I’ve been waffling on how I’ve wanted to manage the site from the backend for almost as long as I’ve been posting. I decided I wanted to keep it on WordPress but design and aesthetics is hard for me, especially for something I’m trying to build. I’ve finally pull together a fork of the default Twenty Twenty-Four block theme. It’s a work in progress but gives me something closer to what I want. There will still be a few rough edges I’m sure. But it’s a big checkbox I can fill.

I haven’t done a great job of promoting the newsletter (or the site for that matter) but I’m trying to change that. I’m in the process of migrating the newsletter to MailPoet which integrates directly into the site. No going back and forth between Mailchimp and WordPress and my text editor. I can write once and then build a newsletter from that. They also make it easy to integrate into the site. I loathe quick pop-up signup forms but I think I’ve found a balance so far. If you are already signed up, there’s no need to sign up again but I will cross-check the list with any new sign ups to make sure no one gets duplicate emails.

To that end, one of the other struggles I’ve had is drawing a line between adding context to agenda items and interjecting my opinion. Streamlining the newsletter will allow me to write separate posts for the week. Preview and wrap-up posts will be more objective than perhaps they have been in the past. My goal has always been to bring awareness to the issues coming before Council, knowing in advance of the vote. I will save the limited opinions for the “This Week” post or separate topic specific posts.

If you see experience issues, please get in touch.