Wallace unveils new website

WALLACE – While the small Idaho town still takes pride in its history and showcases its ‘stuck in time’ look, the City of Wallace recently took a small step towards modernization by introducing a new website.

Wallace mayor Lynn Mogensen and the rest of the city government made the official decision to create the website in October of last year, but Mogensen explains that this has been something the city has been kicking around for several years.

“Technically we never had a website,” she said. “There was a website that Greg Marsh maintained that pertained to Wallace, but not the City of Wallace. With the unfortunate passing of Greg, we kind of amped our thinking of ‘you know, Greg was onto something here and we really need to do something.”

The new website, designed by Gravis Tech, went live earlier this week and sports several features that visitors and residents alike would find useful.

“It provides people with dates of upcoming events and meetings,” Gravis Tech co-owner Sera White explained. “It gives them the opportunity to find common forms on the website. Agendas are published in advance of city council meetings and meeting minutes from prior meetings are posted. It also provides information and contact information for city council members.”

The home page can take visitors to five different sections including Leadership (contact information for city officials), Governance (city hall documents and items), Departments, City Calendar, and Community and Visitor Info.

The home page also provides information on the city itself and reasons to visit Wallace.

It took Gravis Tech roughly a month to build the site, then another month for the city to add content to it.

The city initially looked at others to do the work in addition to Gravis Tech, but it was clear that they were the best choice.

“We had talked to other companies,” Mogensen said, “but it’s nice to stay local and it’s nice to have them in Wallace.”

With the site up and running, White (a Wallace resident herself) is pleased with the finished product– especially compared to what the alternative used to be when there was no resource like this.

“Prior to this website, the operations of city hall were a black box,” she explained. “Probably my biggest frustration was getting access to the upcoming City Council agendas so I could decide if I was interested in attending...Also, just remembering what days meetings are held monthly was challenging for me. I participate in a lot of meetings, so having to keep track of which Wednesday of the month what meeting is on is always annoying. Now I can just go to the website and get all of the information I need.”

After browsing the page herself, Mogensen is also happy with the website and is excited that the city is moving into the 21st century– technology wise, of course.

“I like it, its very nice. It’s here...so we can be better informed. It’s time to step up to modern technology.”

The new City of Wallace website can be seen by visiting http://wallace.id.gov/