Council slates special meeting for Aug. 23

Topics include choosing website designer, filling panel vacancy

Perry Village Council is holding a special meeting on Aug. 23 in an effort to choose a new website designer and fill a vacancy on its own panel.

During the 7 p.m. meeting, council is slated to hear presentations from three local contractors who are seeking to redesign the village’s website — perry village. info — and provide assistance in keeping it running properly.

Selecting a website designer and consultant is not a new experience for council. The village website has been redesigned twice in recent years by outside contractors.

“We’ve tried it both ways,” said Councilman Phil Cassella, at council’s July 26 meeting. “We really paid a good price on one, we went to the one that was bare bones, and (the website) is still not working.”

In choosing a new website designer, Cassella said he wanted to ensure that the contractor chosen will provide ongoing support to village officials in operating and updating the website.

Selecting a website designer and consultant is not a new experience for council. The village website has been redesigned twice in recent years by outside contractors.

Council President Jean Schonauer, meanwhile, said there’s a level of creativity that the village needs to seek in a website designer.

I don’t want to just see a screen with a bunch of clicks or whatever,” Schonauer said. “I want to see something that is enjoyable to look at, it’s enticing ... I want it to be easy for either businesses coming in to navigate to the resources that they would need, and for residents to easily navigate to resources that they might need.”

While council will hear from the website designers in open session, they’ll convene in executive session to interview three village residents who have applied to fill an open seat on council.

That vacancy arose on Aug. 9, when Council President James Gessic was appointed as mayor. Gessic had been serving as acting mayor since former Mayor Vicky Stevens began a medical leave of absence on April 13. All six council members cast a vote of “no confidence” in the mayor on Aug. 8.

Stevens’ resignation also was approved by council on Aug. 9.

Although no council members or village officials spoke in detail about Stevens’ performance at the June 28 meeting, there were some references to an atmosphere of “turmoil” and “contentiousness” in the village during Stevens’ tenure.

Along with Gessic being elevated to mayor, council also voted on Aug. 9 to appoint Schonauer as the panel’s president.

Gessic said he hopes that council will select a website designer and appoint a new council member before wrapping up the Aug. 23 meeting at village hall.