Commerce City launches redesigned city website with mobile-first and accessibility improvements

Commerce City unveiled a redesigned city website that went live July 31, city staff told the City Council during a study session. The site, developed after a 2024 vendor contract with Granicus and a multi-month design process, emphasizes mobile responsiveness, visual content and improved forms and navigation.

The redesign was driven by user research and a 2023–24 request-for-proposal process that led to a June 2024 contract with Granicus, Travis Huntington, the city’s community relations manager, told the council. “We launched the new website July 31,” Huntington said, adding the city is continuing to refine content and features based on resident feedback.

City staff said the rollout responds to growing mobile use: a city survey during the redesign showed 58% of respondents primarily use mobile devices to access the site. Huntington said the old site (launched in February 2017) scored about 3.76 out of 5 in the most recent survey and that respondents wanted more visual content and easier navigation.

Key features staff highlighted include a homepage designed to allow multiple paths to the same information, improved menus, a mobile-responsive layout, enhanced forms functionality and an address-based “What’s Around Me” lookup that shows nearby parks and city facilities. Staff also said the economic development subsite and the employee intranet remain under development and are expected later in the year.

Huntington told the council the city contracted with ZenCity for additional engagement and analytic tools. He said the front-end tools should help the city standardize resident engagement and that backend sentiment analysis will help staff identify recurring online concerns; full implementation of ZenCity is expected in the early part of next year.

Council members asked about early feedback and accessibility. Council member Kim said she was interested in what the city had heard after launch. Huntington said early informal reactions at community events such as Music in the Park have been positive and that the site’s new navigation appears to reduce the number of clicks users need to find information.

On accessibility, Huntington said the city is compliant with the state’s accessibility rules as currently written but acknowledged there are still pages and older documents (for example, legacy master plans) that are not fully WCAG‑formatted. Huntington said the city will provide reasonable accommodations on request for documents that predate the new accessibility law.

Council members also asked about multilingual support and outreach to older residents. Huntington said a language ribbon available at the top of each page offers a broader suite of translations than the previous Google‑dependent solution and that the city can add languages on request. He also described coordination with community partners — for example, a senior-commission “lunch and learn” and digital literacy courses run with Servicios de la Raza — to help residents who need in-person assistance accessing the site.

On web addresses and bookmarks, Huntington said most short “vanity” URLs (for example, c3gov.com/subscribe for email subscriptions) were preserved, but many deep bookmarks may have broken because internal file paths changed during the redesign. City staff said they are working to restore or redirect commonly used links and provide a site map in the footer.

Practical details highlighted by staff and council during the Q&A: - The economic development site and the employee intranet remain in development and were expected later in the year (economic development subsite likely in Q4). - The site includes an email subscription function (“City Alerts”) and the city-manager weekly update is among the selectable subscription lists (c3gov.com/subscribe was confirmed to still work). - Communications staff asked residents to report usability problems to communications@c3gov.com or ITleadership@c3gov.com so the team can triage and fix issues.

City officials said rollout has not been flawless and they are continuing iterative improvements. Staff emphasized ongoing feedback collection through the site’s feedback form, social media and in-person events.

Why it matters: the website is an official public-facing channel for permits, alerts, news and service requests. A mobile-first, more accessible site reduces barriers for residents seeking city services and notifications, and the new analytics tools could change how the city prioritizes outreach.

Staff follow up: Huntington said staff will continue to train the site’s search engine, add or restore needed vanity URLs and work with departments to improve content cross-linking. The communications team also plans targeted outreach to seniors and Spanish-speaking residents and invited council members to share community feedback with staff.

Sources and attribution: this article is based on a presentation by Travis Huntington, community relations manager, followed by questions from Council members Kim, Chacon, Douglas, Dukes and Mayor Pro Tem Noble during the Commerce City City Council study session. Direct quotes and data come from council meeting remarks and council Q&A.