ConnectedTown Helps Local Government Reach Citizens

PARSIPPANY, NJ - Historically, public information provided by towns and government agencies has not been easy to obtain. Local newspapers are one channel, but there is a time lag, and  readership is limited. Some municipalities have tried issuing fliers, newsletters, and calendars, but they are expensive to produce and difficult to deliver on time. More recently, municipal websites are becoming the place where notices, press releases and even minutes of town meetings can be found. As a result, citizens are able to better understand local government.

Morris Internet Group (MIG), based in Parsippany, NJ, recently launched ConnectedTown.com as a centralized source of local news. ConnectedTown.com provides the public with free and easy access to news from any town in the area. MIG gathers news from official town websites and stores that public information in its searchable database.

Paul Kiczek, President of MIG and Publisher of ConnectedTown, said, “We are constantly gathering news, categorizing it, and loading it into our growing database. Our experience has shown that citizens really want to know more about their government and they appreciate news that is timely and accessible.”

While MIG currently scours town websites each day, ConnectedTown offers each town the ability to enter its own news. “We actually prefer to see each town take control of its news.” Kiczek said, “We are confident that ConnectedTown is a win-win situation for every town. We help towns reach more people and generate more visitors to their website as we help them save paper, reduce phone calls and quickly reach a broader audience.”

A key feature is the “ConnectedTown Weekly,” an online newsletter that delivers the latest news via email. Anyone can subscribe to this free service and can personalize their email by choosing the type of content to be included. MIG currently hosts a similar email service for Morris County and Morris Plains called “ConnectedCitizen,” which has proven to be very successful.

“Our approach is to start by serving and promoting local Morris County towns and county agencies, to expand features gradually, and to broaden our scope to include other geographic areas. We expect the awareness of our new technology, and the good will we will generate, will allow us to continue and expand our commercial-free service to the towns and public throughout the state.” Kiczek said.

When asked about the type and value of the content, he said, “The content varies from town to town, but it’s likely that everyone will find something of value when visiting ConnectedTown. Fostering a dialog between citizens and government can only lead to improved communications and better relationships.”

Formed in 1996, Morris Internet Group is a NJ-based software development company that provides a variety of web hosting options, email messaging, e-commerce and recreation program applications under its ie-Government family of products.