Sedgwick County staff publicly previewed a redesigned county website and outlined an implementation timeline aimed at improving accessibility and navigation.

Matt Hare, principal programmer for the county's IT department, and Chantelle Crossman, web architect, presented the design and said the county hired vendor Exemplify after a 2024 request for proposals. "They delivered a set of prototypes, and we've been implementing those," Hare said. The county approved $100,000 in 2024 for the redesign and used Exemplify's prototypes to guide the current implementation.

Chantelle Crossman described the county's accessibility scoring via a third-party tool, Siteimprove. "Pre October 2024, we were at 79.8 for our score... Today, we are at 86.1, and the government benchmark is 87.6," Crossman said. Staff said the implementation will address the remaining identified issues; they reported resolving 49 of 68 initial accessibility issues and having 19 remaining to resolve.

Presenters demonstrated visual and functional changes in the preview: a homepage hero video, bolder colors and new card styles, revised event calendar styling, a split "connect" section for contact numbers and sign-ups, an expanded multi-level menu for desktop and mobile views, continued integration of translation widgets (Google Translate), and an updated search interface. Hare said revised alert styling and featured links in menus will be more prominent to users.

Staff supplied an implementation timeline: initial styling updates to be pushed in June, platform upgrades in the second half of 2025, and content cleanup and department-level training to follow. Nicole (staff member) said the team plans to present the design to the county's Access Advisory Board for public feedback once it is live.

The county confirmed that it currently streams commission meetings via its agenda/minutes platform, Granicus, and also streams on Facebook and YouTube. Staff said the new site will not interrupt regular operations because the launch will occur outside standard office hours. No formal vote or budget change was recorded during the presentation.

Clarifying details from the meeting: the county hired Exemplify after a 2024 RFP and allocated $100,000 for the redesign; Siteimprove scores cited were 79.8 (pre-October 2024), 81.9 (October implementation), 85.6 (December 2024), and 86.1 (current); government benchmark listed as 87.6; staff resolved 49 of 68 issues noted by Siteimprove and plan further remediation after the live launch. Staff estimated the launch would occur the week following the meeting or the week after that, with additional platform upgrades later in 2025.