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Joplin approves $250,800 website redesign on open-source Drupal platform
Summary
Council approved a contract with Up and Up Studios to rebuild the city website on Drupal for a $250,800 one-time cost and estimated annual recurring costs of $47,150 thereafter; staff highlighted improved accessibility, ownership of data, and a planned .gov migration.
The Joplin City Council approved on Monday a contract with Up and Up Studios to redesign the city website on the open-source Drupal platform.
Drew Douglas, the city’s marketing communications lead, told council the project will replace the current proprietary CMS, migrate content and data to a Drupal-based site and move the primary domain to a .gov address. The total one-time development cost in the recommended contract is $250,800; staff said recurring annual costs beginning in year two are estimated at $47,150.
“Drupal is the foundation we’re recommending for the site,” Douglas said. “We believe this is a smart move financially in the long haul because we’re going to be able to save some money in total cost of ownership and own our data.” Peter Knapp, CEO of Up and Up, described the firm’s government- focused experience and emphasized accessibility, content governance and staff training.
Councilors asked about the vendor’s team structure, hosting and support; Up and Up described a dedicated project manager and a cross-disciplinary team for design, front-end and back- end development, plus support staff during and after launch. Staff also clarified that transitioning the website to a .gov address can be phased without forcing immediate changes to internal e-mail and network domains.
Council voted 9–0 to advance the contract on first reading. Staff said the target launch window is August–September, and that the city will continue to evaluate optional add-ons, such as third-party accessibility widgets, which were presented as an optional menu item in the proposal but were not included in the base contract.
The contract incorporates the RFP and the vendor response as exhibits and includes tier 1–3 deliverables as specified in the RFP, staff said.
