If you haven’t gone to the new Moorestown Township website, you should. You might not recognize it with its new layout.
Moorestown Township has recently launched its new website. The website is meant to be more aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly and easier to navigate.
“We’re pleased. It is still a work in progress, but we think that this website will be far more user-friendly, and you can see, just by looking at it, that it is more attractive,” Township Manager Scott Carew said.
There are many new features on the website that residents might find more quickly or are easier to understand.
At the top of the webpage to the left side is the Moorestown name and logo. This is the home button that should appear on every screen associated page, and if the icon is clicked, it should send the visitor back to the homepage.
To its left are four tabs labeled “Government,” “Community,” “Services” and “How do I…” These tabs all drop down into helpful subsections that break down departments or information so pages can be easier to find.
The search bar is up front and center in the middle of the page. According to Carew, this was chosen because the committee wanted it to be quick and easy for people to find and use to search the website. Next to the search bar are green boxes that link to the township’s social media pages such as Facebook and Twitter.
Scrolling down the page will show to the left a Recent News box and to the right an “Upcoming Events” box. Clicking on “View All” under Upcoming Events will bring you to a calendar where the township, schools, Moorestown Business Association, Recreation Department and other township organizations will be able to post events. As of now, the township is limiting those who can post to the calendar to community organizations, Carew said.
In the center of the website you’ll be able to see scrolling pictures of places in Moorestown. Carew said they plan to take different pictures in the Moorestown and have those pictures match the season.
“When you go on the website in the summer, it will look different than if you go on in the winter,” Carew said.
At the bottom of the screen in green are other useful tabs such as Notify Me, Report a Concern, Employment, Online Payments, and Agendas & Minutes.
For those who wish to get alerts on things that are happening in town, or wish to report a problem such as a pothole, you’d have to register with an email and password. Once a concern is reported, it will be followed up by a staff member, and you’ll be able to track its progress with the membership.
As of now, the township has yet to install and implement the community development software that will help those going through the zoning and construction approval process, but that is being worked on.
“We think it is a great start, and we’re really happy with it. We think the public will be as well,” Carew said.
Members who helped work with CivicPlus on the website were Township Clerk Patricia L. Hunt, IT director John Polkiewicz, Karen Daily, Parks and Recreations director Theresa Miller, Mayor Victoria Napolitano and Carew.
“I wanted to thank the committee that worked with CivicPlus and put this together,” Carew said.
Carew asks members of the public for both positive and negative feedback on the website. He would like to know what is working, what isn’t and what can be improved. You can contact him through the website under the Government tab labeled Township Manager, with the Contact Us link and with the Report a Concern button.
“We’ll continue to strive to make this website as user-friendly and helpful to the public as possible,” Carew said.
Councilwoman Stacey Jordan felt the website is off to a good start. Napolitano made sure to thank those who helped with the website and let the public know they worked hard and kept their word on when the website would be up.
“I just wanted to thank everyone in the township who has gotten this off the ground. It is very rare for a technical project to release on time, and the fact that we were able to get this out on our target launch date really is a credit to the team. The team talked about the website for a long time and were very diligent in picking the right vendor. I think it is obvious we made the right choice, and I really think this is going to improve the user experience of the people of Moorestown,” Napolitano said.
To check out the website, go to www.moorestown.nj.us.
