The town of Boothbay has officially launched the redesign of its website.

Town Manager James Chaousis showed off the final product at the May 28 selectman meeting. In addition to being more visually and functionally appealing, Chaousis explained, he said he felt the new site had the potential to bring important information to residents more quickly and should provide residents a better functioning local government.

"The intent of the website is to create transparency in government," he said in an interview with the Register. "By creating more user-accessible services, it will allow voters to get access to information about tough, controversial issues."

During the meeting, Chaousis first described the new "Search" function residents can use to find content. If a resident cannot find what they are looking for, they can type keywords into the search bar and look for relevant content in their search results.

"As we add content (to the website)," Chaousis said, "it will automatically populate (in the search results)."

For people more inclined to dig for information without the "Search" tool, the site now offers a "Where do I go for..." page. It is an index of key terms and services each highlighted by a link that will take users to the correct page on which the relevant content is located.

Under the listing for "Ambulance," for instance, the link takes users to a page that describes the ambulance service and which also includes a link to the Boothbay Region Ambulance Service homepage.

There are now also individual pages for town departments such as the business office and public works. The "Where do I go for..." and "Departments" headings are listed on the main navigation bar at the top of each page on the site.

Residents can find information about town budgets and local businesses, search for contacts in the site's directory and access quick links on the homepage that deal with the most pressing issues of the day. As of the writing of this article, such quick links include the Boothbay 2013 Annual Report, a listing of tax maps, and two links to new online services.

Residents can now complete their mooring registration and submit tax payments online. Other "E-Services" include boat registration, burning permits and vehicle registration renewals, among several others.

"We actually offer a lot of e-services the community is completely unaware of," Chaousis said.

The website also makes room for emergency announcements. If the town wishes to share breaking news, such as a road closing or the cancellation of a meeting, residents will have the ability to view those breaking news items listed front and center on the homepage.

Additionally, the town will soon begin working with Town Hall Streams, a streaming video host, to provide real-time streaming of public meetings. Residents will be able to watch board of selectmen meetings unfold as they happen, and will be able to return to the Town of Boothbay website to access recordings of past meetings.

The old website operated under a "shoestring budget," Chaousis explained, and as a result it was relatively poorly designed and did not offer the breadth of services the new site does.

Virtual Town and Schools of Maynard, Mass., designed and set up the new site, and it will continue to provide support for the town in the coming years. The Web design company rolled out the new site for $3,995, and maintenance and hosting costs will demand an additional $1,750 for each consecutive year.

"This is a very cheap website," Chaousis continued, stating that the town is getting a lot of content for the price.

Overall, Chaousis appeared to completely stand behind the new website design, saying that the public needs a resource of this magnitude.

"We have a very diverse and educated public in Boothbay," he said. "(The site) allows the voters to self-service the information they want."