BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The mayor, two council members, and the IT director held an informal session Monday night, May 14, to let residents know how the township plans to communicate relevant information to them in the future. About 30 people attended the event at the Civic Center.
Ironically and whether by coincidence or not could not be determined, but it was later reported that the township website was hacked at 6:30 p.m., one-half hour before the scheduled start of the meeting. Although the panel apparently knew of the intrusion, nothing was said. The website was up and running again by about 9:30 p.m. that same night, according to Mayor Michael Venezia the following day.
At the meeting, residents heard from the mayor, Council Women Wartyna Davis, Jen Mundell, and IT director, Jean-guy Lauture. What they heard was that there will be two primary sources for township information: an updated website and a new app. Venezia said the township is also considering a Bloomfield Facebook page as a third source.
“I think we sometimes fail to communicate,” Mundell said. “That’s why we’re here.”
Lauture said the township was building an app that would send automatic notifications, provide citizens’ requests and scheduled events. A new vendor was also found to provide the right website to tell “the Bloomfield story,” he said. The improved website will raise public awareness as well as respond to public requests and manage public events.
“It’s going to be designed from scratch,” Lauture said. “We need to find a way for people to find everything in two clicks.”
Included in the site would be webpages for health, recreation and the public safety departments.
Davis asked to learn the experience of residents as they tried to navigate the Bloomfield website. It was Davis who had placed on the council agenda the need to have a conversation about communicating with the public.
One resident thought the local TV station should be expanded. But TV station manager Bob Duthaler said not having copyright permission and the length of youtube presentations was an obstacle for an expansive approach to local TV.
Another resident reminded the panel that not everyone is on Facebook to which Venezia said all residents would be reached by an email blast. He also lauded the number of clicks the township website received daily: 18,000.
“That’s a good number,” he said.
Susan Hebert, of the Open Space Trust Committee, said the committee did not have a Facebook page because it costs money. And the township, she said, has not provided the committee with one on its website. It was surmised that Hebert hoped a new website would rectify this situation.
When a resident inquired about the ability to watch a council meeting live, or webcasted, Lauture said that was a few years away because specific band widths were required first to “livestream.”
Another resident wanted information on what could and could not be recycled. She was concerned because she still saw people recycling plastic bags and styrofoam, two materials that should not be recycled. She also wanted more online information about the trees being planted. One resident asked what an “app” meant. Venezia asked her if she had a smartphone. She said yes. He said an app would connect her smart phone to the township website.
In a telephone interview this past Tuesday, May 15, Venezia said it was Mundell who first became aware that something was not right with the township website. She went to it on her smartphone and found it blank. At first she thought something was wrong with her phone. She brought it to Lauture’s attention.
“Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there with time on their hands who are destructive,” Venezia said. “Jean-guy was working on the problem while we were there. It brought you to another link. If you clicked on it, you’d get a virus.”
Venezia said he did not think the hacking incident was done to coincide with the communications meeting.
“Nothing is 100 percent bulletproof,” he said. “We have over 18,000 clicks a week. A hacker sees the potential for doing damage.”
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