Wasco to pilot centralized community calendar on city website

A vendor demonstration of a centralized community calendar drew council questions and confirmed the city will pilot the tool using the web version embedded in Wasco's website.

At a council meeting, Asaf Haley, identified in the presentation as the platform's chief growth officer, showed how the calendar aggregates events from city departments and trusted community partners and can import events automatically via APIs. Scott, speaking for city staff, said the license was approved in a prior council action and that the pilot is part of the current fiscal-year budget.

Haley said the platform provides two ways to add events: local organizers can submit an event form that enters an admin review queue, or the system can import events automatically from partners such as school districts. "The solution we have built is just 1 centralized community calendar that brings all local events," Haley said. He demonstrated a pending-admin-approval status that prevents automatic publication until city staff review the submission.

Council members asked about moderation and user access. Councilmember Raya asked whether city staff must approve events posted by community organizations; Haley replied, "Yeah, absolutely." Scott added the city intends to start with the web version and expand features later, including a white-labeled app option residents could download.

Staff said the city is loading content and testing the integration with local partners and expects the calendar to go live once content and API connections are in place. Scott said the pilot will be an "entry-level" deployment to confirm functionality before expanding features such as ticketing or deeper sign-up options.

The presentation did not include a formal vote or ordinance; the council received the demonstration and discussion only. City staff and the vendor will continue integration work and notify the council when the calendar is ready for public launch.