LHS graduate making town technology improvements

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — A Lynnfield High School Class of 2024 graduate spent this summer updating the town’s website and improving the town’s social media presence. 

Town Administrator Rob Dolan said during a recent Select Board meeting that LHS Class of 2024 graduate and current University of New Hampshire freshman Ryan Michalski was hired this summer to work on a variety of technology issues, including updating the town’s website. 

“Ryan is trying to improve our website in order to improve community engagement,” said Dolan. “We are trying to look at ways where we can do things better, and Ryan has done an incredible job. He has been a real pleasure to have in the building.” 

Michalski said he previously worked for the school system’s Technology Department for the past four years. 

“I have done a variety projects for the town in the past,” added Michalski. “I most notably created a website for the Meeting House. The town’s rentals for the Meeting House went way up after the website was launched. I will be majoring in Information Technology at UNH.”

Michalski said he established five main goals while working for the town this summer that included updating the website. 

“The backend of the website is terrible,” said Michalski. “It is very difficult to use even if you are experienced with using it. I provided training to the staff on how to update the website.”

Dolan said Michalski created a “very understandable video on how to change our current website.”

Michalski said he worked to update personnel information, links and images for different town departments on the website. 

“It makes things a lot easier to find,” said Michalski. “We cleaned up a lot and got everything into different subpages.” 

Michalski has also been working on creating a new capital projects website for the town. He recalled that Select Board member Alexis Leahy recently requested that information about the town’s capital projects be posted online in order to be “more transparent.”

“This is going to be the hub for all the capital projects going on in town,” said Michalski. “It has a slideshow of all the different capital projects going on. It is a very simple website, but it had to be different than the one we have now because the one we have now is so limiting.” 

Michalski said the capital projects website also includes descriptions about the different projects as well as photos and renderings. 

“It also includes blog posts,” added Michalski. “If there is any other information you would like to see on there, I would be more than happy to add it.”

While Michalski said the new capital projects website is still in development, he said it can be viewed at projects.lynnfieldma.gov.    

Michalski also said he began laying the groundwork for the town getting a new website with Town Accountant/Assistant Finance Director Julie McCarthy and call firefighter Stephen Groussis, who both help out with technology issues due to the town not having an IT department. He reached out to the town’s website provider, CivicPlus, in order to discuss “what other options are out there.”

“They informed me there is a new website out there called CivicEngage Central,” said Michalski. “There are many other communities that use this site such as Reading, Middleton, Andover and 41 other communities in Eastern Massachusetts. It is pretty standard across the country to be using this platform. It has a very friendly content management system, which is the backend of it. It has better graphics and makes things easier to find. It integrates with social media.” 

Michalski showed the Select Board the town of Reading’s website. 

“It looks a lot nicer than the website we currently have,” said Michalski. “There are big buttons and nice images. There are bulletins right there, so you don’t have to go searching through a bunch of old files to find out what is happening in town. All in all, it is much better than what we have.” 

Michalski also said he worked to improve the town’s social media presence. 

“That really helps with community engagement,” said Michalski. “I created an Instagram account for the town. We also created some procedures that we want town departments to start following in terms of being more active. We want town departments to be active.” 

Michalski encouraged different town organizations to “tag” the town’s Facebook and Instagram pages. 

“That would be great because we can then post it on the official accounts,” said Michalski. “Everybody should follow them.”

Michalski also said he provided “general tech support and technology upgrades” this summer. 

“I installed new solid-state drives and a bunch of computers, mainly over at the Senior Center,” said Michalski. “It changed their boot time from taking 20 to 25 minutes to turn on their email to 10 seconds. It is a huge improvement.”

Michalski also set up Wi-Fi networks at both interim Town Hall locations at The Centre at Lynnfield shopping plaza and at the Senior Center. He said the DPW garage now has Wi-Fi as well. 

“It was much needed,” said Michalski. 

Michalski also said he helped town employees solve different technology issues. 

“I made it a point to get to both Town Halls each day while I was working,” said Michalski. “I think town employees were very happy to have someone help with them with different issues.” 

Dolan said Michalski will be staying on as a technology consultant through January. 

“The key for us is sustainability,” said Dolan. “From now to January, Ryan is going to stay on in a consulting basis. He is also going to help us with social media policies. Although Ryan is going to UNH, he has agreed to help us make the transition. We have to live within our reality in our budget, and having someone like Ryan as well as Steve Groussis, Julie McCarthy and Police Chief Nick Secatore, who all have other jobs, has saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars. We are making things work and we are making things better. I think it will definitely improve in 2025. Thank you Ryan.”

Michalski said was “very optimistic” about the town’s online presence improving in the future. 

Select Board Chair Dick Dalton thanked Michalski for giving “a great presentation.”  

Leahy and Select Board member Phil Crawford also thanked Michalski for the work he did this summer. 

“Best of luck in school,” said Crawford. 

Michalski thanked the Select Board for the kind words.