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Committee seeks improved code recodification and searchable ordinance database
Summary
Staff circulated an RFP for code recodification and committee members asked to prioritize a searchable, user-friendly hosting solution (MUN code alternatives) with clear service-level agreements so ordinances appear faster and historical changes are easier to trace.
The committee discussed a draft request-for-proposals to recodify city ordinances and voiced frustration with delays and searchability limits in the current third-party host (MUN code). Members said newly adopted ordinances sometimes take months to appear in the hosted code library and that residents struggle to find ordinance histories or amendments.
Josh and other staff described current practice: ordinances are posted on the city website and packets, and then sent to the host (MUN code) for incorporation, but posting lag can be months. Committee members suggested evaluating alternative hosts (for example, American Legal) or a hosting service with tighter service-level agreements to post new ordinances more rapidly and provide cross-document searchability. One member recommended meeting with clerks from neighboring municipalities to see how they implemented searchable ordinance hosting.
The RFP's objective includes creating a "user-friendly searchable database of scanned historical ordinances" and to replace the current locally maintained ordinance page with a single hosted portal. Staff will obtain comparative proposals, check hosting SLAs for posting timeframes, and report back. The committee agreed to solicit multiple proposals rather than defaulting solely to the current vendor.
