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Wauconda website may get facelift

Wauconda's official website is likely going to get a new look for the first time in five years.

The site, wauconda-il.gov, features a calendar of local events, a business directory, contact information for officials, demographic data and much more.

Visitors can use the site to pay water and sewer bills, review agendas for upcoming village board and committee meetings, apply for building permits and complete other tasks.

But it's not the most user-friendly stop on the internet.

Drop-down menus are cluttered, and much of the prime real estate on the homepage is occupied by a rotating series of large photographs.

"I myself have had problems looking for stuff on our website," Trustee Tom Shaw said during Tuesday's license and administration committee meeting.

Village officials are planning to hire a Michigan firm, Revize, to redesign the site.

The project could cost the village $12,407. An additional annual fee of $2,975 would cover maintenance and a hosting fee through the 2024 fiscal year, documents indicate.

Officials received proposals from six companies to redo the website. The proposals varied, but each offered to include a bevy of features, such as a page for agendas, event calendars, job postings, language translators and video integration.

A redesign will allow officials to build a website from scratch with the data people most want, Village Administrator Kevin Timony said.

It also will allow the village to have a site that's better for mobile devices than the current version, Timony said.

After discussing Revize's proposal Tuesday, the committee recommended money be included in the 2021 fiscal year for the project.

Developing a new site could take 21 weeks, officials said.

The website last was overhauled in 2015 by a Kansas company called CivicPlus. A four-year maintenance contract with the firm expires in March.

CivicPlus will continue hosting the site until a new version is ready, officials said.

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