Photo Op…
Seems like a small item but it isn’t.
Have you ever looked at the City Council web page.
 The first thing you notice is the pictures of the Chair and Vice-Chair. No other Councilor has their picture on the “home” page. You can click on the “links” lower on the page, links to Councilor at large, Central , East and West District, and get individual photos of each councilor listed in alphabetic order.
I think the City Council “index” page should have a group photo of all the Councilors. Below it their names should be listed.
They can continue to have the link section with their individual photo, but the information on that page should also include their “official” email address., the one that ends with “@ci.methuen.ma.us”.
Why do I think this is worth writing about? The City Council is an elected body. A team of persons whom the electorate chooses to represent them. They are to act as a group or a team. It is not called the City Councilors, but the City Council. A singular group. In the spirit of that name, they should be photographed as a team and placed on the web page as a team.
I understand that any team is made up of the individuals upon that team. That composition may or may not work well together, but the point is they should be striving to come to the point where they operate as a team and the web page should show them as the elected team and not as the individual players.
The other part of the team is the Council employees. I also think they should have their photos on the web page. They are not even listed and, yet, they are the face of the Council, daily, when you do any business with the Council on any time that is not a scheduled Council meeting. Those individuals deserve to be on that page. They are working every day. I have always found them to be considerate and dedicated. A courtesy would be to list the two employees, by name on the web page.
Let’s not treat the City web pages as another political ad. This is the face of the City that we send to the World.
Show the Council as a Group of elected officials.