Wilton officials recently implemented a major change to the Town’s website: the domain extension has changed from wiltonct.org to wiltonct.gov — a move that officials say will bolster online security.
Town Administrator Matt Knickerbocker made the announcement at the June 18 Board of Selectmen meeting.
“I’m pleased to announce that this week, we transitioned to [wiltonct.gov] for our public-facing website,” he said. “It’s an important thing… it’s a big forward step in our security.”
Knickerbocker said state cybersecurity experts encouraged the change.
“It’s a signal to residents that they’re actually dealing with a government agency,” Knickerbocker said, reducing the chance of falling prey to “bad actors.”
First Selectman Toni Boucher praised the change, saying it would reduce confusion.
“It confuses people that we are .org,” Boucher said. “A .org is a nonprofit. A .gov is a different entity altogether, and it should be that.”
The transition is expected to be seamless. Knickerbocker explained that anyone who uses the .org address will automatically be redirected to the new site. Similarly, emails sent to Town employees at the old address will continue to reach the recipients.
“Everything will shift over,” Knickerbocker said, noting the diligence the Town is following to meet Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requirements.
Boucher praised the move as part of other important technological changes at Town Hall.
“I think a lot of important improvements, enhancements and advancements are happening in IT,” she said.
For now, the appearance of the Town website remains the same — but a different look and new functionality may be coming. Last Friday, June 28, the Town issued a request for proposal for “the design, implementation and maintenance of a new website for the Town of Wilton.”
The RFP called for, among other things, “a design unique to the Wilton Town website” and functionality such as “an interactive community calendar as well as a municipal officials’ calendar; email links to departments; a knowledge base to help users navigate the site to locate specific information; compliance with ADA guidelines with regard to users with vision impairments; an RSS newsfeed; the ability to opt in to emergency and community announcements by email or text with a link for users to sign-up for these services; and an internal search function to help users find the information they need.”