City staff unveils redesigned municipal website; project net cost cited as $9,000

A staff member presented the city’s redesigned website at a Mayor and Board Commissioners meeting, saying the site went live last Wednesday after a redesign intended to reduce pages and prioritize service transactions.

The staff member said the previous site had 424 pages; the new site consolidates content to about 100 pages and emphasizes service-oriented features such as a search bar, a “How do I” service finder, a news/calendar widget and a mobile-responsive layout. "We wanted a modern look, and we wanted to reduce the number of content pages that we had," the staff member said.

The presentation cited analytics and a community survey used to guide the redesign. Staff said the largest survey age group was 35 to 44 and that visitors most often sought specific services such as utility payments, trash collection schedules, permits and job postings. Staff also reported heat-map testing of the homepage showing the top clicks on live meetings, careers, pay utility bills and solid waste information.

Staff described page-level traffic on the old site as concentrated on a few pages — the homepage, utility-bill information, crime information, job opportunities, the airport and solid-waste services — and said the redesign is intended to make those services easier to find. The staff member demonstrated that the site is responsive for desktop, tablet and phones and pointed out the homepage hero image featuring an Earth Day photo.

On cost, the staff member said the total website project price was $20,000. They said $11,000 of that was covered under the city’s prior maintenance contract with Granicus and that the city’s additional, new cost for the redesign totaled $9,000. The staff member said the maintenance portion of the Granicus contract runs through 2027 and that hosting can continue under that arrangement.

The staff member identified Elijah as the web master who helped with project management. When asked if the commissioners had seen the new site, a commissioner responded, "It looks good. And, I like that you had foresight to know that it needed to be updated." The staff member invited questions at the end of the brief presentation.

No formal motion or vote was recorded on the website during the meeting.