09-06-2016 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item No: 2 Meeting Date: September 6, 2016 Type of Business: Work Session City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, City Administrator Item Title/Subject: Discuss the 2017 Website Update Background: The City Council is budgeting for a complete update of the City’s current website in 2017. In preparation of 2017 budgets, staff has started the process of researching costs, interviewing firms and exploring the desired features for the new site. Discussion: At the May 2, 2016 Council work session, the Council discussed updating the City’s website for 2017. At that meeting, the Council decided to move forward by forming a Task Force to review some website companies. The Council specified the need for the site to be responsive and designed to be more user friendly, meaning, the landing page should be on one page and not multiple pages like the current site; content should easily be found within one or two clicks in order to better serve the residents; and it should have a professional appearance. Since the May work session, Business Development Coordinator Brian Beeman has met with a few website design and hosting companies to gather preliminary ideas. Additionally, Beeman has interviewed around ten or so companies with the idea of recommending three companies to the Council appointed Task Force. The Task Force would interview and see presentations and proposals by the top three companies then they would recommend one company to the Council for consideration. The next step is for the Council to appoint a Task Force giving it some general guidance or parameters regarding their purpose, the budget, desired features, timeline, etc. Some questions for the Council to consider include the following: • Setting up a Task Force: Staff only? Or Staff/Council mixed? Or Staff/Council/Residents? In order to keep the Task Force manageable, staff suggests that the group be limited to seven members, or at most, nine. Potentially could consider one representative from each Department. • Task Force Parameters: Staff could conduct the initial review of submitted proposals and would set up a day or two for webhosting companies to present proposals to the Task Force, then making a recommendation to the City Council.