Town Board does website search of its own

NORTH EAST — The town of North East is on the cusp of the cutting edge, or at least entering the present technological age. So says the Town Board, which is preparing to hire a firm to design the municipality’s inaugural website. It’s already put the wheels in motion at past board meetings, sending out Request for Proposals (RFPs) for a website consultant.

The Town Board has since had two solid responses to the RFPs: one was from an Ancram firm and another from a Fishkill firm. The Fishkill firm, Fisch Internet Solutions, proposed a plan estimated at $3,000. Meanwhile, an Ancram firm submitted a plan for a cost between $1,000 and $1,500. The board decided to interview the owner of the Ancram design firm, JT Web Services.

Aug. 11 meeting

“I was very impressed with the artwork you provided us,” town Supervisor Dave Sherman said to James Thompson of JT Web Services when the latter attended the board’s meeting Aug. 11. “The board was interested in meeting with you.”

Thompson said he’s been designing websites for 12 years, seven on his own. He said he has staff on call, and services around 50 clients in and out of the region.

“I have the ability to provide whatever you need and would  be happy to do so,” Thompson said.

“I looked at your [work] and it looked impressive,” Councilman Carl Stahovec said.

“I usually work on referrals,” Thompson said, adding he lived in Millerton for three years, which added interest to this project for him.

The proposal includes managing the content through word press, which Thompson said would help edit the information more easily and in a more timely and self-sufficient manner. There would also be provisions made for security.

Although he said he doesn’t usually give an estimate without seeing all of the content, Thompson said he believes the project will amount to about $1,000 to $1,500 for the town. He added he can provide 24/7 support, although it’s not mandatory the town use his service for that support. His hosting fee is roughly $100 annually, plus an hourly fee, and he said that covers “anything that you require from me on an hourly basis.”

In terms of time, Thompson said once he gets the content, he can pull the project together in a couple of weeks, although the town’s timeline is 90 days.

The board didn’t make a decision at that time, but agreed to discuss it the following week at its special meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 17.

Resistance

“I would suggest very strongly that we move forward with his proposal,” Sherman said at that next meeting. “The next step is to have the contract drawn up and have a firm agreement between his company and the town.”

Stahovec echoed the supervisor’s enthusiasm.

“I think the price is really fair and it would be an asset,” he said. “It would be good for the town.”

But while Sherman and Stahovec thought the rest of the board would be anxious to hire JT Web Services, they were instead met with hesitancy by the other members.

“I think we should get more prices,” Councilman Dave McGhee said.

“I find it hard to believe nobody else wanted to do it,” added Councilman Steve Merwin.

“Well, more people were contacted that we thought would be in the same price range, but they said they were too busy and another one didn’t respond back, which I was surprised at because it had done some local work,” said Sherman. “Price wise I think this is in the range of where it should be.”

Stahovec then made a motion to accept the proposal from JT Web Services; there was no second.

Alternatives

Instead, McGhee asked who did the village of Millerton’s website. He was told that village Trustee Yosh Schulman does that municipality’s website, along with assistance from Steven Williams; they both volunteer their services.

Merwin said while the town “undoubtedly” needs its own website, he wants to make sure they have “the best guy for the best price.”

Sherman said to go with an established commercial firm could cost the town upwards of $10,000.

“Larger enterprises will have you pay more money,” he said. “This  guy may  be a smaller outfit, but there’s a lot of people out there producing things that way. So I don’t know what the concern is. I thought everybody was gung-ho about getting a website.”

“I guess not,” Stahovec said.

“I wonder if Yosh wouldn’t mind helping us set this up because he did a very good job on [the village site],” McGhee said.

“He’s very smart,” Merwin said.

“It would save us money,” added McGhee.

“He’s a trustee of the village,” Sherman said. “I don’t think we can ask him to give his services to us.”

“I don’t know, he’s very willing to work with people,” said Merwin.

“To tell you the truth, I wasn’t really impressed with the [JT Web Services] proposal and him doing it,” McGhee said, referring to Thompson. “On paper it looked fine, but he didn’t come across to me like he was into it so much. I don’t know, something about it don’t jive with me.”

“Some other folks may be a little different,” Sherman said. “More artistic.”

“I just want something we’re going to be proud of for the people, showing their money is going to something worthwhile,” Merwin said.  

It was agreed the town will table JT Web Solutions’ proposal, continue to explore other options and contact Schulman to discuss plans for a future website.