Two months after the new Discovery Bay Web site was presented to the town board, CSD President Kevin Graves was hopeful fellow directors might approve the launching of the updated site as early as this week.

“I believe that the new Web site presents well and I believe that the suggested corrections (by town staff) have been made, so I’m going to try and get it approved,” said Graves.

Last September, the town hired Discovery Bay residents Jennifer and Chris Finetti, owners of NIA Creative, to update and revamp the town’s existing Web site. At the regular CSD meeting of April 7, the board – and the public – got to examine some of the new Web site’s features. At the same meeting, town staff and directors asked for additional time to navigate the site on their own and familiarize themselves with the features before approving the site.

“When we presented the Web site originally,” said Jennifer, “the board and staff wanted the chance to go through it on their own and make comments. We received the feedback, 99 percent of which was text edits, and I’ve let the board know the changes have been made … I think the town is going to love it.”

The new site features a more modern look, highlighting photos of the town, landmarks, a list of staff, a community calendar and a news and announcements component that will allow for timely news releases and community updates, plus the capability to post agendas and meeting minutes in a simple PDF format for public viewing.

The new Web site also comes with audio and video streaming abilities for uploading of the monthly CSD meetings and special events.

“We’ve got the capability there (for audio and video),” said Jennifer. “All the town has to do is decide if they want to implement it, but it’s not a simple decision. If you say you are going to have audio and/or video, then it becomes a staff and resources and equipment issue, which is not inexpensive. But it would definitely be cheaper to do just audio.”

Graves said he would favor the audio option.

“I would definitely like to see audio streaming,” he said. “It would solve a lot of the minutes (taking) problems.”

Town Manager Virgil Koehne believes the new site is ready to go and hopes the board will approve its launch even if changes still need to be made. “You know Web sites are always works in progress,” said Koehne. “There is always something to tweak or something to replace. But this new site is a lot more robust than what we originally had, and I hope that we can get this new site up and online and advertise it to the residents of Discovery Bay. It looks great.”

A discussion of the Web site was listed as an item for board consideration and possible action on the June 16 CSD meeting agenda.