Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Website Services Public Records topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commission discusses website overhaul, inmate list and public-records process; county weighing vendor options
Summary
County staff described a website strategy session and options for adding an online inmate list and public-records (CORA) request functionality; commissioners discussed Civic Plus, Civic Ready notification system, Everbridge, and costs and training implications.
County staff reported progress on a planned website overhaul and raised several operational questions about online services and public-records access.
A staff member said she completed a strategy session and gathered a 65-page breakdown of the county website’s content. She told commissioners she will obtain bids from Civic Plus and another firm, Social Manage, and said timelines vary: roughly 2 months for one vendor, 3–4 months for another and 6–9 months for Civic Plus, depending on scope and budget.
The meeting included discussion of adding an inmate list to the website. Sheriff’s personnel confirmed maintaining the inmate list is not a legal requirement and that the list had reduced phone-call volume to the sheriff’s office. Commissioners were told Civic Plus can host a live inmate page for an extra fee and that the county’s current process is manually updated by sheriff’s office staff.
Staff and commissioners also debated the county’s emergency-notification and outreach platform. One staff member said Civic Ready (the county’s current system) offers more targeted subscription options than Everbridge, which sends broader alerts via Homeland Security channels; commissioners discussed retraining department heads and requiring staff to use the notification system if the board decides to keep Civic Ready in place.
On public-records requests, commissioners discussed updating the county’s CORA (public-records) process and fees and putting a CORA link or form on the website. Staff said adding a form or link should have minimal additional cost, but updating fee schedules and the underlying public-records resolution will require those figures and possibly a resolution update.
Commissioners asked staff to coordinate department-head training for Civic Ready and to return with website vendor pricing, a recommended timeline and a proposed CORA process for the commission to review.
