Town Of Arlington: Mass. Municipal Association Awards Town's Website, Annual Report

Press release from Town of Arlington:

01/27/2022 2:29 PM

At its 2022 annual meeting held in January the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) announced that the Town of Arlington had won two awards. Arlingtonma.gov was the Category 1 (population more than 25,000) winner of the MMA Municipal Website Award. The Town of Arlington is also the Category 1 (population more than 15,000), 2nd place winner of the MMA Town Report Contest.

“We are honored that the MMA has recognized our website and annual report with these awards,” said Adam Chapdelaine, Arlington’s Town Manager. “Kudos to Joan Roman, the Town’s Public Information Officer, and everyone who worked on both the website and the Annual Report to earn this honor.”

“This is a really nice recognition of so much of the work that goes on in the background at Town Hall,” said Roman. “Both the website and Annual Report are a culmination of many staff across the organization working to keep the public informed.”

Annual Town Reports serve to communicate important information to residents and promote an understanding of, and involvement in, local government. Judging criteria the MMA used for Annual Reports include layout and cover design, arrangement of material, presentation of statistics and data, summary of the year’s achievements, evidence of local planning for the future, and the report’s usefulness. Since 2000 Arlington’s Annual Reports have been recognized by the MMA 14 times. They may be viewed at arlingtonma.gov/annualreports.

The website award recognize excellence in customer service, functionality, convenience and government transparency delivered by a municipal website in Massachusetts. Arlington’s website scored highest using the following criteria for municipal websites:

Current and timely information

  
Use of social media and tools for online community engagement (including an events calendar)
Intuitive navigation tools and organization of material
Ease of access to resources for residents, such as the ability to apply for licenses and permits, pay bills, order documents and make suggestions
Availability of public records
Clear branding as the official municipal government site
Robust search function
Mobile-responsive design
Details about municipal departments
Visual appeal and overall experience

The Town of Arlington website is available at arlingtonma.gov.

This press release was produced by Town of Arlington. The views expressed here are the author’s own.