Town of Andover: Vision and E-Services (MA)

andoverma.gov

It's not surprising when a state offers a full roster of e-services, but one has to notice when a town with just over 31,000 residents does. From Geographic Information Service (GIS) to action requests, Andover, Massachusetts makes it easy for citizens, visitors, realtors and library patrons to get the information they need. And its comprehensive Vision document is good enough to be the envy of much larger corporations and nonprofits.

Located 23 miles north of Boston on the Merrimack River, the town was settled in 1636 under the Native American name of Cochichawicke and incorporated as the Town of Andover in 1646.

Like many towns in New England, its legislative body is the Town Meeting, a uniquely democratic institution in which registered voters gather at least annually over several days to deliberate and make decisions on the town's budget and other major matters.

Active citizen participation here is a given, and that requires excellent access to information. This website delivers!

A Blend of the Traditional and the Modern

Andover's blend of the traditional and the modern is reflected in its website. The home page, dominated by vivid scenes of Americana, is bordered by efficient entry points to government services, a meetings calendar, public notices, and a scrolling listing of news items.  The news items all link to the same news and events page.

Below the town's slogan, "Home of America," are entries to five very comprehensive portals:

Under the Americana collage is a link to the site's featured service, currently a GIS viewer that allows visitors to create and print custom geographical maps of Andover.

A Vision Based on Shared Values

My first click was a rewarding look at Andover's brand new "Vision for the Town of Andover," a 35-page PDF document that is designed to guide the town's planning for the next 20 years. The result of an extensive participatory process guided by a citizen committee and a Boston-based planning and design consulting group, the vision encompasses 13 shared values and outlines how these can be implemented, measured and updated in years to come.

Here are the values on which Andover's vision for the future are built:

For each of these values, the document provides a "commitment" statement and a list of strategies for accomplishing the vision. An extensive section of the document shows how progress toward each part of the vision can be tracked in detail by monitoring key indicators.

This is a fine strategic planning document, but it is only as good as it is put to use. "Use the Vision," the document challenges Andover's board and staff. It continues with these exhortations:

An appendix provides a framework, actually a useful series of questions, for making decisions that support the town in pursuing its vision. Who could ask for more?

With the lively website as a communications and evolutionary tool, we trust this won't become just another planning document gathering dust on a shelf.

E-Services

Each of the portals is well done, with an introductory paragraph addressed to the specific audience and a sidebar of all the relevant links. The e-Services portal, however, is a highlight, providing an impressive array of forms, database searches, and other services. These include the following:

Many of these services are also available elsewhere on the site.

The town staff must know or assume that many of the citizens have high-speed access to the net and computers equipped to handle PDF files required by many of the features.

Posted by WWC: August 10, 2004   Permalink