Right to know.

It's not every day you get a call from the Attorney General's office. I feel special.

According to the investigator who called me today, a complaint was filed by RoseAnne Kwaks and one other person with the AG's office about the voter cards printed by Newmarket Solutions during the March vote. The concerns included people allegedly distributing the cards too close to the entrance to the polls and the cards being left in the voting booths.

Imagine if that energy and those resources (your tax dollars) were spent on finding solutions. 

If it looks like a duck...

I've been thinking a lot about communication lately. I've talked about ways the town can improve communication on the blog and with friends and it's had me thinking a lot about how I communicate with others and generally how I interact with the world. I'm surprised at how much I do online. I watch some of my favorite shows on my computer in the morning. I read news articles on my phone. I'm generally always connected to FB. I sort of use twitter. And I happen to believe that virtual communities can complement and even strengthen real communities.

So I came across this article on Nerdist by a woman who complained that someone she knew didn't have a FB or twitter account. Her question was what are you trying to hide? How can you possibly get a date or a job if you don't have an online presence that can be easily googled? A little extreme, but interesting, I think. And ties into a lot of the things I've been thinking about regarding communication.

This morning I started googling a company called Hydra Renewable Resources and here's the thing. In a world where online presence matters, particularly I would think, to a high tech company that doesn't have a traditional storefront and is talking about spending MILLIONS of dollars in a community, why do they have a barely working website? Seriously, 90% of the links don't work. Is this a reflection of the quality of their work? Why when I do a little further digging do I end up finding an older version of their website (these things never really go away on the internet!!) that says they had a relationship with the same project they denied having a relationship with last night?  Did they think we couldn't figure that out?

But this leads me to my next question: Why didn't the TC figure that out? They had apparently already been briefed on the company in groups of 2 and had ample time to look into it, right? With Josh's help this morning we looked up the company and found a couple red flags within 10 minutes that probably should have already been addressed by the council.

This certainly doesn't mean that we should abandon the idea, but I do think we should proceed cautiously.

We live in a digital world and I believe that your online presence matters---websites, facebook and Linkedin profiles reveal information about you. If you're a company that plans to launch a multi-million dollar project, you should have all your online ducks in a row.

First question

I sat through a presentation last night by Hydra Renewable Resources at the TC meeting. They discussed investing millions of dollars into Newmarket and through that investment, they would help our town make even more money. It sounds like an amazing opportunity.

I googled the company this morning and here's the first question I have:  This company is talking about spending over $100 MILLION dollars in Newmarket---why don't they have a working website?

If I were researching banks and looking for a place to open a personal checking account and I stumbled across a website that looked like theirs --"under reconstruction"-- I would keep looking.

Talk to me

Communication was discussed at the last TC meeting and the council requested input from the community on this issue. One of the reasons I started writing this blog is because I think that communication is an issue in town, so it seemed appropriate for me to respond with my thoughts to the TC and I sent an email right away.

**An important side note--the Councilors have all been very receptive to receiving emails and as I've become more of a presence at meetings, they've been even more receptive.  I mention this because if you have an idea, I STRONGLY encourage you to send that along to the councilors.**

Mr. Zink replied to my email and shared the concern that although the council put it out there at the last meeting, they only received one reply. I don't mean to pick on Mr. Zink, but here's the problem as I see it. The council seems to think that if they ask for input in the course of a 2 or 3 hour meeting, then they have done due diligence and seem to throw their hands up with a "See, no one cares!" type of attitude. 

I have no idea what the viewership is for town meetings, but to expect that you will get a cross section of the community to tune in to TC, SB, Planning Board, ZBA etc meetings on a regular basis to stay informed is crazy. Who has that kind of time? Never mind the fact that these meetings aren't exactly great television (except for maybe the TC meetings). 

Maybe there was a time when you could walk into Joyce's Kitchen and get your local news (or gossip, as the case may be) but our town--and the world-- is different now. Our elected officials need to figure out how to get the information to people. 

It's clear to me that we need other forms of communication. 

I posted the question on the Finding Solutions FB page. People have different opinions about FB, but there are over 400 people on that site and it is one way to reach a lot of people quickly and allow those people to send a quick response. Over a dozen people replied to the question. While that number isn't earth shattering, it's a pretty good response (especially when you compare it to the number of people who responded to the council's request for input---one).

An improved website, Facebook, Twitter, flyers, a newsletter, email blasts and reliable news coverage are some of the ideas that were brought up.  If the goal is to improve the quality of information and engage as many citizens as possible, then the approach can't be one size fits all.