The Town of Stellarton has taken steps to be more open and transparent with the design of their new website.
Mayor Danny MacGillivray said it was a priority for the council when they took office to create a website that would provide residents easy access to information.
He believes what they’ve created now does just that.
“We believe it’s the most open and transparent municipal website in Nova Scotia,” he said.
The new website includes everything from the town financial statements, a list for pavement priorities as well as minutes from the council and committee of the whole meetings.
With respect to the financial statements, MacGillivray said they’ve included year-to-date income statements so people can see where the money is being spent through the year. It also details council expenses for accountability.
“We wanted to make sure that as much information was available to the residents as possible.”
As part of the new website, they’ve also had some videos professionally done to promote the town including videos about the schools, businesses and fire and police departments.
By the end of March, the town hopes to be livestreaming their council meetings online as well so that people who can’t make it in person to a meeting can watch online.
This is also a great way for people who may have disabilities that would prevent them from climbing stairs to watch the meetings, MacGillivray said
“At this point we don’t have an elevator. This will be an opportunity for people who can’t access the council chambers to see the council meetings,” he said, adding that they do hope eventually to make the council chambers more accessible for people with disabilities.
So far people seem to like the new website.
“We have received a lot of positive feedback,” he said.
In the end, he hopes it will allow resident of the town to be more involved.
“We want to find ways to engage people. We think this is one of the ways of doing that.”
The website address is www.stellarton.ca.
