By Alexis Tarrazi / Senior Reporter

NORTH ARLINGTON (Feb. 18, 2010) — The borough’s Web site (NorthArlington.org) was recently taken hostage, according to Borough Attorney Randy Pearce, who alleged that the former Webmaster refused to hand over the password for the Web site to borough officials.

Scott Dance was reportedly hired in 2006 to create the borough’s e-mail system and Web page to be utilized by residents to access information about the mayor, council, events, borough departments, resolutions and meeting minutes, among other items. Once the Republicans attempted to get a new Webmaster, after gaining the council majority recently, they hit a cyber wall.

“Scott Dance, the Webmaster, he is equivalent to a terrorist taking hostages,” Pearce said to The Leader. “He has taken the Web site hostage. … This is affecting thousands of people. Forget the fact that it is not legally right, it’s morally not right.”

Borough Administrator Terence Wall said the borough was getting charged approximately $1,000 per month, plus an additional $65 per hour whenever North Arlington needed something posted online — such as an announcement for a local health clinic.

“Too many things were just not right,” Councilman Richard Hughes said of how the Web site was maintained. “We were getting charged a lot of money. Just to put a simple notice online we had to go through the Webmaster and it would take a while.”

Additionally, since the borough’s e-mail system was being run through the Web site, Hughes said the majority of the council felt the situation could pose a security risk.

To ensure a more efficient system, the borough hired Tarcisio Nunes to run the site at the same rate. Wall will now have access to post calendar updates and events online, which will save the borough money.

However, before the transition could occur problems began to arise. Dance allegedly held back the password and all access from the council because he was claiming he owned all rights to the Web site, according to Pearce.

Pearce said that, according to the borough’s contract, Dance does not own the rights to the Web site. The borough retains the rights.

“He has no rights and we have asked him on numerous occasions to turn over the password,” Pearce said. “He is subjecting himself to serious legal measures.”

Former councilman, Albert Granell, said that Dance does own the rights to the borough’s Web site.

“When I was taking over in 2006, the link to the borough Web page was not Northarlington.org, it was NA.org,” Granell said in a phone interview. “The Webmaster owns that Web address and he is more than happy to work for them.”

Councilman Steve Tanelli said the actual agreement between the borough and Dance is missing. Tanelli said Wall has instructed Dance to turn over any paperwork on this subject to rectify any problems.

Shortly after The Leader inquired about the Web site issue, an e-mail was sent from the former Webmaster’s company to the newspaper.

“Fortunately, we were able to reach out to the mayor who was eager to move forward and kind enough to accept the necessary information,” according to the Artwebsites.net e-mail. “The matter is now thankfully resolved.”

Wall confirmed that the passwords were sent the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 16. However, Wall added, “subject to confirmation that the passwords are operative with the new vendor.”

Nunes has not confirmed the passwords work as of press time.

— Contact Alexis at 201-438-8700 or e-mail Alexis@LeaderNewspapers.net

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