Willard rolls out new city website with mobile and alert features

Willard’s new municipal website went live Sept. 10 and was previewed to the council in a walkthrough from the vendor and city staff. City manager Jeremy (speaker 12) said the site “looks very different from the old one” and staff demonstrated admin tools, the home‑page news feed, calendar and agendas integration, alert banner options, ADA guidance for images and PDFs, and the ability to reserve parks and manage events online.

The vendor (presenter, speaker 10) showed admin mode, explained how to edit banners, add news and calendar entries, and reminded staff to add plain text for screen readers when posting images or PDFs. Jeremy said texting notification features and park reservation functionality will be enabled in the coming week, and staff said the new site should reduce routine phone and email traffic by putting information online.

Why it matters: the revamped site aims to improve resident access to agendas, news, and services, reduce staff call volume, and provide better ADA compliance for online materials.