Millstone to re-create public image
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - The township should have a revamped Web site up and running in about six months.

At the Jan. 17 committee meeting, township officials said they are currently in the process of updating all of the township's communications with the community, including its Web site, its cable access channel and its newsletter.

"Hopefully in six months we will have a new image," Mayor Nancy Grbelja said.

Discussions about improving the township's communications with community members began at the reorganization meeting on Jan. 3.

According to township Business Administrator James Pickering, the township has a few options when it comes to choosing who will run and post updates on the Web site. An outside consultant for the job could cost between $15,000 and $25,000, he said. The township is also looking into various ways that it could get the job done for much less money.

"We can train our own people," Pickering said. "We could work in conjunction with Rutgers and get a student in there for a grade, for free, in a mentoring program."

Grbelja said, "Overhauling the Web site is going to take a lot of work."

Pickering is overseeing the project "to make sure the information and the redesign are done correctly," he said.

Grbelja said the township wants to have updates and changes made to its Web site in-house "so we don't have to rely on someone else's schedule." The township had previously relied on a college student who worked off-site to update information on the site, according to Pickering.

Pickering said the township wants the new Web site to offer "bullet alerts," which are township notices delivered directly to residents' e-mail addresses.

The township is further looking to improve its programming on local cable access Channel 77. While it currently posts notices on Channel 77 and broadcasts meetings and events held in the municipal courtroom on Millstone Road, the township also seeks to provide other television programs for residents.

Up until now, the township has only been able to broadcast from the municipal courtroom, which is camera-ready. However, Grbelja said it has purchased a mobile camera in order to record township events on location.

According to Deputy Mayor Robert Kinsey, the township will also try to update its video equipment by converting from analog to digital.

"We're going to try to fit some [equipment] into the budget this year," Kinsey said.

Grbelja said the township hopes to change the format of its newsletter as well to offer residents more information.

"We want it to be less dry, a little more colorful," she said. "Not too colorful, though, to cause problems."