Staying with the story
The Springfield News-Sun first broke the story about the city’s new website last September.
By the numbers
600,000: Total number of page views for the City of Springfield's web site.
6,600: Number of code enforcement complaints last year.
$40,000: Amount of money spent to design the city's new website.
Residents will be able to file code enforcement complaints and make service requests through the city of Springfield’s new website, which will go live on Friday.
The city’s website previously did not have those capabilities, said Deputy City Manager Bryan Heck. It will help streamline the process for both residents and city staff, he said. There were more than 6,600 code complaints last year, while the service requests aren’t currently broken out, Heck said.
“You can do that from your mobile device,” Heck said. “As they’re walking on the street and see an issue, they can from their phone, right there, report that issue.”
Springfield recently changed its domain name from ci.springfield.oh.us to SpringfieldOhio.gov. The new website cost about $40,000 and was designed by Springfield-based Holmes Marketing, Heck said. The website saw about 600,000 views last year.
A work session will be held on Tuesday to show city commissioners more about the completed project.
The site will be more streamlined and cleaner than the current website, which is very scattered with links and text in many different places, he said. It will also include images from local photographer Rod Hatfield.
“This is the first impression many people get of our community,” Heck said. “We wanted show off how beautiful our city is.”
The website will also be updated to make it more compatible with mobile devices and tablets. About 40 percent of the traffic comes from mobile devices, Heck said.
“Currently, our site is not mobile-friendly, so it’s very difficult to navigate our site from a mobile device,” he said.
The new site is more specific to the city’s services, rather than its departments, Heck said.
“We wanted people to be able to quickly navigate to the information they’re looking for,” he said. “We think this will help in the efficiency and effectiveness of people finding what they need.”
The homepage also includes links to paying taxes and job openings, the most-clicked page on the website. It will also include featured broadcasts, allowing city staff to update news quickly. The site can also be updated from the mobile device by city staff members.
“It’s about getting the information to people quickly,” Heck said.
Several other features, such as the Submit a Tip feature for the Springfield Police Division, will still be available, but will be made more prominent on the homepage, he said.
The Springfield City Area Transit web page will also be moved to the city’s website and will include interactive maps using the county’s GIS system, Heck said.
The Frequently Asked Questions section has also been updated to reflect the most important questions.
One of the city’s most popular pages on its site is the Springfield Police Division’s cold cases, which has also been updated to make it more user-friendly.
The site will be down shortly next week as it transitions to the new page. Now that the city’s web page is ready, they will now begin working on a social media policy.
A few departments currently have Facebook pages, including Community Development and the police and fire divisions, Heck said.
“Most communities you see police, fire and a general city page,” Heck said. “We’re looking at that avenue as what we would exhibit.”
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