Pottawatomie County, KS, by the Numbers
25,790
Residents
158
Public Records Requests per Month
51
JustFOIA Users Across 59 Departments
$1,120
Estimated Monthly Revenue from Lien Requests
Contents
The Town of Springerville is nestled in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona. Its 1700 residents are enthusiastic about the town’s beautiful natural surroundings, community markets, high school sports, and especially civic life. Town council meetings are an important source of connection and involvement.
Kelsi Miller has served the Town of Springerville for over 10 years, first as its Finance Clerk, and now as Town Clerk.
“We have a really great community, and we have great leadership and elected officials,” she said. “It’s great to be a part of this town’s growth.”
But for several years, Kelsi admitted, “We didn’t really have a website that we were proud of.”
The Challenge: A Website That Didn't Meet Staff’s and Residents’ Needs
A government website needs to:
- Keep residents engaged and informed
- Help them complete transactions
- Put the agency’s best food forward
But the Town of Springerville’s site was hosted by a vendor that didn’t specialize in government websites. And so they struggled to meet those needs.
Trouble Keeping Content Current
Springerville staff didn’t have any backend access to their website. That meant if anyone on staff needed to add, change, or remove content, they had to email the requested changes to Kelsi. Kelsi then had to send them to the vendor. And the vendor might or might not be able to make the changes the same day.
“We have deadlines for posting meeting agendas, stuff like that, that we would try to squeeze in and they wouldn’t get posted, putting us out of compliance,” Kelsi said.
It also meant they had no way to alert the community to time-sensitive issues like a broken water line.
Missing Essential Government Features
“Our old website was purely informational,” Kelsi said. “It didn’t have a lot of government functions like forms, accepting applications, or GIS. It was set up for a small business rather than running a town.”
It made for a poor digital citizen experience.
“If someone wanted to fill out a form, they had to download it via PDF, print it and then scan and email it to one of us.”
Disgruntled Residents
Kelsi was constantly fielding calls from residents who were disgruntled because they couldn’t find the information they needed or because the site had broken links.
“And it had many colors, it was so bright and flashy and bizarre that it took away the professionalism,” Kelsi said.
Below: Screenshots of Springerville’s website before the redesign.
Selecting Solutions That Work
Three months before the Town of Springerville’s contract with their website vendor ended, a happy coincidence occurred: An MCCi Account Executive moved into the area. He came through Springerville “just to check things out,” Kelsi said.
“He had no idea that our contract was getting ready to expire, he’d just gone to our website prior to coming through town. When he visited, he walked into our building and said, ‘I think I can help you guys.’”
Kelsi listened to what he had to say—and liked it. Of course, for such an important project, they couldn’t pick someone just because they walked through the door at the right time. So, they put together a website committee and issued an RFQ.
The town got upwards of 25 responses.
But three factors made MCCi stand out: Functionality, design, and price.
Kelsi and the rest of the committee knew that they needed the government-specific features that their previous site was missing: alerts, calendars, and agendas. And they needed to be able to update the site themselves.
They also appreciated the flexibility of an MCCi website design. While many government website vendors lock into a templated design, MCCi accommodates the needs and preferences of the individual community.
And the price made sense for a town of their size. Their decision was made.
Crafting the Vision
Kelsi had only the beginnings of a vision for the new site: “I wanted more black and white, more professionalism, easier to find links.”
Past that, they weren’t sure what they wanted the site to look like. But the MCCi project team talked them through the possibilities. They worked with the town’s website committee to create a vision board inspired by other websites that Springerville liked.
One website they drew inspiration from was Saline County, which was also designed by MCCi. “We liked its simplicity, combined with those pops of color.”
Springerville chose black and gold, the colors of the local high school, as the primary theme of the site. And they used a simplified, black-and-white logo created by a designer that MCCi recommended.
They also were able to factor in their community’s unique needs.
“Demographically, we have an older community here,” Kelsi said. “We wanted things to be simple. We wanted the extra capabilities, but we needed to make it as simple and user-friendly as possible because we’re not a super techie community.”
Another consideration: Being remote in the mountains, many residents also have slower or more limited internet connections. “There were some great websites we looked at with cool intro videos, but that slows the site down too much for our community.”
MCCi worked with the committee to create a homepage that they loved. It strikes the right balance: It’s straightforward and functional, while also showcasing the town’s pride in its natural beauty.
During the site’s design and implementation, the MCCi team always kept Kelsi and the committee in the loop: “We never questioned where we were in the project. We met once a week to share progress. And they gave us tasks to do as well, but it was very simple.”
Once or twice, Kelsi wasn’t able to complete her own to-dos on time—but the MCCi team made it work.
“We would have launched early, had I not had those couple hiccups.”
The project took about five months from start to finish. It was right in line with the estimate Kelsi was given at the beginning.
“The Council Likes It. The Community Likes It.”
In the months since its launch, Kelsi has seen the website benefit both her internal team and the broader community.
The Features Government Needs
Springerville’s GovBuilt site has all the government-specific modules that their old site lacked.
Gone are the days of meeting agendas and minutes not making it onto the site before the deadline.
“I think that’s probably where I’ve got the most positive feedback is on our agendas and minutes page. The Council likes it. The community likes it. It just makes it easy,” Kelsi said.
Citizens no longer have to email her forms about issues like code compliance or agenda requests. They can all get in touch through the Forms Center. The completed forms are automatically routed to the right staff member.
More Self-Service. Fewer Phone Calls.
The new site design makes it easy for residents to find information and complete transactions.
In addition to the main navigation menu, the site has large, easy-to-locate “Quick Links” to their most frequently visited pages.
“It’s completely slowed down on my call volume. Can you send me this form? Can you send me this, this, this, and this?’ Because now they can find it on the site.”
Control Over Content
Not only does Kelsi have full control over the site’s content, she’s also saving time by giving department heads the ability to maintain their own pages. But that doesn’t mean everyone has unlimited access to the site.
“I don’t have to worry about ‘oops,’ like someone accidentally changing the fee schedule. Departments only have access to what they need access to,” Kelsi said.
A Website to be Proud of
“This website is something we’re super proud of,” Kelsi said.
A far cry from the broken links and lack of professionalism they had before, their new site showcases what Kelsi and the residents of Springerville love about their town.
Is it time for your website to:
- Reflect what you love about your community?
- Meet the needs of your specific demographics?
- Provide the tools to keep citizens informed and engaged?
Fill out the form below to contact MCCi today!