Grand Island board presses departments to update town website, plans resolution and training

Grand Island town board members on Monday raised concern that department pages on the town website are out of date and agreed to pursue training and a formal resolution to assign responsibility for regular updates.

Board members said the issue was raised under routine business after several members reported finding outdated meeting dates and information on department pages. Board members said a law requires the town to maintain a website, and that the town had adopted a resolution in a prior meeting but that department-level compliance remains spotty.

Town staff will hold a retraining session this week on the site’s text-alert and site-editing functions; board members agreed to invite department heads. Several board members said the board should “put teeth in it” — that is, adopt clearer accountability measures — and requested a formal letter and a resolution directing department heads to assign a staff person responsible for updates. The board recorded that it had voted previously (the night before) to require departments to keep their pages current.

Members discussed creating a quarterly review or milestone to verify updates and suggested assigning one person in each department to be responsible for content. Staff agreed to prepare a resolution and a follow-up letter to be sent to departments; board members said the town should consider personnel or disciplinary steps if departments continue to fail to keep information updated.

The board also encouraged attendance at the upcoming training run by a staff member named Aaron, who will demonstrate text-alert setup and how departments can use the same tools to post updates.

Board members said they expect the draft resolution and the training outcomes to be reported back at the next meeting.