Against the backdrop of a contentious public gathering, the Hills City Council on May 12 rejected a pro bono offer by Allen Saakyan to modernize the city’s website.
At the council’s last meeting, Saakyan, Hills, had demonstrated what the city website could look like, but the council opted to table the decision until all members were present.
While some had initially viewed the website favorably, they decided against it Tuesday.
“I think we’re able to do everything we need to do (with our current website),” said council member Dennis Boese. “Yours is beautiful, Allen, but I don’t think we need one that grand.”
Saakyan and members of the new Hills Area Chamber of Commerce are seeking a website that includes a business directory, community calendar, information on city finances and more.
The website proposal, requests for city data and an expected lawsuit against the city have stirred up local tensions, leading to the council rejecting Saakyan’s offer last week.
“All of the pushback that I got (for your website) was basically personal as far as how you conduct yourself in public and how you’re presenting ideas,” said council member Dusty Seachris said to Saakyan. “Mostly in a negative way.”
Saakyan questioned the change from the council’s initial reaction that seemed to favor the design.
“After (the last meeting) Jimmy (Susie) walked up to me and said ‘We all loved it,’” Saakyan said. “Then something happened in the last month … There are certain power structures that are moving this aside.”
Seachris pushed back at that notion.
“I think with a lot of situations going on with social media, you’ve naturally irritated folks and then (they) in return talked to us,” he said.
“As you’ve said in the past, we are the voice of the people. And that’s kind of where we’re standing.”
Council member Vickie Busswitz advocated keeping the city’s current website.
“Yes (the current website) needs some upgrades to it, but we can do everything that we want to,” she said. “My vote is to stay with what we have.”
The council moved on to other meeting items, including a public forum that more directly addressed the community tensions in Hills and the expected lawsuit. (See the related story in this week’s Star Herald.)
