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Elmsford staff recommends CivicPlus website bundle to replace aging site; board discussion but no final vote recorded
Summary
Village staff outlined a three-part CivicPlus package — municipal website, FOIL management and agenda/minutes system — that would cost $38,000 in year one and $30,000 annually under a three-year deal; trustees discussed features, ADA and cybersecurity compliance and possible procurement timing but the transcript does not record a final vote.
Elmsford staff presented a proposal to replace the village’s current website and add integrated record-request and meeting-management tools, saying the current site is “tired” and out of compliance with new cybersecurity and accessibility standards.
The proposal is for a CivicPlus-hosted package that combines a municipal website, a FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) management portal and an agendas/minutes management system (AMMS). A staff member summarized the recommended package and said, “If we do the whole package, our year 1 cost is gonna be 38,000, and our annual cost is gonna be 30,000.” The package would be structured as a three‑year agreement, staff said.
Why it matters: Village staff said the existing site lacks modern security, integration and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility features, and that migration to a more corporate-managed CivicPlus platform would make ongoing patching, cybersecurity defenses and future upgrades easier. That, staff argued, would both reduce risk and provide residents more online services, including live streaming of meetings and integrated building-permit and payment links.
Staff framed the vendor choice as a migration advantage: CivicPlus has acquired other vendors and offers integrated modules — including a social‑media archive, streaming, FOIL workflow and a building-permit product that could be linked with the new site. “Our website is tired. It’s been tired for a while. It’s out of compliance with a bunch of new requirements both for the state, cybersecurity as well as our insurance policies,” a staff member said. The same speaker described new DDoS protections and automated scanning for ADA compliance in the vendor’s package.
What was discussed - Cybersecurity and insurance: Staff said the new platform includes third‑party DDoS protection and will help meet cybersecurity‑insurance requirements. The vendor’s managed model was presented as easier to patch than the village’s current open‑source platform. - ADA compliance: Staff said the platform includes tools to scan and flag accessibility issues in documents and pages and would help bring the site into compliance with federal accessibility expectations. - Integration with municipal services: Staff and trustees discussed links to third‑party payment systems and the possibility — over time — of integrating building‑permit workflows, online permit filing and credit‑card payments through CivicPlus’s broader product portfolio. - FOIL and records workload: The FOIL module was described as a way to route, timestamp and inventory requests that currently require large amounts of staff time; staff said they receive about five to ten records requests per week and that the new workflow would reduce single‑person dependency. - AMMS and minutes: Staff demonstrated that the agenda/minutes module can create and publish minutes and agendas more quickly and could archive historical documents, including scanned materials. - Procurement timing and cost structure: Staff said the vendor renewal is due in March; the recommended bundle carries a year‑one cost of $38,000 and $30,000 annually thereafter on a three‑year term. Staff offered two payment-timing options and said delaying payment until June would raise the cost; a final procurement decision and contract timing were left to a subsequent meeting.
Board process and outcome: Trustees discussed forming a small committee to guide branding and voice for the new site and asked technical questions about features such as scheduling, calendar printing and resident access to services. A board member asked whether trustees should approve a resolution to purchase “bundle 1” (the municipal website, FOIL module and AMMS). The transcript records a call for a motion to approve that bundle but does not record a formal motion text, a mover/second, or a roll‑call tally or final vote in the work‑session transcript provided. Outcome: not specified.
Clarifying details recorded at the meeting: staff said the village’s current renewal cost would exceed $20,000 if no changes are made; the recommended package year‑one cost is $38,000 with $30,000 annual thereafter on a three‑year term; staff said the FOIL workload runs “5 to 10 a week” and that AMMS demonstrations showed scanned historical agendas going back to the 1800s for other municipalities.
Next steps: Staff said they would follow up with CivicPlus about timing and might form a small committee to develop the village’s voice and branding ahead of migration. Trustees also asked staff to confirm whether the vendor can support printed calendars and other resident-facing features many users request.
Ending: The discussion concluded with trustees expressing support for modernization and efficiency gains but the transcript does not record a final board decision or vote on the proposed CivicPlus bundle.
