Sharon Web site shut down, town seeks help

SHARON — Due to multiple incidences of what can only be described as bad luck, the town has elected to temporarily shut down its Web site.

Located at sharonct.org, the site included a calender of meetings, documents, forms and meeting minutes.

First Selectman Malcolm Brown said the town has been working to get the Web site compliant with Public Act No. 08-3, an Act Concerning Comprehensive Ethics Reforms, new legislation that requires all municipal Web sites to make available  minutes of meetings of all boards and commissions within seven days. The act took effect Oct. 1.

However, Town Clerk Linda Amerighi, who Brown said has been updating the site, has been overburdened due to the town’s Cott record-keeping system breaking down on Oct. 14.

“The Cott system keeps track of all of the residents’ vital statistics, including birth and death records, marriage licenses, fishing and hunting licenses,†Brown said. “Because of which, [Amerighi] had to re-enter all of this lost data by hand. To top it off, she’s very overwhelmed with an unexpected workload at election time. The back up system for the records is all the way in Ohio. The records already exist on paper, so Linda has been working on putting them all back into the computer.â€

To top all of that off, the town’s Web site consultant, Joel Benton, was involved in a serious car accident at the beginning of October, along with members of his family.

“Therefore, after I consulted with Selectman Tom Bartram, Town Attorney Judith Dixon and Board of Finance Chairman Barbara Prindle, we all decided that the site should temporarily be taken down,†Brown said. “We did this so residents would not have to monitor it every day for things we can’t put up. We just lack the ability to update it.â€

Brown said that the town intends to get the Web site up as soon as possible. However, he is asking for a volunteer with Web site experience to step forward and help.

“We already have one volunteer, but it’s not easy for her to get to Town Hall on a daily basis,†Brown said. “We need a volunteer very badly. If anyone who reads this article wishes to contact me, we will certainly give them consideration.â€

The phone number for the selectmen’s office is 860-364-5789. Brown said that all town employee e-mail addresses still work. His e-mail address is malcolm_b@sharon-ct.org.

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