Trappe Borough Collaborates with Ursinus Students on New Website

Trappe Borough residents now have easier access to municipal information on a new website, thanks to a collaboration between borough staff and Ursinus College Associate Professor of Math and Computer Sciences April Kontostathis, and  students Johanna Warren, who graduated from Ursinus in 201 and  current student Sara Bajor.

The new website features a large “borough news” section, as well as “community Tools,” which helps residents to find council agendas, minutes, budget and audit reports, codes and ordinances, and much more. 

Trappe Borough Manager Jacquie Guenther said the project began when she came to the borough in June of 2010.

“Over the course of the next few years it became apparent how inadequate our website was because individuals would go to the website with the intention of finding the information they were seeking but almost always would get frustrated because they couldn’t find it,” Guenther said.

Guenther met with Ursinus President Dr. Bobby Fong and asked if he could utilize some college IT student to help develop the website, as there were no funds in the budget for an expensive website overhaul in the borough budget. Fong put her in touch with Kontostathis.

“These lovely young ladies had their work cut out for them,” Guenther said.  “When they couldn’t figure out how to do something I had requested they researched it and found a way to do it. Needless to say they put in hundreds of hours designing the website to meet my vision,” Guenther said.

At the council’s December meeting, the board unanimously voted to provide both Warren and Bajor with $300 each.

According to Guenther, the graphics are visually stunning, and features such as “About Us” highlight the demographics and attractions of the borough.  The website has write-ups “for everything from the Attractions to the Zoning Hearing Board (A to Z),” Guenther said.