Millville newsletter informs residents …now
Millville Town Manager Linda Collins’ goal for the next year is to set up a Web site for the town. Locals could find out information about Millville on the prospective site, read minutes, check a calendar, read proposed ordinances, even fill out forms. Such a site could also relieve some of the town employees’ work by providing another outlet of information, she said.
Coastal Point • Jonathan Starkey:
Millville Town Manager Linda Collins shows off the town’s newsletter.
But such a site does not yet exist. Until it does, Linda Collins will keep working on and sending out her quarterly town newsletter, which has reportedly been popular with town residents.
“I just think it’s the greatest thing in the world,” Millville resident Wayne West said about the newsletter. West has been living nearby for 30 years but his property was just annexed into the town last year. “It informs the people that live in Millville what’s going on. We’ve never had anything like that before. It’s very well put together.”
“We’re trying to get as much information out as possible,” Collins said on Monday, “so people can’t say we’re not letting them know what’s going on.”
August’s six-page newsletter offered town residents information about proposed and passed ordinances and resolutions, information about the town’s history, calendars for upcoming workshops and letters from outgoing Mayor Gary Willey, Collins and the town’s annexation committee.
It also included a section on hurricane season and disaster preparedness — information town officials have learned from federally mandated emergency management training.
Mayor Tim Droney, who took over the position from Willey today, said that the newsletter has already garnered popularity in the small town of less than 300 residents.
“I love the newsletter,” Droney said. “I’ve had the nicest comments about the newsletter from people.
“I think it’s a positive thing” for the town, Collins said, adding that she doesn’t yet mind the work that the newsletter entails.
Collins said, though, that she tries to spread that work over a long period of time. Every time she thinks of something, she turns to the keyboard on the right side of her desk and begins typing. Then, after a few months of note-taking, she opens Microsoft Publisher, paginates the project and prints it out in the town hall.
Residents can expect the next issue on Nov. 1 and another in February, before the town council election.
“I enjoy it,” Collins said of putting together the newsletter. “I think it’s helpful to the community.” At least, “until we get a Web site,” she added.