AFTER 30-MONTH FIASCO, Puh-leeze Kill "Digital Consultant" Torpey's Village Website Redesign

Or combine another committee into it. Perhaps the problem isn't the committee structure, but the willingness to go along with bad ideas.

I'm glad the few comments have been relatively positive about the direction the BOT will be moving in with respect to the website but before stepping away from the computer, I just needed to insert some personal commentary on some of the statements made with respect to Finance/IT and specially Trustee Levison.

I have never served with someone more committed and honest than Howard. He works around the clock for this Village and delivers so many substantial results both cost savings and IT improvements - I'm talking millions of dollars. If you want a specific list, I'll go ahead and compile what Howard is directly responsible for and perhaps for some MOLers, it would be an eye-opening experience.

IMHO, for as long as I have been on the board or been following the board, there has been no Trustee more effective than Howard, and that includes myself. I'm very grateful for all he does for our town and I'm so proud to serve with him.

I believe in another thread a poster accused Howard of being responsible for the problems with EOWC. That's truly amazing to me. Howard, out of all the Trustees (past and present), is the one most directly responsible for our transition to NJAW. I could also make quite the argument that HE is the one responsible for the actions that led to the indictment of the individuals involved with manipulating test results.

Just wanted to share my 2 cents.

While there is no doubt Howard works a lot, it is often with the wrong results and which cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars (if not more). As just a few examples:

• Orchestrated the no-show contract for John Gross after he resigned
• Supported the unjustified firing of Robin Kline
• Orchestrated and supported the website fiasco for 2.5 years
• Supported staying with EOWC and not terminating the contract for breach
• Pushed for the bonding for the multi-million dollar Village Hall renovations years ago, incurring interest on the debt and did nothing about it when the project stalled
• Blindly supported every one of Torpey's no-bid IT fiascos (survey tool, line graph tool, website and more)
• Supported the retention of Steve Rother as Village Counsel

In fairness, I will give him credit for:

• Regularly voting against funding for the CCR
• Opposing the payment of stipends for the BOT

Michael,

Today I'm going to enjoy the beautiful weather and all the great activities all simultaneously happening throughout our amazing community (folks should stop by the Rent Party at the Elks Lodge!) and then I plan to work on material for Monday's meeting on Village Hall and then Wednesday's meeting about 298 Walton. But by tonight or at the latest tomorrow, I will respond to every last one of your bullet points. I'm truly sorry it has come to this.

Sheena said:
Michael,
Today I'm going to enjoy the beautiful weather and all the great activities all simultaneously happening throughout our amazing community (folks should stop by the Rent Party at the Elks Lodge!) and then I plan to work on material for Monday's meeting on Village Hall and then Wednesday's meeting about 298 Walton. But by tonight or at the latest tomorrow, I will respond to every last one of your bullet points. I'm truly sorry it has come to this.

Sheena, don't waste your time. You've got way better things to do than respond to these rantings.

mbaldwin said:

Sheena said:
Michael,
Today I'm going to enjoy the beautiful weather and all the great activities all simultaneously happening throughout our amazing community (folks should stop by the Rent Party at the Elks Lodge!) and then I plan to work on material for Monday's meeting on Village Hall and then Wednesday's meeting about 298 Walton. But by tonight or at the latest tomorrow, I will respond to every last one of your bullet points. I'm truly sorry it has come to this.

Sheena, don't waste your time. You've got way better things to do than respond to these rantings.

+1. Can we give it a rest

I don't think Michael knows how to give it a rest and the continuous browbeating of a great volunteer in our community who does so much positive work, particularly with very intentional half-truths and blatant misrepresentations, is really starting to get to me because I think it's wrong. No one should be treated like that and hopefully in the future we can elevate the level of discourse.

I am sitting at the pool with Trustee Gould who has confirmed that each of the points above are factual. You may not like the facts, but I think the truth is more important than propping someone up for politics.

You know what? I respect all four of you (Sheena Collum, Michael Goldberg, Nancy Gould and Howard Levison). I don't think it is good use of your time, or good for the Village, for Sheena and Michael to sit here debating the fine points of Levison's record.

Couldn't we put this away until the next contested election cycle and get on with supporting Sheena and the current trustees in a variety of initiatives that are potentially very positive for our Village.

BTW - Still waiting on my apology Michael.

I think Howard has done a good job and I was happy to vote for him.

Susan - fair enough. I have huge respect for you, as well, and will let it go.

As anyone who knows me, I have called out issues since I have lived here - from the proposed overdevelopment of the quarry, to the lies about funding for Tau, to my time on the BOT and since. Not everything is sunshine and unicorns and it is important to share those issues, despite the desire of some to sugarcoat everything. I'll move on.

A wise move on your part.

Ok then, back to our regularly scheduled broadcast.. I believe this thread was about the Village website...

Sheena said:

What people who have been following this conversation for quite some time can expect is that we will be awarding a contract at our next meeting to a reputable company with a proven municipal track record and one that can take the lead on providing many of the third party applications the Village has offered or wishes to offer. We are getting competitive quotes right now to make sure we're getting the best value and will award the contract on June 22. After the initial kickoff meeting, we will have a better understanding of the timeline and the various responsibilities of both the vendor and the municipality.

Howard,

You have my utmost respect and admiration. You are, without doubt, the hardest working trustee in the history of South Orange. As Sheena mentioned above, I don't think that people know of the many initiative that you have taken to do what is best for South Orange and help relieve the tax burden of taxpayers. I follow BOT meetings and catch some of them, but I'm sure that I don't know the vast majority. You have always worked to do what is best for South Orange, and for that you have my thanks.

Thank you for your dedication to South Orange and your years of service both on and off the BOT.

Finally - an award of a contract to Civic Plus! (as noted here over 2.5 years ago that is what Maplewood and West Orange used)

http://southorange.no-ip.org/weblink8/0/doc/138183/Page1.aspx

I will caution the BOT, though, that the proposal is only for the migration of 50 pages, so don't fall into the same trap that Torpey did and underestimate the CONTENT effort.

That's great news. I am hoping that it means the end of this thread.

When it comes to Howard Levison Michael Goldberg is 100% correct. And for those who confuse time spent at a task with positive results, I suggest that you think twice.

Is it realistic to think that the new website could start off free of content, and there could be a link somewhere to the old site to look up old documents. so that there would be no document migration and associated costs?

...The Village of South Orange awarded an $11,500 contract to redesign its municipal website to CivicPlus, a company that specializes in creating municipal and governmental websites. CivicPlus redesigned Maplewood Township’s website in 2011....

http://villagegreennj.com/towns/government/south-orange-awards-website-contract-civicplus/

Nice to see a realistic date finally being given:

http://villagegreennj.com/towns/government/south-orange-municipal-website-likely-see-2016-launch/

After 3.5 years, new website is live:  http://www.southorange.org/

No...not an April Fools joke.  Seriously.

Looks good.  

One recommendation.

I wonder if this is an April Fools Google message?     

the website looks great.

A recommendation:  To pay taxes online, you first have to click on the "How Do I..." tab. You are told that if you want to receive a reminder one week before taxes are due, you have to sign up for an email notification. It doesn't say how you sign-up. 

The addition of being able to receive an email notification one week before taxes are due is an excellent addition.

What happened to the Gaslight on the new website? Neither the current issue, nor any 2016 issue, is now available to read after clicking on the "view current & past issues" link. 

I'm just now seeing the posts above.  Based on a few early morning visits to Village Hall through the years,  I always have thought of Trustee Levison as 'the James Brown of local government'.  Clearly puts his heart and soul into it. Likely would pay (if necessary) for the privilege of serving. I largely agree w/what cramer said.  

But, michaelgoldberg made some very good points. Blunt, substantial points.

So, reading this now,  I wish  Sheena had followed through with

Sheena said:

Michael,

 But by tonight or at the latest tomorrow, I will respond to every last one of your bullet points. I'm truly sorry it has come to this.

particularly after accusing michaelgoldberg of "intentional half truths and blatant misrepresentations". 

Also note: after

Sheena said:

I don't think Michael knows how to give it a rest 

and after michaelgoldberg subsequently posts

michaelgoldberg said:

Susan - fair enough. I have huge respect for you, as well, and will let it go.

 I'll move on.

Sheena  must get in  the last word. Again.

Sheena said:

A wise move on your part.

But, still,  no point by point refutation of michaelgoldberg's observations. 

Very Trump-like.

If michaelgoldberg is wrong, please explain. He's been right so many times before.

I think the new site is an improvement over the old site and am glad that it finally got done.  However, I think the Home Page is a big miss. That enormous "Welcome" box and the links to the "Torpey Tools" on the right side is way overplayed and a waste of precious real estate that overwhelms the home page, in my opinion.

By contrast, look at Maplewood's Home page, which is much more concise and uses the real estate more efficiently.  Just my 2 cents.