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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />~ <br />~HILLS <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br />DATE: <br /> <br />May 10, 2006 <br /> <br />Agenda Item 2.D <br /> <br />TO: Mayor & City Council <br /> <br />FROM: James Lehnhoff, City Planner & Websitc Coordinator <br /> <br />SUBJECT: City Website Update <br /> <br />Background <br /> <br />The current City of Arden Hills web site was launched in January 2001. The website is the <br />electronic face of the City and is a first step for many residents and businesses to find <br />information about Arden Hills. Although the website has grown in the last five years; it has also <br />become increasingly difficult to navigate, laborious to update, is not cohesive, and has an <br />outdated appearance. Despite these deficiencies, the web site is becoming more important. <br /> <br />The existing website was built using a computer program called Microsoft FrontPage. While <br />this software is suitable for smaller websites, FrontPage is not designed to efficiently handle <br />larger websites and is not an intuitive piece of software for many computer users. FrontPage has <br />very limited tools to manage the organization and navigation of the website, and there are very <br />few interactive functions that are common on modem websites. For example, such simple <br />features as searching the City's website, a community calendar, having the ability to send <br />anonymous comments to the City, and providing online forms are currently unavailable. <br />Furthermore, except for providing a link to the webcasting, there is very little coordination <br />between the cable television broadcasts, webcasts and the existing website. <br /> <br />Discussion <br /> <br />Due to the increasing importance of the City's web site, Staff has been researching options for <br />updating the web site to make more information easier to find and to better coordinate the web site <br />with the cable and web broadcasts. The two options presented in this memo are purchasing <br />services from GovOffice, a website development company, or having City Staff update the <br />website. <br /> <br />GovOffice <br /> <br />GovOffice is a website development service based in Saint Paul that provides services to <br />more than nine hundred communities, counties, and government agencies in the United <br />States. GovOffice provides the template, design, and overall structure of the website <br /> <br />I <br />