BY PAUL MITCHELLNorth Country This Week

CANTON – There’s a new look to cantonny.gov.

A revamped website went live recently with town and village officials seeking public feedback in the event of user issues.

“We are interested in public feedback and if folks find broken links or other issues, please use the contact us form to let us know. It may take some time to work out all the kinks and for search engines to correctly point to the correct pages,” stated Deputy Mayor Anna Sorensen who worked diligently on the new website with Town Clerk Heidi Smith and Village Clerk Sally Noble.

“We selected Revize from three different companies that develop and host municipal websites. This website is more interactive, functional, and attractive while maintaining security for system integrity. It is optimized for better searching so it should be easier to find information using the search box. Additionally, it is designed to decrease the number of clicks or the amount of scrolling that people need to do, making it more user friendly,” Sorensen noted.

The new website features several new functions. 

They include:

• Accessibility. The website improves access for everyone; there is an accessibility menu in the lower left corner that people can click on to increase font size or contrast or use many other accessibility features. 
• Citizen's Request Center. If anyone wishes to contact a department head, they can do so through the website using the Citizen's Request Center (using the Quicklinks or under Contact Us).
• E-notifications. The public can sign up to be notified by email when web pages are updated; for example, if they currently are emailed meeting agendas, they can sign up to be notified when they're uploaded to the website. This is at the bottom of the home page and is a Quicklink as well.
• There is a new "How do I" section that will direct residents on how to do tasks like pay taxes, water and sewer, etc. Over time, the website will increase peoples’ ability to fill out and submit forms online.
• The calendar is improved as it allows for different viewing options; for example, residents can filter events to view only recreation or only public meeting information.

“Hopefully it will benefit our community and decrease the workload in the clerk’s offices,” said Sorensen at the monthly village board meeting on June 20. “We’re pretty excited. We know there’s bugs so just let us know.”