate page like what Sudbury and Needham have each done with their town meetings.  Even a unanimous or majority vote on a particular TM article is reason to put it on the website for people to clearly to see what the results were.

I am also wondering whether anyone has any news on when the website will be posting videos of selectmen's meetings.  I was under the impression that they would be added soon, but there still does not appear to be any movement in that area.