By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — If anyone has memorized the fax number for the Town of Casco, that has been changed.

There have been quite a few change-overs on the technology front for Casco. 

First off, there are the improvements that have happened in the town office to better protect and save the information used in the town’s different departments.  

Secondly, the Casco website will be undergoing a complete make-over. The new website should be unveiled by Dec. 29.

Also, the digital sign, which is located in front of the fire station and has been having problems since the beginning of 2021, will be replaced sometime in January 2022, according to Casco Town Manager Tony Ward.

Some of the changes have already occurred.

“We were antiquated on our firewall. What we have done is we upgraded the firewalls, and put in one system for all the departments,” Ward said. “We switched to one system. This way, we guarantee that everything is backed up on a regular basis. We are required under Freedom-of-Access Act and other Maine law to maintain certain records. This ensures that we can do that.”

So far, the town has upgraded what cannot be seen — the firewalls. Also, a new fax machine was purchased. Other proposed office equipment purchases will be presented as part of the town manager’s five- to 10-year capital improvement plan. 

“The only piece of equipment we upgraded is a fax machine/copier,” Ward said. 

By the way, the town’s new fax number is: 207-803-1250.

Late last week and over the weekend, the Town of Casco’s website was unavailable to the public. This status has nothing to do with the website renovation, Ward said. 

“The site down doesn’t have to do with our web redesign. Our host agent has gone down. That’s the web company that we have to host our website,” Ward said on Monday “We hope to have website back up by the day’s end.”

By Monday afternoon, the town’s website was operational. Prior to that, pertinent information was being posted on the town’s Facebook page. Again, the website problems did not have anything to do with the webpage renovations. 

Recently, the town hired Civic Plus, a national company, to upgrade and design the town’s website, Ward said.  

“It’s important for a lot of reasons. It’s a fantastic way for us to communicate with the public and to be transparent,” he said.

“People can do online communication remotely instead of coming into the town office. They can register a car, or a snowmobile. They can pay your taxes on line. It just makes it easier for some,” he said.  

Dec. 29 is the date the website will be completed 

The town will continue to accept photos that people capture of the area. An invitation for photo submissions will be on the new website, Ward said. 

“We will try to use as many [photos] as we can,” he said. 

“Staff has been involved since the beginning. They have definitely provided information on what to include on the website. And the residents have told us what they’d like to see,” Ward said.