By Victor Whitman, Times Herald-Record
Monticello — Is it a Web page or a cybertime capsule?
The official Monticello Web page has been posting a big, blown-up photo and message from former Mayor Gary Sommers, as well as the names of the former treasurer and two former trustees, none of whom have served on the board since spring.
There's also a public notice slamming the current administration for alleged elections fraud in March — all on a site that's suppose to give businesses and folks looking for a new home a window into Sullivan's largest community.
And the village has been paying for it.
But village officials say a new site is coming soon.
In late October, the village hired Bridgeville-based Focus Media to redo the site for $3,200, plus a $240 yearly fee.
The company will present a draft to the trustees on Dec. 6, according to Village Manager Richard Sush.
Former Webmaster Tom Rue — a supporter of Sommers — removed the site for a week in March, alleging current Mayor Jim Barnicle's campaign committed fraud during the election. That charge was never substantiated.
Rue returned the page to the Web on March 24 with a public notice.
Sush said it's taken this long to update the site because the village was waiting for a volunteer to follow through on a promise to do the page for free. Months passed, and the work never got done. The village has been paying $46 a month in domain fees to a server since April.
So why is the old site still up?
"Honestly, I didn't know how to take it down," Sush said.
Barnicle chalked up the delays to the transition.
"I'm not aware that we were paying for the [former] Web site, but I'm fully aware that we need to create a new one."
Meanwhile, Sommers said he's received numerous internal village e-mails on his private computer. On Aug. 31, for example, he was notified of an order for an $840 digital camera.
All this has been "just ridiculous," the former mayor said.
"It's a matter of calling up the server and saying [that I] shouldn't be linked."