By Allison Perrine
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – It’s been several years since the borough last updated its website.
With that in mind, officials are looking to upgrade it to a more modern, accessible layout and asking for residents’ input. Now available on ahnj.com, community members can fill out a multiquestion survey to let the council know how they would like to communicate with town officials and what features should be prioritized.
To date, there have been an estimated 100-plus responses and members of the borough’s technology and communications committee are beginning to analyze that data which will “directly influence” the council’s steps going forward.
“We feel that the website is sort of clunky. It’s not really easy to navigate, it’s not user-intuitive,” said Councilman Jon Crowley, who is a member of the tech committee. “It’s been up for a long time in its current form so it’s just time for a redo.”
The survey was posted to the site earlier this summer and is still open with no definitive end date – for now. Some of the questions on the survey are open-ended while others are multiple choice, asking residents questions like, What information about Atlantic Highlands interests you? When this information is available, where would you like to receive it? How often do you use the Atlantic Highlands website? What information do you want to access on the Atlantic Highlands website?
Part of the goal is to make it easier for residents to find agendas and to allow them to register for notifications when agendas are posted to the site. That goes for all boards and commissions as well as special events, Crowley said.
According to Mayor Loretta Gluckstein, communication has always been important to her, even before her time as mayor. That’s why after she was sworn in Jan. 1, 2020, she tasked the tech committee with installing cameras in council chambers to stream meetings for residents to view at home or at a later date, what turned out to be a prescient request.
“I really think it’s vital,” said Gluckstein. And it became even more crucial at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when the world transformed, almost overnight, to a world reliant on video conferencing and other methods of digital communication. “We kind of got pushed and shoved into Zoom during COVID,” she said.
The website is just one of tech committee’s latest projects.
Looking ahead, Crowley said the committee would like to install an emergency radio system in town before the end of the year. It will allow residents to hear updates on emergency alerts on a radio station even when cell service is down.
“When we have a storm come through, cell service, power goes out – at least you can turn on your AM radio… and get current information about where to go get ice, where to get water, where there’s air conditioning, where you can charge your phones – all that stuff,” said Crowley.
The article originally appeared in the September 23 – 29, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
