Town signs domain name pact with owner


 

KENT — A disagreement over the name of the town’s Web site has apparently been resolved.

Visitors to the town’s former Web site, at kentct.org, are now redirected to a new site, townofkentct.org.

Web site designer Mark Wither of Lightning PC in Prospect owns the town’s domain name kentct.org.

At their regular meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at Town Hall, the selectmen approved an agreement between Wither and the town over the domain name.

The agreement recognizes that Wither owns kentct.org and that in the event his company dissolves or changes ownership, the ownership of the name reverts to the town.

The agreement also specifies that if the town severs its relationship with Wither, he will sell the domain name back to the town at market value.

The agreement also specifies that the domain name can not be used for any other purpose than for a municipality.

Meanwhile, at the selectmen’s meeting, both Tax Collector Debbie Devaux and Assessor Patty Braislin protested recent media coverage of Wither and the town’s Web site situation, submitting a letter to the board that they both signed.

"The notion that [Wither] is somehow at fault because the new Web site is not functioning as it should does not make sense," Devaux and Braislin wrote.

"[Wither’s] ownership of the domain name has never been an issue. It is used as a tool to allow various vendors remote access to their software. Just because [the new Web site] is not working as planned, some other entity does not need to be made the bad guy."

Selectman Vincent LaFontan asked Devaux and Braislin if either of their two departments had anything to do with the town’s Web site. Both said no.

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