Clintonville’s city website will be receiving an upgrade. Members of the common council voted unanimously Tuesday to hire CivicLife as their web service provider to the tune of $9,700.
“You can look at our website and know that our website is not very good,” said Clintonville City Administrator Sharon Eveland.” I want to provide a platform for citizens to be more engaged with the city. That’s my goal because what we currently have does not allow for that.”
Eveland envisions citizen engagement through a photo contest, making it more accessible to submit problems or praises electronically, as well as being able to notify citizens of upcoming events or city projects.
“Citizens who have some really great photos they just love of the city, I’m going to ask for submissions and any photos we select, we would recognize that on the website,” Eveland explained.
A total of seven proposals were sent to the city, one locally from Clintonville, two from other parts of the state and the rest from out of state, including CivicLife, which is based out of California.
“I just am a little concerned about spending our taxpayer money outside the state of Wisconsin,” Clintonville Mayor Lois Bressette told the council. “There is another company out of Green Bay that did also put in for the contract as well, but I just want to get it out there I’m a little concerned about spending taxpayer money in California than in the state of Wisconsin.”
It was Eveland who recommended CivicLife as a cut above the rest, and acknowledged she took the location of the company into consideration.
“It was hard for me to make that decision because I do believe the same as you do, that we should really strive to support local and if not, work in the state as much as possible,” Eveland answered. “Despite not being a local company or in the state, I really, truly believe they’re going to be the best company to handle the project.”
Details of the finalized contract are still being completed, but the city plans to sign a four-year contract at an annual cost of $1,250. Eveland hopes that work can be started by the beginning of July, but it’s likely a two to three month process.
“We have to do a lot of new content creation and content migration,” she said. “The design and layout phase can take a little while too. We want to make sure we get exactly what we want for the city.”