Information Service
Advisory Board
MINUTES
May 5, 2005
Temporary Council Chambers
Herbert C. Young Community Center
101 Wilkinson Ave., Cary, North
Carolina
www.townofcary.org
1. Call to Order
Chair Jo Rathgeber called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
2. Introduction of Members
Present: Donna Bravo, Jamie Cuticchia, Steve Del Verde, Mark Evangelista, John Fitzpatrick, Dean Smith, Angel Wright-Feldman, and Jo Rathgeber.
Absent: Council member Julie Robison; Michelle Hillison and Esther Ortega Bridger, both of whom have sent emails of resignation from the Board.
Staff members Susan Moran and Mark Andrews were present.
3. Approval of Minutes
The board unanimously recommended approval of the March 3, 2005 minutes. There were no April minutes since there was no quorum for that meeting.
4. Old/New Business
a. Roll out of the 2005 goals and objectives meeting schedule
The Board unanimously approved the following meeting schedule and topics:
May 2005 Web Focus with Mark Andrews, Public Information Specialist-Writer: 1) comprehensive Web calendar for Town activities and events, 2) more Technology Services tests of Web, GIS, etc., 3) personalized reminders via the Electronic Mailing List of upcoming events, 4) reviewing citizen complaints and suggestions for the Web, and 5) PRCR athletic events changes on the Web
June 2005 Web Focus (continued) with Bill Stice, Technology Services Director and Mark Andrews, Public Information Specialist-Writer: 1) comprehensive Web calendar for Town activities and events, 2) more Technology Services tests of Web, GIS, etc., 3) personalized reminders via the Electronic Mailing List of upcoming events, 4) reviewing citizen complaints and suggestions for the Web, and 5) PRCR athletic events changes on the Web
July 2005 Air quality communication issues with a representative from the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources Air Quality Division
August 2005 Severe weather and solid waste collection with Public Works Director Mike Bajorek
September 2005 Citizen attendance at public meetings
October 2005 Citizen attendance at public meetings (continued)
November 2005 Open meeting
December 2005 Biennial Citizen Satisfaction Survey feedback and preliminary work on the ISAB annual report
Donna Bravo expressed an interest in having the Board reexamine WIFI. After hearing the board’s history on this issue, the group agreed to not list it as a meeting topic at this time. Instead, Jo Rathgeber will send an e-mail to the chair of the Town’s Economic Development Commission to inquire about the status of their examination of this topic. She will report back to the ISAB
The Board agreed with Jamie Cuticchia’s suggestion that a concise statement of findings be included at the end of each meeting to make it easy to note what the Board had accomplished at each meeting. This will be new item 5 a. on each agenda.
b. Web Focus with Mark Andrews
Mark Andrews used the following outline to lead a discussion about what ideas the ISAB had to help improve the Web site’s organization:
The online Web assessment survey conducted in fall 2004 yielded positive responses on measurements such as usefulness, accuracy, loading speed, attractiveness, and level of detail. Results were mixed on how easy it is for people to find what they’re looking for. As a member of the ISAB:
Does the main menu on the splash page need changing? Do we need more or fewer buttons? Are substitutions needed? Are the Shortcuts or I Want To menus on the home page helpful? Are the choices the right ones? What is the main way you navigate from the home page? Do you rely typically on Site Index? Shortcuts? The main menu? Do you find Search to be more useful since it was upgraded? Do you use it more? What feedback have you received about it? Are the icons on the right side of the splash page intuitive? Would others be more useful? Does the splash page have the optimum number of links? Would adding more links, text or otherwise, aid navigation or merely clutter the page? Would breaking down more of the A-Z second tier lists into categories make it easier to find links? Are the horizontal links at the top of the second tier pages helpful? Do you use them? Are they prominent enough?
What suggestions do you have learning more about how users navigate the site? What groups might we consult for feedback? What Web pages or categories of content need to be easier to reach on our site?
John Fitzgerald recommended following the Irvine, California model for increased utilization of drop-down boxes and having navigation menus always on the left. He also stated that adding the Google search engine to the Town’s site was great; others members agreed.
Donna Bravo recommended changing the long lists of items on 2nd tier pages. She suggested lists of no more than 20 items.
Jo Rathgeber suggested seeking feedback from users more prominently on the site.
Angel Wright-Feldman recommended benchmarking with other municipal sites and considering an assessment exercise to identify necessary content and features.
Mark Evangelista suggested developing a 2nd, or mirror, Site Index that was organized by topic instead of alphabetically. He also recommended looking into “bread crumbs” to help users know where they’ve come from within the site.
With time running short, the group agreed to forward to Mark Andrews any other ideas they had to improve the site’s organization.
5. Comments
a. Statement of Findings
The Board received a presentation from Mark Andrews and discussed how to improve the organization of the Town’s Web site, with members agreeing to forward to Mark additional ideas.
b. Citizen comments
Jamie Cuticchia asked why the Town did not include the raw totals from the bond referendum vote on the Town’s Web site, and Susan Moran explained that we’ve relied on the Wake County Board of Elections to share that level of detail in the past. She stated that staff would add a link to the BOE close to the top of that section to make getting the detail easy for citizens.
c. Member comments
Jo Rathgeber announced the resignation of Michelle Hillison and Esther Ortega Bridger from the Board.
Steve Del Verde stated that it was difficult to have a good discussion about the Web without being able to see it. The group discussed costs and benefits of options and agreed that staff would bring paper copies of Web pages for future discussion.
6. Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 6:33 p.m.
The next meeting of the ISAB will be held on Thursday, June 2, 2005, at 5:30 p.m. in the Temporary Council Chambers, Herb Young Community Center, 101 Wilkinson Avenue.
For questions about these minutes, please contact Susan Moran, Public Information Officer, at (919) 460-4951 or susan.moran@townofcary.org. Visit our Web site at www.townofcary.org for more detailed information about each item in the minutes.
The Town of Cary is committed to providing all citizens with the opportunity to participate fully in the public meeting process. Any person with a disability who needs an auxiliary aid or service in order to participate in any meeting may contact the Town Clerk at least 48 hours prior to the meeting. The e-mail address is sue.rowland@townofcary.org; the phone number is (919) 469-4011; the TDD number is (919) 469-4012.