With the 2020 municipal elections, new teams have been installed, carrying new projects for the communes and communities of communes (EPCI). However, with the current sanitary conditions related to Covid-19, the internal organization and functioning of municipalities and EPCIs (Établissement Public de Coopération Intercommunale) can sometimes be complicated.
Digital transition: an advantage for municipal or community agents and elected officials
The digital transition has played a fundamental role in addressing these issues. Indeed, many collaborative tools can be put in place to preserve social distancing while continuing to administer a community properly.
For the organization of remote meetings, shared video tools, such as the most popular Zoom Video Communications, offer a remote conferencing service that combines video conferencing, online meetings, screen sharing (thus presentations) and internal messaging.
The implementation of an extranet linked to an Internet site makes it possible to share documents online between the agents and the elected representatives of the various committees. This extranet allows elected officials to have access to the documents necessary for the preparation of municipal and community councils. It also allows agents to work from home by combining this with a shared video tool.
But in concrete terms, what are the advantages of having a website for a community?
A local authority must meet its obligations to inform and serve its citizens. With the current situation, having a website is all the more important so that users can have immediate, easy and remote access to information published by EPCIs.
A website is an excellent tool for participatory democracy that allows citizens to be involved in the actions implemented by the community, which proves their importance in the decision-making process.
It is essential to communicate information to citizens, but this can reach other targets. Indeed, its scope goes far beyond the municipal or community territory. For example, we can highlight attractive activities and images, which will have the advantage to attract tourists and sometimes even future citizens. In concrete terms, having a functional and informative website becomes a vector of attractiveness for a territory.
It must be taken into consideration that the site must be readable and accessible by all. All the functionalities must be adapted to the different media used by Internet users and especially to smartphones and tablets. In order to prove its efficiency and regularity, it is essential to post the latest news of the community.
