KINGSTON COMMON COUNCIL

T (845) 616-8664

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BRAD WILL, ALDERMAN ! MEMO

January 22, 2014 Mayor Shane Gallo, Esq. City of Kingston 420 Broadway Kingston, NY 12401 RE: ! Letter dated 1/21/2014 Dear Mr. Mayor: Regarding your letter dated today, I offer the following: Since you make no direct reference or point to any particular source, I cannot directly respond to your comments about my concerns on the City webpage. I do appreciate the brief summary on the status of improvements to the webpage, and I am encouraged that some acknowledgment of its deciencies, and progress has initiated on revamping it. I viewed the digital roadmap you noted, it rightly identies benchmarks and steps that need to be taken to achieve a rich, online experience for visitors and users of the City webpage. I am also glad to hear that Kyle McIntosh, the Citys IT Director, has made an effort to clean up the pages. As you and I know, there are numerous embedded pages and links on the site; when I identied several I brought them to Kyles attention and he forwarded them as needed. He has also been helpful to me on email issues, and I appreciate his prompt assistance. I am concerned that the year-old digital roadmap may be languishing, and would appreciate an update on its progress at some point soon, as I imagine would my colleagues on the Common Council. In the spirit of open, cooperative government, it is my intention to introduce legislation to seek professional assistance with building a completely new website, one that represents the vitality and creative energy of our great city. I believe it to be a very worthwhile investment, that the funding can be identied through grant(s), and that a top-tier website requires the services of a paid, professional web development company - be it our good friend Kale at Evolving Media Network, or a company that responds favorably to a well written and organized RFP. Similarly, I am heartened to hear that Raleigh Green has been retained to assist with tourism and cultural affairs. He is well connected to the artists, movers and shakers of Kingston, and has already accomplished a great deal working with the KLT on the
140 MAIN STREET, KINGSTON, NY 12401 BWILL@KINGSTON-NY.GOV

FROM THE DESK OF

F (845) 750-6332

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BRAD WILL, ALDERMAN !

FROM THE DESK OF

Greenline and Rail Trail Committee projects and initiatives. I couldnt agree more that branding the City of Kingston is critical to building a thriving economy for the new millennium. Where I disagree and take offense is with your baseless character attacks on me. I have great respect for all those who serve our city, and look forward every day to working with them. Do not mischaracterize my person to fellow City Council members and City department heads, as your letter puts forth. I stand ready to cooperate with your ofce and the executive branch at-large, but that does not translate to capitulation. I take my position as an elected ofcial, working on behalf of the residents of the Third Ward, very seriously, and will always exercise my best judgement with the committees on which I serve, and as liaison to City boards and commissions. On the last point, I look forward to Corporation Counsels legal interpretation of KLDC executive session powers related to my three-quarter hour dismissal from this months meeting. Normally I would not send a memo of this nature and delicacy to all council people and department heads, but again, in the interest of open government and serving the City, I am compelled by your blasting a letter addressed to me for all to read. You may wish to continue down this path of issuing unsubstantiated personal attacks, or elect to be truly cooperative, and together we can get good things done for Kingston and our constituents. Sincerely yours,

Brad Will
cc: ! Aldermen ! Department Heads

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