Lancaster staff seek council sign-off on new city website design with citizen request tracker

City staff asked the Lancaster City Council to approve the aesthetic design for a proposed new CivicPlus-powered city website, saying the change will add an online citizen request tracker, department-managed pages, an employee portal and streamlined social-media publishing.

The presenter told the council the sites persistent navigation would keep key tools available as users scroll and that the homepage could include customizable tiles, including a dedicated "Lancaster" tile that would surface citywide events and information. "Once it's set," the presenter said, "we can't change it unless we pay extra money to go back and change it," emphasizing the need for the council to approve colors and fonts now so developers can begin building.

The presenter demonstrated how the citizen request tracker would let residents report issues such as potholes and receive automated updates by email or text, and noted an accountability protocol: if an assigned department does not respond within the configured time (e.g., 24to48 hours), escalation alerts are generated. "We can set it up so once she posts on the city website it'll automatically post on everything else," the presenter said, describing integrated social posting to Facebook and Instagram.

Staff also described an employee portal intended for HR training and internal applications. The presenter said content migration will require manual work (the vendor transfers up to 99 pages automatically, but department pages and the new employee portal must be built), and recommended training at least one staff member in each department to manage their section of the site.

The presenter estimated the earliest public rollout would be late April or early May if the council approved the design, with additional weeks to months for staff training and content-building. Council members asked clarifying questions about calendar display, event signups and the number of featured tiles (the presenter said the contract includes six tiles by default and additional tiles would cost more).