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<br /> <br /> STAFF REPORT <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />TO: Mayor Keis and Members of City Council <br /> <br />FROM: Heidi Heller, City Clerk <br /> Jessica Jagoe, Associate Planner/Code Enforcement <br /> <br />DATE: July 22, 2016 <br /> <br />RE: Communications Plan Discussion – Updating the Website <br /> <br />Over the last few months, Staff and the Council have again been discussing updating the City’s <br />website. The website is currently hosted by GovOffice, who was a leader in local government <br />websites when cities began launching their sites. The administrative side of GovOffice has <br />always been cumbersome to work with, and they have not made any changes to improve this <br />function. Staff talked to GovOffice about redesigning the website, and received some general <br />pricing and information. Since they have not improved the administrative side of their web <br />hosting, Staff’s opinion is that we not spend money with GovOffice to only improve half of the <br />website. Some of the improvements that Staff would like to accomplish with a new website and <br />vendor includes: <br /> <br />- Much improved and easier administration of the site <br />- Overall updated look and clearer/easier navigation of the site <br />- Ability of Staff to add information other than a pdf document or plain words to the site <br />- Redesign would give better search results <br />- More options and capabilities for alert notifications <br />- Ability for direct postings to social media from website <br />- Redesign could create new pages for the Fire Department and Canadian Days that would <br />have a distinct look for each <br />- Ability to create and use online forms rather than just a pdf document <br />- Provide more e-services <br /> <br />Staff has seen demonstrations and received quotes from two different website vendors, CivicPlus <br />and Revize. Both are very competent and offer very comparable features and overall website <br />looks. Staff has talked to CivicPlus during previous website discussions, but their prices were <br />always much higher than other vendors. They recently submitted a much lower quote that is <br />now comparable to Revize. Staff will be talking to a third website vendor on July 26th. <br /> <br />Pricing from both vendors includes: <br />- Project planning and design - using pre-designed layout templates <br />- Template development and set-up of all modules <br />- Transfer of all information from existing website to new site <br />- Site testing and training for City Staff <br />- Annual Tech Support, website hosting (up to 10 GB), and maintenance agreements <br /> <br />