Published: Jan. 17, 2019
County officials to explore website upgrade
Training trip for administrator approved
By Nicholas Dettmann
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
WEST BEND — Now that a new logo has been agreed upon,
Washington County officials want to go a step further in its communication
plan.
On Tuesday morning, Administrator Joshua Schoemann presented
to the county’s executive committee a desire to revamp the website.
“This is part of the communication plan initiative that was
part of your strategic priorities and is set to be part of the next round of
strategic priorities to be introduced for your consideration,” Schoemann told
the committee. “The timeline is expeditious. We’ve been working with Dave
Barber in the IT Department to get this up and running.”
About $150,000 has been budgeted for this project. But an
exact dollar amount needed won’t be known for several weeks.
Committee member John Bulawa asked Schoemann if new
functions will be added to the website or if it’s going to be a complete
redesign.
Schoemann said it is a redesign that’ll incorporate all of
the county’s new branding, logos, taglines, etc.
“So it is a facelift,” he said. “If you’ve been to our
website and used it for anything more than meeting agendas, you’ve probably
noticed that it’s not the most user-friendly thing in the universe.”
Making it more user friendly and mobile device compatible
are the top priorities with the county website facelift. Schoemann said he is
finding out from each county department what content each one has and what can
stay online and what can come off.
“It’ll be a comprehensive look at the whole thing,” he said.
“We want to try to redo once for the next 10 years, five for sure.”
Donald Kriefall said it’ll be nice for citizens to be able
to access it in a more convenient fashion.
It was asked if the process was going to be bid for
companies or not. Schoemann said no. Instead, the plan is to do an RFP or
request for proposals.
With an RFP, Schoemann can research companies and explain to
them what the county’s needs are, what they’re thinking as far as ideas for the
website and find out from the companies what they have to offer that best molds
into the county’s goal. With a bid, the county has to have all of the
components it wants and a company bids for the county’s selection.
In essence, the RFP allows for flexibility on spending and
control on deciding what is and what is not needed for the website. A bid
tightens those areas.
Schoemann said he will continue to update the committee as
well as the County Board on the progress, especially once a dollar amount is
known. He estimated that will be in March or April.
“There are four or five companies on the list,” Schoemann
said about if there are companies in mind he’d like to work with on the website
redesign project.
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Training trip approved for Schoemann
The committee also approved Schoemann’s request to attend a
threeweek training seminar at Harvard Kennedy School near Boston.
According to Schoemann, the seminar will focus on skill
development in the areas of leadership, negotiating, budgeting, etc.
The committee unanimously approved the proposal with the
idea that enhancing the skills of staff members only does the county good. That
includes if Schoemann, who has four years left on a five-year contract, were to
leave his position.
Sending a message outside the county that it’s a destination
workplace that cares about the development of its employees bodes well for the
future.
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