By Megan Kelley
Staff Writer
LAKE ORION — The Lake Orion Village Council voted 5-0 to approve a contract with CivicPlus for website services during its meeting on Sept. 12.
Over the past several years, council members, business owners and residents of the village have raised issue with the current village website, complaining that the website is not user-friendly and it is too difficult to find documents.
“This has been a matter of concern for a while,” said interim village Manager D. Wayne O’Neal. “Our website is no longer supported properly. The platforms on which the website is operating on are obsolete.”
The village has run into issues as recently as the past few weeks with residents seeking to review development documents that are currently being considered but have been unable to view because the documents are so large they cannot be posted directly to the website, said Clerk Susan Galeczka.
Additionally, the village is hoping to add the ability for residents to pay their bills online.
The contract was approved in the amount of $3,450 for design and migration and $3,105 for hosting the first year and $3,260.25 for year two.
“Thank you. Thank you so much for getting these quotes and everything,” said Council Member Sarah Luchsinger, who has advocated for upgrading the village’s website since joining the council in November 2020. “This is desperately needed.”
Council Member Michael Lamb asked that once the updgrade is complete, that the village list in a separate, easy-to-find location, all officially approved meeting minutes so that residents and council members could find the official meeting minutes without searching through council packets.
Currently, meeting minutes are in council packets and anyone who wants to review the minutes has to go to each individual board packet and search to find the minutes, Lamb said.
Council packets can be several hundred pages.