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The website for the city of Saratoga isn't exactly what you would call cutting-edge. The brown color and limited graphics give the website a 1990s do-it-yourself look.
The city is planning to scrap its old site and replace it with a new one. The city council has approved an amendment to its current contract with the city of Palo Alto for information technology support, which amendment allows for a one-time website redesign and ongoing web maintenance support and services.
"Our old site is difficult to maintain," Mayor Norman Kline said. "It's too maintenance-intensive. It is really a first-generation website."
According to a city report, a new website for Saratoga will be modeled on Palo Alto's. The stated goal for the new site is to provide ease of access to a centralized and managed website. This will provide up-to-date information and "e-government" solutions to problems.
The redesign is scheduled to begin on April 3 and be completed in late June. The new site will go online shortly after that.
The quoted cost of the project is $100 per hour for an estimated 350 hours over a 70-day period. The report states the amount will not exceed $35,000 for the project. Yearly fees for the new website would be $5,000 for support and maintenance and $2,000 for software licensing. The money comes from the city's internal service fund for information technology.
"A new website would mean more accurate information will be available faster," Kline said. "It will be more user-friendly for the users and more user-friendly and efficient to maintain."
Ben Cheng, the information technology analyst for the city of Saratoga, has been managing the city's website for the last five years. Right now he is cleaning up the old site, removing broken links and old PDF files and updating information before the data is transferred onto a new template in April.
"I like the design of the old site, but it does take more time to update," Cheng said. "It is a very cumbersome process and time-consuming. The new site takes advantage of newer technology. It's more dynamic."
Cheng said the new website is part of a strategy to make the city more e-government friendly. E-government is a concept that involves providing more government activities online. Cheng said this would reduce staff time and reduce waiting in line by citizens for things such as permits.
"Since I've been working on the old website for so long, I might miss it a bit," Cheng said. "There'll be a learning curve for managing the new site."
Kline said a new website would open up possibilities for online services, such as streaming video, online surveys and electronic permits.
The template for the new website can be found at www.city.palo-alto.ca.us.
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