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Pandemic Spurs Conversation on Technology Needs in Chester

During the pandemic, the town of Chester has adapted its operations to meet the needs of its citizenry, in many instances involving the increased use of technology. Now, the need for updated technology and equipment, both to drive efficiencies and to offer residents a contactless, streamlined process when interacting with town hall, is being recognized by the Board of Selectmen (BOS).

“We’ve been talking about it for years, but the pandemic really brought that to the forefront, as far as, how do we enable people to do business with the town if we’re in the middle of a pandemic,” said First Selectman Lauren Gister at the Feb. 10 BOS meeting.

“More and more people are looking to do things online, pandemic or no pandemic,” said Selectman Tom Englert. “I think this brought it to the forefront that, ‘Gee, wouldn’t it be great, if..?’ To do away with some of these paper forms” that require a trip to town hall.

From taxes to building permits or library fines, Gister said, she is “doing some research on the ability to collect fees…in an online capacity.”

Gister used the Park & Recreation Department as an example of a town department already using an online system, PayPal, to process registration fees, saying that she is exploring whether “we need different systems for different types of payments.”

In addition to potentially increasing online services, the town is looking into “the kinds of technological applications and/or equipment [that] might be advisable to either update what we have to something that works a little better for the kinds of presentations that we do,” said Gister.

As a few examples, the need for the technology to present something on screen for an audience comes during budget presentations, town meetings, and even for social occasions, like a projector to show movies on the meeting house lawn this summer, according to Gister.

Englert discussed the need to employ remote meeting technology when in-person town meetings resume.

“I think it would be great if, when we get back to in-person meetings, if there is a way for us to display documents on a screen in a room that is also visible to those who might like to attend remotely…for informational purposes, folks who can’t get out but would still like to see what is happening, see what is being presented, participate in discussion as an audience of citizens,” said Englert.

As the town is now working on its budget for fiscal year 2021–’22, Gister will be exploring existing and new technology needs.

“I’m going to try to sort of dive into that a little bit in the next month and a half,” she said.

Last fall, the town of Chester received approximately $85,000 in grant funds from the state’s Small Town Economic Assistance Program to fund a project to install wi-fi in Chester’s downtown area.

The project, which would entail fitting an adapter on existing streetlights, aims to help residents and visitors with cellular service and Internet in the downtown area.