2016.01.26 WS Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilmember Bauman asked if Ms. Wheeler had already been hired by the City. Lotter commented that the City has understood that its website was in need of updates. Councilmember Bauman understood this, but asked if other contractors would also be in contact with staff and the City Council. She was in favor of speaking with several website vendors. Councilmember Burg questioned how the City came to meet with Ms. Wheeler. Lotter explained Ms. Wheeler reached out to Joe Hatch after visiting the City's website. Ms. Wheeler explained to Joe how she could help the City with updating and redesigning the City's website. This led to a meeting between Ms. Wheeler and other staff members and he was really impressed by what she had to say. This led him to invite her to meet with the City Council. He understood this was a very unorthodox approach to finding a website designer, however, he was pleased by the fact that Ms. Wheeler has not designed any other governmental websites, as this would make New Brighton standout. Councilmember Bauman expressed concern that Ms. Wheeler had little to no experience in developing websites. She did not believe Ms. Wheeler would be able to handle the scope of this project. She was interested in hearing from other website designs in order to have a proper price comparison. Lotter explained staff could direct him to pursue other vendors. He stated he was not interested in pursuing a vendor that has already created 100 other governmental websites. He believed this was the wrong direction for the City of New Brighton. He explained that the $41,000 expense included full rebranding of the City with decals on all City vehicles. It was noted a new website from Ms. Wheeler would cost the City $19,000. Councilmember Burg questioned what the turnaround time was for a new website. Ms. Wheeler stated it would take her six months to complete a new website for the City. Councilmember Bauman was frustrated by the fact that the Council was not discussing something, but rather was being asked to decide. Mayor Johnson did not believe this was the case. It was her opinion the Council was discussing the future of the City's website. Councilmember Jacobsen asked if the City would have to pay to maintain Word Press. Ms. Wheeler stated this would come at a very low cost and noted it would mostly pertain to plug -ins offered on the website. Ms. Wheeler continued with her presentation and discussed how the Google logo has changed over the past 10 years. She discussed how the San Serif font was more pleasing to the eye in electronic print. It was her opinion that a simpler logo was best. She wanted the City's new logo to convey a strong and simple message. She commented on the City of Minneapolis logo. She reviewed the expense of rebranding the City with new logos and estimated it would cost around $22,000. Lotter further discussed benefits of rebranding and noted that the City would complete this task over time. Councilmember Bauman recalled the Council discussed rebranding at the time the street signs were replaced and the City Council was not interested at that time. Councilmember Burg stated that she had been visiting other city websites and agreed the New Brighton site was complicated and difficult to use. She asked how Ms. Wheeler would work to simplify the City's website. Ms. Wheeler discussed website best practices and how she would reorganize the site. She stated information would be reached within three clicks or less on the new website.