The town launched a new website last week that gives the old page a slick, more modern look while cleaning departmental sites of old content that has outgrown its usefulness.
With outdated materials being swept up, the resulting online experience has been more streamlined and easier to navigate for both residents and town workers, an outcome that has been six months in the making.
The project began when Town Administrator Rob Dolan approached Ryan Michalski, a freshman at University of New Hampshire, to help look through the website and decide what should be done to give it a facelift.
“We don’t have a lot of people here and over the years that website hasn’t been kept up to date as it should be,” Dolan said. “In his investigation, he felt that the website was a failing website in the sense of providing the best amount of services for people that don’t want to come into town hall.”
Working alongside a committee that consisted of Lynnfield Town Accountant Julie McCarthy and Police Chief Nick Secatore, Michalski brought in the company Civic Plus, which also services many nearby communities such as Middleton and Reading.
“Our old website, it was very poor,” Michalski said. “The content on it was a lot of old information. It wasn’t super easy to navigate. It turned out that the company we contracted, Civic Plus, has this new platform that most neighboring communities use.”
As the town lacks a dedicated IT department, maintaining an updated website has been complicated to say the least. Michalski said he found files that were almost two decades old uploaded to the page.
The new platform provided by Civic Plus helped to rectify the aging online space, building up a site that would meet the Select Board’s goals and make it a place for community engagement.
“[I’ve been] working with the departments, getting all the accurate information, and then from my side, making it look nice and easily accessible for the community,” Michalski said. “From the public side, I’ve heard very good things. Obviously, there’s still some tweaks to be made, but people seem to like it and that’s the whole goal.”
For town employees, getting used to the new features and becoming familiarized with the uploading and downloading processes will take time. But there’s no doubt for Dolan that the new website is a major improvement.
“What I like is it has a calendar function, so it’s easier to find out what’s happening,” he said. “I think it’s a world of difference. In 2025 it’s necessary to really have a modern, user-friendly website.”
