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that other factual errors caused confusion. When one resident incorrectly posted the time of an upcoming board meeting, onlookers showed up an hour early. “I think it’s a wonderful website for community sharing. For factual town information, I don’t think it’s the best,” Smith says. Jacien and Smith stress that Castleton officials aren’t Luddites; in March, the town unveiled a new website. They’re simply choosing not to engage in more interactive social media, which Jacien actively discourages among town officials. The town government, he says, should have “one central message, one policy, and that should come through our website.” Again, Hale disagrees. He admits it was wrong to post a personal comment on FPF while also identifying himself by his position on the planning commission — a mistake for which he says he was “severely upbraided.”
The acTual discourse on FronT Porch Forum became uncivil,
unreliable for information and more or less an attack blog. chAr l ES JAcIEN
save Up To 70% Off balk, at least initially, at the impact of new Original Retail Prices technology. Lauren-Glenn Davitian, the executive director of the CCTV Center for Media & Democracy, headed up the move to cablecast local meetings in the 1980s. At least one town — Colchester — wasn’t cooperative in the process. Why? Davitian couldn’t say exactly, but she has her suspicions. “They were used to doing business behind closed doors,” she says. “If I had to guess, it was that people would see that they weren’t any smarter than anybody else, and they would lose their positional advantage in the community.” Within six months of bringing cameras into Colchester’s meetings, however, officials were singing a new tune. Today Text “ ” to Davitian doesn’t hear any squawking for your chance to win a about televised meetings and the role they play in conducting government business. shopping spree and Officials are “unanimous in their belief join our mobile alerts* that having a vehicle to open the doors of *NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT NECESSARY TO PARTICIPATE. Open to legal government only serves the people … and VT residents who are 16 years of age or older at time of entry. See Official Rules www.rfmrules.com/essex. If you enter via text message, message and data rates may helps them to do their jobs better,” she apply to each message sent or received. For FREE on-line entry visit www.rfmrules. com/essex. Void where prohibited. Ends 5/28/2012 at 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time. says. Davitian concedes that a participatory online forum and public-access television are entirely different beasts — and she Orvis Outlet, 21 essex Way (suite 101), understands why some “beleaguered” essex JunctiOn, vt 05452 town officials might be wary. “I think a lOcated at the intersectiOn Of vt-289 & rt-15 802-872-5714 | WWW.essexshOppes.cOm lot of these people are feeling like there’s more public input than we can realistically manage, and we want to manage Free Motor Promotion: Save up3:55 to PM $500! Offer Expires: 5/15/2012 8v-essexshoppes051612.indd 1 5/14/128v-windjammer(FreshSeafood)051612.indd 1 4/23/12 4:08 PM expectations.” That resonates with Bill Bryant, the town manager in Bristol, another e-Vermont town now using FPF. Bryant thinks the network is a useful tool, especially for distributing information to residents who might not otherwise check the local paper Call for a or stop by the town offices. It’s also a great Free Estimate way for residents to share opinions with (802) 864-3009 each other about local issues. But FPF isn’t a public hearing, says Bryant, and “that is not the appropriShowroom ate place to engage public officials.” S. Brownell Rd Crowdsourcing a question — for instance, Williston does Bristol chlorinate its water? — is likely to be less efficient, and potentially Cool, Comfortable Awnings & Canopies | www.OtterCreekAwnings.com stir up more trouble, than a single phone call to the municipal offices. 8h-ottercreek050212.indd 1 4/17/12 11:28 AM Bryant says he’s never sure when to weigh in. And to catch those questions, he says, “you’ve got to read through all of the garage sales and the ‘I’ve lost my dog and found your cat’ stuff.” Meanwhile, whether it’s lost dogs and cats or town gossip that pulls them in, Castleton’s residents are still using FPF. The town’s decision not to participate on the forum has no bearing on residents’ ability to access it. Even Jacien is still reading, though now he uses a personal account and stands on the virtual sidelines. “The bad words are still there. The accusations are still there. Lines have been drawn in the sand, and it’s unfortunate, because that’s not what the forum was set up to be,” Jacien says. m
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That said, “I do take some exception to the thought that there is a ‘town line,’ that all officials in the town must speak with the same voice,” says Hale. “I certainly wasn’t sworn to allegiance.” Sean Sheehan is the e-Vermont community director who oversees the Castleton project. He says it costs about $2500 for e-Vermont to bring FPF to a community, but that it’s “not the end of the world” that Castleton town officials won’t be making use of it for the time being. E-Vermont also paid for Castleton’s new website. Sheehan warns that the statistics from most municipal websites around Vermont show “that exposure is going to be nowhere near the exposure you’ll have on FPF.” FPF cofounder and CEO Michael Wood-Lewis declined to discuss specifics of the situation in Castleton. However, he points out that of the 36,000 Vermonters using FPF, hundreds are town officials, and the reviews are largely positive. “Very rarely there’s a dustup where somebody gets upset,” Wood-Lewis says. But it’s not unusual for officials to
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