Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Civic Technology topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Somerset entrepreneur seeks $10,000 pilot grant for 'SwimStory/TownStory' civic archive; council to test platform
Summary
Andrew Lewis presented 'SwimStory' and 'TownStory,' a restricted-access digital archive for preserving local civic narratives. He requested a $10,000 innovation grant to pilot the swim-team project tied to the swim team's 50th anniversary; councilors raised procurement, scope, moderation and ownership questions and agreed to trial access before deciding on funding.
Andrew Lewis presented a proposal for a local digital archive called SwimStory (and a broader TownStory) and asked the council to permit a pilot and consider a $10,000 innovation grant to support development and documentation.
Lewis described the platform as a low-amplification, read/write storytelling environment designed to capture seasonal civic narratives (starting with the Somerset Dolphin swim team). He told the council the pilot would run over the summer, aim for measurable participation (he cited a target of roughly 250 stories and an operational goal of enrolling 25 swim teams by March 1 and more over the summer), and that he had assembled a small paid fellow team to carry out initial outreach.
Council reaction was mixed: supporters said the idea fits Somerset’s strong local civic traditions and could save staff time by preserving institutional memory. Skeptics raised procurement and grant-process questions — whether the town should issue an RFP or treat the request as a grant, potential town-staff workload, who would own or operate the system, and how content would be moderated and stored. One councilor noted the town already houses other town-history materials and asked how the proposal would dovetail with existing archives.
Outcome: The council did not award funds at the meeting. Members asked Lewis to provide access so councilors and staff can test the platform, to return written materials answering procurement and implementation questions, and to propose specific performance metrics and a narrower pilot scope tied to the swim team's fiftieth anniversary. Lewis agreed to enable council access and provide follow-up materials.
