Henderson’s Web site is almost ready for a Tax Day relaunch.
City Manager Eric Williams led the City Council through a 30-minute PowerPoint presentation of the new site’s features Monday night.
Williams said the new site will always be a work in progress, but it is a dramatic leap forward from the “essentially defunct” site the city now operates.
Henderson contracted with Ralph Outcalt of REO Visual to work with city staffers Sheri Jones and Pam Brame to overhaul, expand and generally improve the Web site on a budget of $5,000.
Williams said the project came in under budget and on time.
The site will be cheap to maintain, Outcalt said, because the site runs off a database. Jones and Brame will be able to add information to the database, and it will be automatically added to the Web site.
The site also will automatically update calendars as events come and go.
The overriding philosophy in the overhaul was to create a “workable, usable, user-friendly site,” Jones said, explaining that the Web site task force chose to avoid some of the fancier Flash-type options to enhance ease of use and speed of page loading.
The site will offer downloadable, printable versions of every form the city uses. Eventually, Williams said, people will be able to fill out and submit forms on the site.
The first form available for filling out online will be a generic question/complaint form. People will submit the form, and the city will ensure that the form gets to the proper department and that the person gets a response.
All city events will be listed on the site, and each city department will have its own home page. Information on the mayor, all City Council members, and all other city boards, committees and commissions will be on the site. Also included will be job listings and links to Web sites of local interest.
Photos past and present will be available, as will a detailed history of the city. When Outcalt clicked on a photo showing Garnett Street in 1918, council member John Wester shouted: “There’s Ranger Wilkerson on the corner!”
The new Web site will go live Friday at the same address as the current site, ci.henderson.nc.us. Before that day, you can get a sneak preview.