Before we begin a few facts; The Town of Henniker is a corporation. This corporation’s assets has a total assessed value of ~$800,000,000. That’s 800 million dollars!!! This number is very important. It is the basis upon which your entire tax rate is calculated.
We elect a five member select-board and they hire employees, to over see these assets. It is very important to elect officials who can comprehend and understand how all the working parts operate. Most importantly they must understand it is other people’s money they are working with.
Now this brings us to the present. I serve on the CIP (Capital Improvement Plan or Program) committee. This is an appointed sub-committee of the planning board. We are five homeowners who want to help our elected officials manage our assets worth ~$800M.
Each budget season, the committee sends out forms to all department heads asking for them to provide updated information regarding the condition of the capital assets they are in charge of.
This year’s request by the town administrator to redesign the town’s web page has has raised a few important questions.
“Redevelop town website, comply with ADA regulations, improve service and communication. The current site is over 10years old, and tech platform will not be supported by current vendor after 2026.” CIP TA WEB SITE REQUEST 2025
The issue, our current web page IS NOT 10 YEARS OLD! The current web page was designed and went live in 2020. Page 4 web contract 2020
The request from the town administrator also states that our current web page is not compliant with The Americans with Disabilities Act standards. 12.19.25 Memo to CIP Committee
The town administrator’s comment seems quite odd. #4 page 6, “4.) Your CivicCMS website is highly ADA compliant upon launch. We have partnered with accessibility services provider AudioEye to offer additional functionality for those clients who prioritize compliance [emphasis added] beyond our existing best practices. Henniker NH Proposal – CivicCMS 2020
Does Henniker the client prioritize compliance???
Page 15 of the proposal specifically outlines the support they will provide to our employees to insure compliance, “Our trainers will use CivicPlus best practices to teach your staff to keep your content and design elements accessible and up-to-date with the latest ADA/WCAG standards.” Henniker NH Proposal – CivicCMS 2020
Has our staff ever reached out fore additional compliance training??? If we do not know how to use our current program’s content management software, why should we expect our employees to be able to use a new more sophisticate program system???
Some serious questions need to be asked here…It is amazing what public officials will do, when they think you are not paying attention!
OHB, keeping it real…you can be the judge…