IserveU still alive, councillor claims
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
IserveU, the novel but controversial municipal election platform that promises Yellowknifers a greater say in city council decisions, is still alive although when it will actually be up and running remains a mystery.
Volunteers are still performing tests on the website that will allow residents to cast votes on important issues before council, according to people who remain involved in the project, including Coun. Rommel Silverio - the only council candidate running on the platform during last year's municipal election who was elected.
The three IserveU candidates running in the election pledged to follow the will of the majority who voted on the website providing enough people took part.
Following the Oct. 19 election, IserveU organizers told Yellowknifer the website wouldn't be ready until January. Then it was learned one of the principal architect of IserveU, Paige Saunders, had left, leading to many to speculate that the platform was officially dead.
Silverio, however, insisted yesterday that there are people working "every day now" to get the IserveU platform operational.
"I look forward to adding IserveU to my toolkit as soon as it is available," Silverio stated by e-mail.
"I am satisfied that the volunteers are working very hard. I can promise people who voted for me that once it is available from the volunteers I will do my part and more in making it accessible and engaging for them, so that we can work together to make even better informed decisions for Yellowknife."
Dane Mason, one of the organizers who ran unsuccessfully under the platform, told Yellowknifer "beta testing" for the website went well and the group is looking forward to the launch of the platform, although he wouldn't say when.
"As a bunch of volunteers, we're limited to working weekends and evenings in between other projects, so it's taking longer than it would for a publicly funded or staffed organization," Mason stated by Facebook message
He added many of the people behind the IserveU movement in Yellowknife were busy earlier this year getting the NWT's first co-working space, Good Company, up and running in the former Union of Northern Workers building on 52 Street.
"With IserveU it's been thousands of hours of work but it'll be worth it to introduce a forward-thinking way for Yellowknifers to engage with their local government," wrote Mason. "We've actually had recent interest from communities in two provinces down south that see the value of our made-in-the-North product."
Mason added the group's priority remains finishing up the software for Yellowknifers as promised. As an "open-source project," the software will be available to anyone at no cost for use and adaptation after a finished product has been made available here, Mason stated.
He wrote that coders are this week planning to make the system able to upload files, and updating and testing the security system.
"The platform is currently being tested by a local non-profit too, and it's looking like most of the bugs are fixed as hoped," Mason stated.
