When I first began writing about the goals set last year – what has been achieved, what has not, and which ones will or will not be moved forward into 2009 – I thought that it could all be accomplished in one column. It quickly became apparent that wasn’t to be. So, this column is the third of four in the series.
I’ve already covered the areas of communications, economic development, and involvement. This week will cover services and the series will conclude next week with finances.
While “services” appears to be a single goal, it is one of the overarching goals of all that we do. Consequently, there is no specific “number” set for this goal. While we have diligently worked to increase customer service in all areas, I focused on three areas – information distribution, development process, and social services.
Information Distribution. We increased the ability to access town government-related information from your home versus having to come into Town Hall to receive it, i.e. budget presentations, financial data, minutes, agendas, forms, contracts, available jobs, etc. Unlike many other Towns that had to shut down their websites or incur significant additional costs because of new Freedom of Information Act requirements, our website was already built to provide that information.
Development Process. Pre-development meetings were expanded to assist developers and residents making significant improvements on their property through the process.
Social Services. Access to the food bank and energy application process was made easier and increased.
Goals for next year include adding two new sections to the website -- Community Resources and a comprehensive volunteer section, putting bid specifications online to cut printing costs and save money, increasing online access to data, i.e. land records, assessment data, maps, etc., and, reallocating resources to add public work stations in heavily used departments to allow for “one stop shopping.”
Additionally, the Business Development Task Force will be presenting their report this week to the Board of Selectmen. I know there will be several items from that list that will become part of next year’s goals and will let you know about them in a future article.
And, we continue to work internally on items such as emergency plans, increasing efficiency, one-on-one customer service, and providing individualized service to the best of our ability.
As I end, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, a joyful Kwanzaa, happy Boxing Day, Merry Festival of Lights, and just a wonderful holiday season. Please remember to keep in your thoughts the many men and women of our military who are away from their families and those who are facing tough times. Together as a community, we can reach out a hand to help make the holidays a bit brighter for everyone. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who have been busy as elves these past weeks doing so … and to all of you who offer a smile, a hand, an ear to listen to those who need it.
Previous Selectman Notes can be viewed at
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