GARDINER — A new municipal website that focuses more on community events and information is being developed with the help of the $100,000 grant from the Orton Family Foundation.

The city won the foundation’s Heart & Soul grant in January. The money will be used for a two-year community-driven planning process that engages citizens and plans for the future.

“The new website will basically be like an online scrapbook,” said Nate Rudy, the city’s director of economic and community development. “There’s going to be a calendar where Gardiner’s nonprofits and volunteer groups as well as city committees can post information about upcoming events.”

City Manager Scott Morelli said the city will still keep the existing municipal website, www.gardinermaine.com, which he said is long overdue for an update. The new website will promote events hosted by volunteer organizations, nonprofits, businesses and city committees, he said.

“It is a community website that will help facilitate the dialogue from the Orton discussion and will also serve as a community calendar of events for people who want to see all of the things happening in Gardiner,” Morelli said.

He said it will be a place to develop marketing efforts for the Heart & Soul process and extend Gardiner’s reach outside the community to promote economic and community development.

A separate project will be the overhaul of the city’s current website, he said.

“Both projects are linked to being more transparent, providing more information to the public, and receiving more information from the public,” he said.

Rudy said Gardiner is seeking proposals from website development firms to create the new website. The proposal makes reference to the winning firm maintaining the site after it is launched, but Morelli said the city would be the site administrator.

He said bids aren’t due yet, so they don’t know how much it will cost.

He said the project’s request for proposal went out two weeks ago. The deadline for proposal submissions is June 13.

Rudy said groups and community members will be able to post photos and videos and their comments on a central message board following each event.

“So then we can share with the rest of the world all the things we love about Gardiner and hopefully next year, when we move into summer, people will consider coming out and being a part of it all,” he said. “It also will get people here in the community talking about Gardiner and what we want to focus on in the future.”

The new website will include an updated city logo and image and offer broad appeal with user-friendly interfaces and compelling graphics, he said. The site also will provide information on business opportunities in Gardiner and the city-owned Libby Hill Business Park.

“We want to promote dialogue and civil engagement, which is what we like to see from our community members,” he said.

Mechele Cooper — 621-5663

[email protected]