The Claim:
On the new Village Website
We expect the website to complete early this spring, and the design process is already underway, with help and valuable input from residents on the Public Information and Marketing Committee.
- Alex Torpey (March 26, 2013)
We expect the website to complete early this spring, and the design process is already underway, with help and valuable input from residents on the Public Information and Marketing Committee.
- Alex Torpey (March 26, 2013)
The TRUTH:
In October 2012, Alex Torpey convinces a majority of the Board of Trustees to award a contract to MetaRhythm for the design of a new municipal website for $15,000, despite them having zero experience with the design of municipal websites. Watch the full discussion above.
October 10, 2012 - 2012-235 RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AN AWARD OF CONTRACT TO METARHYTHM FOR THE REDESIGN, REBUILD AND HIGH-PERFORMANCE SERVER HOSTING OF THE TOWNSHIP OF SOUTH ORANGE VILLAGE WEBSITE IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $16,800.00
Motion:
Trustee Levison moved to approve Resolution 2012-235. Motion seconded by Trustee Davis Ford.
A roll call vote was taken:
Ayes: Bauer, Davis Ford, Gould, Levison, Rosner
Nays: Goldberg
Note: An OPRA Request for a "copy of the solicitation sent to all prospective vendors" returned the following response:
Please be advised, there are no records responsive to this request. Stan Wilkinson, Manager for Information Technology, has advised that vendors were solicited by phone call, not in writing.
Alex Torpey's updates shown in excerpts of approved minutes from the Board of Trustees Meetings and news articles since then reflect a total lack of transparency on the real progress:
November 26, 2012 - "The Village President, Trustee Levison, Village Administrator and the IT Manager
met with Metarhythm to discuss the functionality and design of a new website. A project timeline will
be forwarded to the Board for their review and information. [This was never provided] "
May 20, 2013 - South Orange Patch article:
We expect the website to complete early this spring, and the design process is already underway
July 8, 2013 : "The design component of the new website project is being finalized. The next step
will be to populate the website content, which will be completed over the next several months "
September 9, 2013 : "President Torpey reported that the website would be updated by the end of the
week. Old information would be archived and new information would be transferred to the new
website. "
October 17, 2013: "New Website Update
The upgrade is almost complete and contents from current website
next few weeks. The website will include the 311 system and information entered would filter over
to the Everbridge system. The website is being reviewed very carefully to assure anything
unnecessary has been removed before the transfer takes place. Deputy Administrator Loehner will
be accepting emails for emergency notifications. "
November 13, 2013: "Website update - IT will be working on transferring content to the new website which is
forthcoming. "
December 9, 2013: "New SO Village website status - design is complete and the transfer of all other components is
currently taking place. It is a couple of weeks away from a soft launch"
December 13, 2013 (email from Alex Torpey to resident):
"we're a few weeks away from having a soft version of a brand new site done, and a few weeks after that, a brand new website will be launched, with confirmed up to date information. All the old stuff will be backup and archived and the new site will only have the most recent information. "
January 8, 2014: Finance & IT Committee Meeting:
Website Committee was advised that the website is nowhere complete. Template still needs to done. Calls have been placed to vendor (Metarythm). Trustee Levison stated that there must be a Project Manager.
RECOMMENDATION of Committee is to move to a full time paid person to oversee website and not VP. Discussion to be held at 1/13/14 BOT meeting.
January 13, 2014: "Village President's Report
The Village Website is a work in progress and the transition is vastly approaching"
February 13, 2014
In an email sent to Nancy Scola (obtained via OPRA and posted on Maplewood Online), Alex Torpey writes:
"we’ve now got the website design done, and are now physically migrating the content so the plan is to be done and ready for a soft launch at the end of this month"
May 20, 2014: Alternative Press Article
[Village Clerk Susan Caljean] is excited about South Orange’s new website that will be launching in the next month or so.
October 21, 2014: Alternative Press article
“There’s an enormous amount of IT work happening…that generally seems like a higher priority than the website,” Torpey said. “So it’s not that nobody has been thinking about it, it’s just that there have been other projects that have come on line since the website was first talked about.”
Deputy Village Administrator Adam Loehner said that final date for the website’s launch is not set.
“We’re not giving dates because…of circumstances, what we’re learning about the website, what things they want to include in it have extended those times,” Loehner said.
October 26, 2014: Village Green Article
"[Village Administrator] Lewis said he anticipated the site would soft launch in the next 30-60 days and fully launch within two months."
January 15, 2014: Village Green Article
"We are no longer developing the new website [and] we requested an RFP to get another company in to redesign the website,” said Howard Levison in a brief discussion at Monday’s Board of Trustees meeting. The new website has been in the works for more than two years, since the town awarded a contract to MetaRhythm to completely redesign the site in October of 2012.
January 23, 2015
Without any public review or discussion, RFP for new website is posted on Village website by Alex Torpey, specifying it must utilize a Wordpress platform in direct contrast to Alex Torpey's dismissive comments on Wordpress in 2012
October 10, 2012 - 2012-235 RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AN AWARD OF CONTRACT TO METARHYTHM FOR THE REDESIGN, REBUILD AND HIGH-PERFORMANCE SERVER HOSTING OF THE TOWNSHIP OF SOUTH ORANGE VILLAGE WEBSITE IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $16,800.00
Motion:
Trustee Levison moved to approve Resolution 2012-235. Motion seconded by Trustee Davis Ford.
A roll call vote was taken:
Ayes: Bauer, Davis Ford, Gould, Levison, Rosner
Nays: Goldberg
Note: An OPRA Request for a "copy of the solicitation sent to all prospective vendors" returned the following response:
Please be advised, there are no records responsive to this request. Stan Wilkinson, Manager for Information Technology, has advised that vendors were solicited by phone call, not in writing.
Alex Torpey's updates shown in excerpts of approved minutes from the Board of Trustees Meetings and news articles since then reflect a total lack of transparency on the real progress:
November 26, 2012 - "The Village President, Trustee Levison, Village Administrator and the IT Manager
met with Metarhythm to discuss the functionality and design of a new website. A project timeline will
be forwarded to the Board for their review and information. [This was never provided] "
May 20, 2013 - South Orange Patch article:
We expect the website to complete early this spring, and the design process is already underway
July 8, 2013 : "The design component of the new website project is being finalized. The next step
will be to populate the website content, which will be completed over the next several months "
September 9, 2013 : "President Torpey reported that the website would be updated by the end of the
week. Old information would be archived and new information would be transferred to the new
website. "
October 17, 2013: "New Website Update
The upgrade is almost complete and contents from current website
next few weeks. The website will include the 311 system and information entered would filter over
to the Everbridge system. The website is being reviewed very carefully to assure anything
unnecessary has been removed before the transfer takes place. Deputy Administrator Loehner will
be accepting emails for emergency notifications. "
November 13, 2013: "Website update - IT will be working on transferring content to the new website which is
forthcoming. "
December 9, 2013: "New SO Village website status - design is complete and the transfer of all other components is
currently taking place. It is a couple of weeks away from a soft launch"
December 13, 2013 (email from Alex Torpey to resident):
"we're a few weeks away from having a soft version of a brand new site done, and a few weeks after that, a brand new website will be launched, with confirmed up to date information. All the old stuff will be backup and archived and the new site will only have the most recent information. "
January 8, 2014: Finance & IT Committee Meeting:
Website Committee was advised that the website is nowhere complete. Template still needs to done. Calls have been placed to vendor (Metarythm). Trustee Levison stated that there must be a Project Manager.
RECOMMENDATION of Committee is to move to a full time paid person to oversee website and not VP. Discussion to be held at 1/13/14 BOT meeting.
January 13, 2014: "Village President's Report
The Village Website is a work in progress and the transition is vastly approaching"
February 13, 2014
In an email sent to Nancy Scola (obtained via OPRA and posted on Maplewood Online), Alex Torpey writes:
"we’ve now got the website design done, and are now physically migrating the content so the plan is to be done and ready for a soft launch at the end of this month"
May 20, 2014: Alternative Press Article
[Village Clerk Susan Caljean] is excited about South Orange’s new website that will be launching in the next month or so.
October 21, 2014: Alternative Press article
“There’s an enormous amount of IT work happening…that generally seems like a higher priority than the website,” Torpey said. “So it’s not that nobody has been thinking about it, it’s just that there have been other projects that have come on line since the website was first talked about.”
Deputy Village Administrator Adam Loehner said that final date for the website’s launch is not set.
“We’re not giving dates because…of circumstances, what we’re learning about the website, what things they want to include in it have extended those times,” Loehner said.
October 26, 2014: Village Green Article
"[Village Administrator] Lewis said he anticipated the site would soft launch in the next 30-60 days and fully launch within two months."
January 15, 2014: Village Green Article
"We are no longer developing the new website [and] we requested an RFP to get another company in to redesign the website,” said Howard Levison in a brief discussion at Monday’s Board of Trustees meeting. The new website has been in the works for more than two years, since the town awarded a contract to MetaRhythm to completely redesign the site in October of 2012.
January 23, 2015
Without any public review or discussion, RFP for new website is posted on Village website by Alex Torpey, specifying it must utilize a Wordpress platform in direct contrast to Alex Torpey's dismissive comments on Wordpress in 2012
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More than TWO AND A HALF YEARS after a contract was awarded and paid for in full, getting nothing in return, the Village is now issuing an RFP for a new vendor on a platform specifically dismissed by Torpey in 2012