Athens City Council's Web page soon will be revamped, Councilwoman Bojinka Bishop, D-2nd Ward, said during last night's Athens City Council committee meetings.
The newer version of the site would provide more information to citizens, such as factual summaries of City Council meetings, pages explaining committee items and a map of the city's wards, Bishop said.
Ohio University senior journalism and business major Tori Stepowoy will help with the Web page. Council members were unclear as to when the new page would be active and whether Stepowoy would be paid or receive class credit for her help.
OU 2006 graduate Christine Barksdale conducted an independent study comparing City Council Web page with the Web pages of city councils in about six other college towns, Bishop said. Barksdale's study showed Athens City Council's page to be more outdated and less informative than the others.
In other discussions, Councilwoman Carol Patterson, D- At Large, said she will introduce a new agreement Monday for the city to take over Strouds Run State Park.
The wording of the legislation that likely will come before council would give Athens complete control over a dam in the park. If Athens returned control of the park within the first year of the agreement, the legislation also would allow Athens to return only the unused portion of $49,000 the city would receive from the state for the original transfer.
Patterson said she would like to create an oversight board composed of people with varied interests in the park, such as hunters and those who are concerned about the park ecologically.
Some council members, including Nancy Bain, D- 3rd Ward, are concerned that the proposed agreement with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources is too focused on animal safety.
I'm worried about human safety. It's not addressed at all
Bain said. One constituent reported that she had seen nude people running around the park after dark and that there was no one at the park to prohibit this activity or insure the safety of others who might be in the park, Bain said. 17
Archives
Dianne Selden
