At a Monday night forum, Carrboro Board of Aldermen candidates discussed ways to update the town’s website, which has been criticized as outdated and hard to navigate.
But most candidates agreed that in a time of limited financial resources, updating the website is not a priority.
Alderman Dan Coleman said the current web site is functional, but could be improved.
“It doesn’t have the kinds of bells and whistles people would like for it to have,” he said.
Coleman suggested assembling a committee of web designers to implement the update.
But Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton, who is running unopposed in this year’s mayoral election, said he thinks the site does a good job of providing information about the town by posting minutes, agendas and videos of meetings.
At the OrangePolitics live online candidate forum, Chilton said in a blog post that the main criticism of the website is that Apple computer users have trouble viewing videos.
He also said in an interview that he would like to see the website include more opportunities for community feedback.
“Where we need to grow is a question of how to use the internet to have the information flow the other way — for citizens and residents to communicate to town government,” he said.
To increase resident input, Chilton said the town should focus on having a bigger presence on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Alderman Joal Hall Broun, who is up for re-election this year, said she does not see a problem with the existing website.
“I like the front page,” she said. “You can connect to the recreation department directly. There’s twitter, the message board, all right there.”
She also said she doesn’t think updating the website should be a priority for the town.
“It may need some tweaking, but we have to be good stewards of other people’s money,” she said, “The town works hard on being on the cutting edge with the resources we have.”
Candidate Michelle Johnson, who is also running for the Board of Aldermen, said the conversation around the website should be continued, while candidate Braxton Foushee said the question reflected the larger issue of working to involve more residents in town discussions.
Carrboro resident Ann Gerhardt said she rarely visits the town’s web site, but she suggested the town put links to the site in newspapers or online to draw more attention to it.
“I don’t even know that people hear about the town’s events from the website,” she said. “I get my news from newspapers and social media.”
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