Paradise approves $46k website makeover

By Mark Squibb | Feb. 18, 2021

The Town of Paradise has approved a $46,000 refresh of the town’s website.

“Our town’s current website was designed by eSolutions,” said Deputy Mayor Elizabeth Laurie during the February 16 meeting of council. “This is the company that specializes in municipal and large organization websites. The current website that we have contains a number of feature and modules to enable the Town to provide current and relevant information to our residents and other stakeholders. However, the current design and modules are approximately five years old, and newer features are now available from eSolutions which will help users to better navigate the site, improve our mobile capability and of course improve accessibility features.”

Laurie then explained exactly what a website refresh will entail.

“A website refresh primarily involves the look and navigation of the site, not the overall architecture and software of the site, so it’s also an opportunity to review the content and sitemap to ensure everything is current and up-to date and allow for a sufficient process,” she said.

eSolutions offered to do the work  for $46,115, HST included, which council approved unanimously.

Mayor Dan Bobbett noted that due to the pandemic people are more likely to use the website.

“Now, more than ever I guess, communication through our website and paying bills online is a thing that we are all getting into, and a refresh to the website, to make it more efficient and easier to use for our residents, is something that we want to do moving forward,” he said.

The refresh was budgeted for in Budget 2021. A full project timeline is expected to be developed soon, and the refreshed website is expected to launch in June.

eSolutions also created the town’s online Bids and Tenders portal and Business Directory.