After reading the newspaper article 'Governments want web site continuity,' I had a phone conversation with Mr. Carrington concerning some of his remarks. Mr. Carrington told me during the phone conversation he had never visited the Chamber of Commerce web site and was only talking about the City of Thomson web site. This web site had a person's name listed that had passed away two years ago. Mr. Carrington went on to state in the news article that the web sites needed to be "maintained correctly and updated correctly."
Where did the cost of $27,800 up front and $6,900 a year to maintain come from? Did this go out for bid or is this a 'good ol boy' project?
If this did go out for bid, what were the other bids? And from whom?
If we already have sites in place that only need to be consolidated, why the high cost of "cut and paste?" (The wheel has been invented, no need to re-invent it!)
If the City of Thomson and McDuffie County want to have a common site with the City, County, Tourism and Industrial Development on it -- great, but why should our tax money be used to support the Chamber of Commerce web site? The Chamber of Commerce is not a government agency. The Chamber of Commerce is a business supported organization to promote the members' businesses.
One thing to keep in mind when you agree on spending taxpayers' money is will it benefit all the people of the county. If this site only benefits certain government agencies, then the site should be paid for with money out of the agencies budget.
And... A web site is only as good as the people that submit the updates and changes. Spending $27,800 + $6,900 will not keep a web site current if each agency is not held responsible for submitting changes.
Thank you for your time,
John R. Jenkins
Thomson
