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Agoura Hills council approves new city website and agenda-management platform; .gov address secured
Summary
Council approved staff recommendations to proceed with the redesigned city website, set to launch in summer 2025, and move forward with AgendaLink for meeting agendas and video integration. The new site reduces pages, adds accessibility tools and a .gov domain.
The Agoura Hills City Council unanimously approved staff's recommendation on May 14 to proceed with a redesigned city website and to pursue an upgraded agenda-management platform that will embed meeting video, agendas and attachments.
Project scope and timeline: Communications Manager Mary Haddad said the redesign reduced the site map from about 480 pages to roughly 290 pages and aims for a public launch in summer 2025. "We were able to reduce our website pages from about 480 pages down to 290 for the new website so about 40%" Haddad said during her presentation. The council also heard that the city obtained approval for a .gov URL and that staff training and quality-assurance checks on the beta site are complete.
Features: The proposed site includes an accessible emergency notification pop-up, a prominent, improved search box, multi-language translation, a calendar with filterable event categories, an interactive city directory and an accessibility widget with options such as increased contrast and dyslexia-friendly text. Haddad demonstrated a beta interface and described plans for senior tech days and business outreach ahead of public launch.
Agenda management and video integration: Staff recommended AgendaLink (Cloud Driven Solutions) for agenda and video integration to replace a third-party system the city currently uses. AgendaLink was demonstrated to the subcommittee and staff reported positive feedback from other cities using the platform; the system provides time-stamped video playback linked to agenda items and automated staff-report publishing.
Council response: Council members praised the design and the improved internal workflow. Council member Deborah Klein Lopez thanked Communications Manager Mary Haddad and said the redesign would improve transparency and emergency communications. "If nothing else, we have got to be transparent with our meetings, with our votes, with our agendas," Klein Lopez said. Council members approved the staff recommendation by motion of Klein Lopez, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Wolf, on a 5-0 vote.
Next steps: Staff will continue QA, finalize accessibility and translation testing, implement AgendaLink with the city clerk and complete outreach to seniors, businesses and schools prior to the summer 2025 public launch. The city will also migrate emails and communications to the .gov domain as part of the rollout.
