Rankin County begins planning for new website vendor after current contractor exits; officials weigh CivicPlus, Revize and rebuild options

Rankin County staff told supervisors the county’s current website vendor (Core) is exiting the business and that the county must plan a migration to a new host and content-management system. The board directed staff to analyze vendor options, migration timelines and implementation costs to ensure the county can meet upcoming election posting deadlines.

Staff said Core will be out of hosting as of Dec. 31 and listed two common vendor options discussed during the meeting: CivicPlus (a widely used municipal platform) and Revize (used by some Mississippi municipalities). Supervisors and IT staff discussed migration timeframes (staff estimated up to 20 weeks) and implementation costs: a full site rebuild was characterized in the meeting as potentially $75,000–$100,000, while selecting prebuilt templates and adding targeted modules could cost roughly $50,000.

Officials emphasized accessibility and functionality priorities — ADA compliance, improved search, and the ability for departments to control their own pages — and flagged the need to plan migration to avoid election‑related posting problems (the county must have certain materials posted 45 days before elections). Staff will collect quotes, refine requirements and return recommendations to the board.

One staff member noted that if the county instructs Core to release files, "they will release it to anybody that we tell them to," but cautioned that proprietary back‑end formats mean a migration will require conversion work. The board asked for a short analysis and recommended vendor comparisons and cost‑benefit estimates in the coming weeks.