Politics & Government

Mayor Only Approached One Web Designer For New $22K Site

Grilled by a township Democrat, Barberio said he didn't shop around.

Confronted by a township Democrat who the Mayor James Barberio said he only met with one company when choosing a web designer.

At Saturday's municipal budget session, Tom Wyka, a Democrat who ran for congress in 2006 and 2008, asked Barberio if he looked at other vendors before choosing the firm Alpha Dog Solutions, of Belleville, which is charging $11,000 every six months to maintain and update the website.

Barberio, a Republican, said he only met with Alpha Dog. He added that he didn't think it was necessary to shop around since the company specializes in municipal websites and seemed well-qualified.

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"That's what they do for a living,'' Barberio replied."If you break your foot, do you go to a brain surgeon? No, you go to a specialist. I went to a specialist that deals with municipal websites.''

Wyka said he thought $22,000 a year was too much to pay someone to update and maintain a site.

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"I could get someone to do it for $300, but you wouldn't get what you're getting here,'' Barberio said. The company will update the site frequently, cover township events once a month and post video and photos on the website, and write some copy.

Although Wyka had requested that more information be added to the site, such as a register of checks written by the township, Barberio said he wasn't ruling that out. The site only launched about a week ago.

"You have to give it a chance,'' said Barberio, who defended the new site.

"I'm getting tons of compliments,'' he said. "I had a vision of transparency in government, and that's reflected by this site."


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