September 22, 2014 - Economic Development

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING                                                September 22, 2014
6 PM in Council Chambers

 

In Attendance: Councilman Paul Mackey, Village Clerk Kris King, VA Rob Pauley, Mayor Mike Schwab

Committee members Councilmen Steve Tharp and Chuck Hawk absent

From CivicPlus: Dan Schultz, Regional Manager

                                (Invited by Councilman Tharp to provide a presentation for a Village Web Site upgrade)

Dan Schultz:      

  • CivicPlus is from Manhattan, Kansas; Dan used his laptop throughout the presentation to demonstrate what is available and provided sample pages from current customers and from CivicPlus software packages

  • CivicPlus currently has 1700 government customers in US, Canada, and Australia. Area customers are Twinsburg and Doylestown. Dan visited and demonstrated their sites

  • Stated current Village site is informative, but it is not as visually pleasing as it could be, or intuitive for users and administrators.  Note: Village uses GovOffice software currently

  • Believes that CivicPlus can offer a web site package that is able to better connect with residents and allow them to be better informed

  • CivicPlus package will allow residents to better report concerns or request information with the click of a button as well as move through our site more easily.

  • Stated that current Village site is not Mobile Responsive, and that CivicPlus is optimized for tablet or mobile platforms.   He provided a demonstration as to how their product appears on iPhone.  

  • E-payments through a third party link, such as Official Payments or Heartland Payment Systems, can be provided for payment of such items as utilities and income taxes. He recommended Heartland which charges the customer a convenience fee of 2.95% for a credit transaction

  • A social media component (Facebook) could be provided at an additional cost; this would require active Village participation and oversight

  • CivicPlus would take our current site information and rebuild it using their product templates. CivicPlus would train a local site administrator and provide 24/7/365 support

  • An ALT Tag is required for displayed Pictures to be ADA compliant (A text pop-up appears on any displayed picture with a click for visually impaired site visitors) Village site does not currently have this feature

  • CivicPlus package (Suite) allows live edit by administrator and is user friendly and intuitive; provides public and hidden archiving; backup at four USA locations; ease of inserting/sizing pictures; drop/drag feature; windows style editing capabilities

  • Suite package has an upfront cost of $ 10,000 and a $ 2500 annual fee for hosting & support

  • CivicPlus also provides the following packages (Suites): Human Resources (CivicHR), emergency preparedness and communications (CivicReady), communication with residents (CivicSend), and an App for Mobile Phones ($ 5500); all at additional cost

  • Mr. Schultz will provide a brief written description and cost analysis for the basic package and each add on for Village review (via email to VA Pauley) 

    Those in attendance stated that the product is worth further review and implementation if cost is within the Village 2015 budget.   Mr. Schultz was thanked for his informative presentation.

    Adjourned at 7:10 PM

     

                                                                                                                                                    EDcommittee09222014/mike