Golf Manor council debates website redesign, finance committee recommends ending app payments

Golf Manor councilmembers and residents spent part of the May 19 meeting debating the village's public-facing communications tools and whether to continue paying for a village smartphone app.

The discussion began during public comment when former councilman Lou Marks urged the village to study how residents actually use online tools and to consider a website redesign that matches neighboring communities. "Are we asking the folks at Deer Park and Silverton how they see their websites being used?" Marks asked.

The matter moved from public comment to finance when Councilmember David Fisher reported the finance committeereview of the app. Fisher said the village faced a roughly $5,000 annual maintenance fee and that the app had recorded about "56 downloads" since deployment. "Close to us at $20,000 plus $5,000, probably about $200 a person," Fisher said while summarizing the committee's cost per user calculation.

Finance committee members recommended not continuing the ongoing maintenance payments for the app unless the vendor can demonstrate substantially greater community use within a trial period. The committee also asked staff and the community engagement committee to pursue a website redesign with resident input, and to clarify how any future app work would integrate with a new site.

Council did not take a formal, full-council vote on canceling the app subscription during the meeting; the finance committee recommendation will inform future budget discussions. Community engagement committee members said any redesign would include resident focus groups and comparisons with neighboring municipal sites.

Councilmembers who spoke supported greater resident input before additional spending. The village will continue work on website user-research and report options to the finance committee at a future meeting.