Aspinwall launches new borough website

Aspinwall officials have recently launched a new borough website designed to make it easier for residents and others to access departments, documents and other important information.

Aspinwallpa.gov went live on July 14.

It features substantial changes both in layout and domain name from its previous incarnation, aspinwallpa.com.

“Many boroughs and townships are turning to .gov due to cybersecurity,” said administrative assistant Brian Corey-O’Connor, who worked on the website. “With payments of bills, parking tickets and taxes, it is much more secure for residents to work through the website. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency manages the .gov top-level domain. They verify the identity of everyone who requests a .gov domain, and they make sure that their organization meets the criteria for having a .gov domain.”

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is a component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Such domains are free but only available to U.S.-based government organizations.

They must not be used for commercial purposes, such as advertising that benefits private individuals or entities and must not be used for political campaign purposes.

Corey-O’Connor said he applied for the domain in February and it took until July to go through the screening process and get approved. Website building began shortly after.

Layout changes

The drop-down menus to the left of the main page are gone.

They were replaced by icons that go to other pages for specific departments and services, such as the police department, Southern Allegheny Emergency Services, Foxwall EMS, the parking authority, parks and recreation and tax services.

“It was easier to put more things under one icon than to have sub-menus, because that was really not working with the mobile (site),” Corey-O’Connor said.

He said it also makes it easier for people to access what they want and cut through clutter.

Upcoming meeting agendas are usually posted on the front page of the site a day or two before council’s workshop or voting sessions.

Those will now be moved under the Aspinwall Council section of the site, along with previous meeting agendas, minutes and council meeting video recordings.

There is a borough calendar on the front page just below the icons. It lists various events, including movies and concerts in the park, council and committee meetings, trash and recycling pickup as well as field usage by local youth athletic leagues.

One of the goals is to help inform families and clubs of schedules so they can plan their day and games, respectively.

People who have a problem with something going on in town can fill out a complaint form, which is at the bottom right of the main page.

“We are trying to make things streamlined and more user-friendly to help our residents,” Corey-O’Connor said. “Many things were antiquated with the old site. The new site makes it easier to get information through form requests, archives, public events and more. Our goal is to make the website a more ‘one-stop shop’ than a ‘we will get back to you.’”

Corey-O’Connor, who worked in public relations for restaurants before joining Aspinwall government, said he taught himself how to build and adjust websites over the years.

“I think this one was slightly easier because I knew what I wanted to correct,” Corey-O’Connor said about the process. “Going into it, I had more direction. When I first started here, I was already going off of someone else’s design.

“Working for the borough, I already kind of knew what topics people were looking for and making sure those were brought to the forefront.”

The borough received some positive feedback on the website in its first few days of use and has already addressed some bugs in the system.

“People have said that they like it,” Corey-O’Connor said. “There are a couple of little tweaks here and there that we’ve made so far. I’m sure there will be many more to come, but you’ve got to start somewhere.”

Councilman Lou Curcio said he has been on the new site and found it very useful.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Curcio said. “I think Brian did a great job. I know it’s taken him months behind the scenes to get this to fruition here. The goal was, and the accomplishment is, that it’s going to be a lot easier for residents to access different amenities of the borough, different ways to navigate around to get their questions answered. That’s probably the best part of it, for sure.

“Making this town the best it can be is a team game, and Brian is a big part of the team. That’s how I feel about all our employees here. We have the best team around.”