New hire Kelley Martin Westminster PIO

New hire wants Westminster Web site updated

New hire wants Westminster Web site updated By Ryan Marshall, Carroll County Times Staff Writer Monday, January 05, 2009

Improving Westminster’s Web site to provide more information to the city’s residents and visitors will be one of the goals for a new communications specialist hired by the city.

Kelley Martin said she wants to make Westminster’s site more user-friendly and a go-to site for information about the city. She hopes to have a section to answer frequently asked questions, give calendar events and dates and a master schedule, as well as things such as the schedule for trash pickup. Martin said she plans for the site to have different interfaces for residents, businesses and visitors.

While the city’s current Web site is OK, it could use some improvement, said Mayor Thomas Ferguson. With so many people using the Internet to get information, a municipal Web site isn’t very useful unless the information on it is kept current and timely, Ferguson said.

Along with updating the Web site, Ferguson said Martin will also publish a newsletter for city residents that will likely be sent out with customers’ water bills, and she will create a newsletter as well just for city employees.

Martin said she’s been working part time for the city for several months but her position becomes full-time with the start of the new year.

According to a city press release, Martin comes to Westminster after teaching for several years at schools around the Baltimore area, including Stevenson and Towson universities and Loyola College.

She joked that while she’s still learning the ins and outs of how municipal government works, she’s found it’s often less political than the world of academia.

According to the release, before she began teaching, Martin ran several nonprofit organizations, including the Carolina Wren Press and the Carolina Ballet.

Reach staff writer Ryan Marshall at 410-857-7865 or ryan.marshall@carrollcountytimes.com.

http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/01/05/news/local_news/newsstory3.txt

20090105 SDOSM New hire Kelley Martin Westminster PIO
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