High-Tech Council Member Keeps in Touch
May 19, 2006
By LOYD BRUMFIELD
News Editor/Today Newspapers
Wade Emmert has always had a desire to stay abreast of high technology and its rapidly changing nature.
When he was first elected to the Cedar Hill City Council in May 2004, he wanted an easy way for his constituents to stay in touch with him, so he developed the first blog operated by a public official in the Best Southwest - and maybe even in Texas at the time.
“I’ve always been interested in technology and community service, and having a blog about the city council just seemed like the logical thing to do,” he said.
Emmert’s blog, www.wadeemmert.com, has grown into a site that gets hundreds of hits a week. His latest innovation for the site, a podcast element, has drawn 200 people who have listened to part one of a two-part interview with Mayor Rob Franke.
The blog offers biographical information, archives, links to the city’s site and other pertinent information, contact information and a section for public comment.
People can also sign up for e-mail notification when Emmert updates the site.
“I never expected such a response,” Emmert said. “I get comments now on just about everything I post. Almost all are positive, but sometimes we get into the discussion of issues.”
On a regular basis, Emmert updates the blog with links to issues that impact the city, whether it’s new from the latest council meeting or information about developments in the school finance issue.
School finance reform drew a passionate response, with some saying the latest efforts are a step in the right direction, and others saying give less money to public schools and more to private schools.
Podcasts are a relatively recent development, thanks to the profusion of iPods and other like audio and video products.
“I wanted to do more than just put city council meetings online,” Emmert said, adding that part two of the mayor’s interview is coming soon, and he would also like to talk to former mayors, members of the city staff and other community leaders about being subjects of future podcasts.
Right now, he doesn’t plan to turn meetings into podcasts, fearing their dry nature might not be practical.
“I want to inform or entertain people,” Emmert said. “Listening to a dry city council meeting just doesn’t seem like the way to do it.”
Eventually, Emmert wants to archive the podcasts, burn them on discs and bury them in a time capsule slated for construction at the new government center.
“That way, when people open the capsule 50 years from now, they’ll get an accurate historical record straight from the people,” he said. “You can’t do that with tapes, but as long as there are computers still around to play the medium, we’ll be OK.”
Emmert’s site also supports RSS technology, or “Really Simple Syndication,” meaning people can access news feeds from the site without actually visiting it.
“People can access a feed and they can view it in a number of different programs and they don’t have to keep visiting the website,” Emmert said.
The councilman spent about 20 hours - not all at once - constructing the framework of the site and getting it running, but the work of updating it doesn’t take much time, he said.
As of now, he’s the only member of the council to take the plunge into the blogosphere.
“There are people who have websites during campaigns, but it’s important for me to be able to stay in touch continuously with people,” Emmert said.
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Welcome!
My name is Wade Emmert and I am a Council Member for the City of Cedar Hill. This web site is a way for me to share with you some of my thoughts about issues important to the City.
It is my sincerest goal to be a good steward of the citizens’ trust. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to serve you.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at Wade.Emmert@cedarhilltx.com or (214) 740-3164.