Fulton County Web address snafu hides site

PHOTOGRAPHER: Jason Subik

Fulton County’s Web site domain name has expired, leaving the county government without an easily accessible Internet presence until a new Web site is established, officials said Tuesday.

Internet browsers who type in the county’s old Web site address, www.fulcony.com, will find the smiling photo of a blond-haired woman with a backpack, a typical image posted in lieu of an expired Web address.

Fulton County Information Services Director Anthony Basile said the county has paid a $125 fee to the U.S. Government Services Administration to establish a new Web site: www.fultoncountyny.gov. The new site is the same as the old one but likely won’t be available at the new address for Internet users until later this week, after all of the Internet service provider companies have been informed of the new domain name, Basile said.

Officials said the county has been without a functioning Web site since Dec. 1.

“When the county first hired a contractor to build its Web site, the contractor registered the domain name because at the time the county did not have a credit card to pay for the registration,” Basile said. “The contractor was the one who received the e-mails warning that the domain name was going to expire. We didn’t realize it.”

County officials would not reveal the name of the company which first registered the Web site’s domain name without a Freedom of Information Law request. Basile said the contractor was not at fault for the Web site going down.

“It really wasn’t them, we just didn’t know it was going to happen,” he said.

Fulton County’s Web site has typically included information about county departments and services as well as a calendar of the county’s public committee meetings.

Broadalbin Supervisor Lee Hollenbeck said he doesn’t think the county has any committee meetings scheduled for this week. He said the only committee meeting he is aware of before the next full board meeting is a meeting of the county finance committee scheduled for Dec. 15, with a full board meeting following later that day.

Basile said Internet users can still access the county’s Web site even though the official new address likely won’t be functioning for all Internet service providers until the end of the week. He said users can type in 74.39.247.66 and the Web site should come up.