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Communications staff highlight new web records portal, podcasting and closed‑captioning plans
Summary
Communications and outreach staff described a consolidated communications budget, a new Laserfiche public records portal, continuing closed‑captioning for in‑house videos and plans to expand digital outreach platforms.
Susan (Communications & Outreach staff) told the council the city has combined media production, printing and public relations budgets into a single communications and outreach budget and highlighted recent investments in digital tools and staffing.
The presentation introduced members of the city communications team, noted the department’s video and podcast efforts (Ames Minute and Ames in Focus), and described plans for a redesigned, mobile‑friendly and ADA‑compliant website in the spring. “One of the best ways to sort of show you what we’ve been up to this last year is to show you a video,” Susan told the council during the presentation.
Staff described a recent records‑management upgrade. Renee (records staff) said the city replaced an aging electronic records management system with Laserfiche and has published a public portal that currently includes five years of minutes, agendas and packets and provides keyword search access for citizens. “Laserfiche provides uniformity across city departments… and supports council goals of public engagement and transparent communication,” Renee said.
Councilmembers asked about cybersecurity and ransomware protections for the new records platform; Renee said Information Technology has implemented two‑factor authentication and backup systems and that the Laserfiche deployment is more secure than the legacy software.
Members of the council also asked about closed captioning and ADA compliance for video content. Susan said staff already adds captions to recorded in‑house videos and uploads captions to platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. The council and staff discussed the upcoming federal deadline noted in the presentation (August 17, 2026) for live captioning and compliance; Susan said the department’s primary remaining challenge is securing a vendor for live captioning of meetings. “If it’s something that we’ve made in house, pre‑made in house, they should be closed captions on closed captioned anywhere that we’re sending them,” she said.
Staff described outreach metrics for several platforms—LinkedIn growth of roughly 300 followers after focused attention was cited as an early success—and said the communications team is testing interior bus advertising boards and the new podcast series to reach residents and targeted audiences.
No formal action was taken; staff said they will return with implementation details and launch timing for the website and other platform expansions.
