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Snowmass gets new website

Katie Redding
The Aspen Times
Aspen CO, Colorado

SNOWMASS VILLAGE ” Streaming video, a bright-green color scheme, a town blog and the option to file an online bear report are just some of what’s new on the Snowmass Village website, launched Tuesday.

Built in-house, the new site is the product of roughly a year’s worth of work, several informal focus groups and a $10,000 investment, according to Community Relations Officer Leslie Compagnone.

Compagnone said the website has been one of her main priorities since she was hired last December. As soon as she arrived, she said, residents began giving her feedback about the former website. With the large numbers of young people and part-time homeowners in Snowmass, the Web is a particularly important tool for many of the town’s citizens.



But the old website had a structure geared more toward town employees and officials than residents, according to Compagnone.

“It was inside baseball,” she said.




So she restructured the navigation completely in order to make it more user friendly for citizens. Now, browsers can go to the “I want to” menu at the top of the page and report a pothole, register to vote, pay a parking ticket, find employee housing or start a business, among other things. Compagnone said she came up with the menu after strategically tracking six months of phone calls and requests from community members to learn what citizens most wanted to know.

Next week, all town staff will learn how to update the website ” something that should help ensure fresh content, another thing that didn’t always happen with the old website, according to Compagnone.

Another new feature is the town weblog, or “blog,” hosted by WordPress and written by Town Manager Russell Forrest. Forrest will update the blog regularly, and like all blogs, this one will feature space for comments.

“It’s a direct line to Russ,” Compagnone said.

Other new features include streaming history videos, updates on town projects and a community calendar that displays everything from upcoming court sessions to Planning Commission meetings. Phase II of the new website ” which is not yet scheduled and subject to funding ” will combine the community calendar with the marketing and special events calendar, said Compagnone.

But at least one of the website’s features will be hidden to citizens. Internally, an intranet allows town employees, scattered among the many satellite offices, to communicate efficiently ” whether they’re nominating a co-worker for a safety award or posting pictures of the town picnic.

Employees have caught a few minor errors of fact in the first 24 hours of the launch, said Compagnone. But, so far, there have been no major problems or complaints.

To check out the new website, visit http://www.tosv.com.

kredding@aspentimes.com

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