Council adds resolution to seek proposals for new city website; schedules vendor demos

The Mentor-on-the-Lake City Council voted to add Resolution 2024-R-32 to the agenda Tuesday, a measure authorizing the administrative director to issue a request for proposals for an updated city website.

The resolution was read into the record by the clerk and added to the agenda by motion; the motion carried on roll call with all members voting Aye. Administrative Director Miss Martin told council an open procurement and contract schedule could take months. “It takes anywhere from the minimum of 12 weeks…to plan this,” she said, urging attention to year-end appropriations and contract timing.

Council members said they want demonstrations before committing to a full RFP process. One councilmember said the city has discussed a website overhaul for years and urged a demo to compare options. Miss Martin noted she had reviewed two vendors previously and that those vendors could offer demonstrations or a shorter-term refresh option.

Council and staff agreed to schedule a publicly announced vendor demonstration session so residents could observe and so the council could compare offerings; the clerk set vendor demos for Wednesday, Oct. 2 at 6 p.m. The council left the resolution on the agenda for further consideration and next steps, including potential procurement timing and scoring criteria.

The council did not vote to award a contract during the meeting; members discussed tradeoffs between issuing a fresh RFP to broaden outreach and moving quickly with vendors already evaluated. Miss Martin and the law director advised that any demonstrations be done in a manner consistent with open-meetings rules and that no decisions be reached outside a public meeting.

The next procedural step is the scheduled vendor demonstrations; council members said they will reconvene the matter after seeing the presentations.