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Blog offers new tool for city

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

Screenshot of the Milton Matters blog by Milton City Manager Todd Schmidt.

MILTON — Milton residents have a new way to get to know their community and city administrator.

Administrator Todd Schmidt launched a new blog, “Milton Matters,” Feb. 26.

A blog, or Web log, is a Web site with individual entries, like a journal, that often incorporate text, pictures and other media.

Schmidt’s blog will discuss “city issues, community happenings and important reminders,” along with some tidbits about Schmidt’s family life, he wrote in the first entry. Entries so far have talked about the need for renovations at the Milton House Museum, discussions about a community pool and a Habitat for Humanity dance he attended with his daughter, Sydney.

Communication is a priority for Schmidt, he said. He already e-mails monthly departmental reports to people who request them and posts them at City Hall. He helped update the city Web site after arriving six years ago and creates projector slides to help residents follow along at meetings.

The blog is one more tool, he said.

“This effort from my standpoint is really an effort to get more information to the public,” he said.

Schmidt said the blog will evolve as he learns what readers want. It doesn’t allow comments, but Schmidt welcomes readers to call or e-mail him with suggestions and questions.

“If someone thought to themselves, ‘Boy, why the heck does the city do that?,’ this might be an avenue for them to request information,” he said.

He’ll make an effort to respond to feedback, he said.

The city isn’t forgetting about its residents who don’t have the Internet, but it’s important to keep up with technology, he said.

“It can be fun, too, learning and using new technologies,” he said.