Anatomy 103 the Nooks & Crannies of Public Info for town meetings

Kowabunga..Dude!

Surfing ... TOWB.org

      Why use the website? There are many reasons, but it all boils down to accessing important TOWB information:

Editorial Comment: (comment? ha ha.. do we have a comment, that's a laugh, but seriously, we really do have our opinions here at WrightsvilleView and here is one of them)

As this post goes off to the internet we are not aware of any plans to upgrade the Town of Wrightsville Beach website aka TOWB.org, It is unfortunate that despite Town staff requests for support, the budget funding for upgrades of hardware, software, archiving, transferal of legacy systems and website design were all cut by a 3 to 2 vote last June....By comparison to other towns and small cities, even mom & pop businesses the TOWB site is far outdated and not providing effective enough service to the citizens or the businesses of Wrightsville Beach. Search capability, transactional capability, form filing, ease of use are all lacking in functional quality. This is a strategic issue, there are staff efficiencies among many other benefits to be gained.

        Be that as it may, we hereby will outline how to use the website. We hope you will use it in preparing to get involved in agenda issues  or just to register your view at future Town meetings or directly to town officials..

         Important TOWB information to be accessed: 

• Contact information for Elected Officials and Town Staff
• Schedule for various town meetings (Alderman, Planning, Adjustment, Parks & Rec Advisory, Historic Preservation, Marketing Advisory etc.)
• Latest Board of Alderman Meeting Agenda and also the Meeting Preparation Packet (all the relevant documents)
• Past Board of Alderman Town Meeting Minutes 

Note:  We have more than a "pet peeve" regarding Meeting Minutes....typically the publication on the website of BOA Approved Meeting Minutes  lags by 3 or more months. This makes it near impossible as a citizen to follow a particular issue. This reflects a failure of our elected officials to place a priority on informing the citizens.

• Research Town & State Ordinances (building codes, noise and pet rules, event permits and much more)
• Information about the Beach (Swim Advisories, Weather Link, Tide Table Link, Park Ranger, Surf zones, Beach Rules)

       Below is the Home Page. We have noted the Key Categories section on the upper left side. This where you should start your journey to drill down for more information. It is unfortunate that the right hand column is basically stagnant old info.

TOWB.org "Home Page"

       As a priority scroll through Key Categories and you can readily see what's available. "Board" "Departments" "Staff Listings" "Forms" are probably to most valuable.

The "Board" drop down menu

       Under " Board" you can find out about each member, upcoming meeting agenda and preparation packet (usually the Monday prior), past minutes (usually 3 months lagging)
Town Meeting Nov 8, 2012 Meeting Info Packet 71 Pages... here is the link below.


Packet Find Under "Board"
Sorry link not functio!ning another reason to upgrade TOWB.org!
http://towb.org/LinkClick.aspxfileticket=2Cn9PUrHOx4%3d&tabid=163
Beach Rules Brochure Find under "Beach Info"
http://towb.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=mYnzXchdU8Q%3d&tabid=182
Marine Water Quality/ Swim Advisories find under "Beach Info"
http://xapps.enr.state.nc.us/eh/beaches/notification.do

Note Shortcut: Contact Ginger Reid (greid@towb.org and request to be added to the "sunshine list". She will send you the TOWB BOA Agenda about a week before!

Marine water sample quality results

Beach Rules Brochure

Report Storm water Violations 
910-524-2102



       This has been a broad brush tour of TOWB.org, hopefully will spend some time digging in to learn more about what's going on and what is important regarding your quality of life in Wrightsville Beachin

Find the full TOWB Contact List under "Staff Listing"

Mayor and Board of Aldermen
David Cignotti, Mayor	910-256-5817	dcignotti@towb.org
Susan Collins, Mayor Pro Tem	910-256-5072	scollins@towb.org
Bill Sisson, Alderman	910-256-1898	bsisson@towb.org
Elizabeth King, Alderman	910-256-2260	eking@towb.org
Darryl Mills, Alderman	910-228-8552	dmills@towb.org

Important Alert:

       This coming Thursday Dec 13, 2012 at 6 pm is the next TOWB Board of Alderman Meeting. Key items on the agenda are Implementation of the Smoking Ban and Implementation of Video Streaming.  Both items have been contentious issues in the past your input to the board concerning implementation by simple email is very important.

       Thanks for reading please let us have your comments.    Noah