Pittsfield Drug and Alcohol Meeting Minutes
6:30 pm at the Pittsfield Youth Workshop
April 26, 2010

In attendance: Zach Powers, Rick Frost, Dan Ward, Paula Driscoll, Officer John Webber, Sarah Sadowski, Chief Robert Wharem, Clayton Wood

Meeting called to order at the new time of 6:30

The goal of tonight’s meeting was to update our online presence.

I. Prep for Community Forum-
a. Still needed- Sarah polled the group on what PDAC needs to be prepared for May’s forums. Paula suggested having a brief review about the role facilitators will play. Denise mentioned having a quick activity at the table may help. Having a couple of rules on a table card at each table was discussed.
b. Notes- Dan suggested that it is important to urge participants to relate in more general terms, versus divulging information about what is going on within their own households, Officer Webber shared the DARE phrase “Someone I know”. The final consensus is to stay local with the data and keep the multi year comparisons. The Chief highlighted the importance of pointing out “how we’ve moved the needle”. The group agreed to avoid grade level data and correlations be examined by PDAC before being touted at the forum.
c. Food- $100 budgeted for each night. Chief will talk with Katrina and report back to the group. The group identified a goal of getting at least 60 people in.

II. Online Presence
a. Google- We cannot use Google to search for PDAC at the moment but Clayton can turn it on and we can enable something called Google Analytics. Clayton explained that the town site, for example, is busiest at certain times of the year- 10-50 times more hits during the Balloon Rally, vs. 200-500 hits a week during the rest of the week.
b. Policy- Policies similar to the school district were discussed- no kid names, can shut down everything, can’t comment or register without approval, etc. Two or three people should be able to upload info and minor changes will not require waiting for a PDAC meeting for thw whole group to approve. Clayton recommended a two day window for content and urged members not to sweat typos because changes will be easy.
c. Comments- Clayton posed the question, “What constructive use will the comment feature allow?” Comments can be moderated this way and not look like sites like the Concord Monitor (several participants pointed out the tendency to bully or attack someone when the perpetrator doesn’t have to see the person face to face. Issues of character definition were discussed and the group agreed to outline a policy similar to that of the school. The question was raised “Are you really going to help kids with the comments?”.
d. Encryption- Clayton explained how the site is encrypted to avoid “bots” that “ping” and thereby count as visitors to the site. Clayton explained the site is not in html code but another code and when it hits a browser it generates the code. This helps thwart programs that troll for information (emails, Social Security numbers, etc.). The source code is gibberish and you need a key to unlock it, a password if lost or forgotten cannot be given out by Clayton. This is the same system that the school uses and Clayton is happy to report that they have yet to receive a spam email.
e. Updates- Meeting minutes will be put up on the site, along with policies and more volunteer information. Send all minutes to minutes@mypittsfield.com. The introduction will be modified and an updated member list will be submitted. We can link to the town calendar. Clayton pointed out the importance of the “three click rule”. If a visitor to the site cannot find the information they need in three clicks then they are unlikely to revisit the site. Also, content needs to be updated often- you need to earn the attention of visitors as Clayton put it.
f. Theme- Clayton explained why red is used sparingly on sites. The group chose another theme to update the page, a blue green globe that will be replaced by the PDAC logo shortly. The group vetoed any theme that was suggestive of smoke.

The meeting was adjourned at 8 pm.

The next PDAC meeting will be Monday, May 10th at 6:30 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Sarah Sadowski