Want to Help Design Montgomery's New Website?

The is poised to spend $14,357 revamping its website. And village leaders want your help to do it.

At Tuesday night’s Committee of the Whole meeting, trustees gave the go-ahead to three different proposals to get resident input on the new website. The revamped site will be designed by Kansas-based company CivicPlus, and is scheduled to go live in December.

Over the next few months, the village will give you plenty of opportunity to contribute. Village leaders will post a survey on the current village website, asking what features residents hope to see on the new site. They will hold a photo contest, asking people to send in their favorite Montgomery picture for use on the new site.

And they will hold a community website workshop, open to the public, during the week of June 13. Attendees will participate in a “design exercise to help determine the look and feel of the new site,” according to a memo prepared by Jamie Belongia, assistant to the village manager.

On Tuesday, Belongia presented all three ideas as possible options, and the board decided to go with all of them.

One thing the village won’t do, however, is allow comments about the new website on its Facebook page. Since the page launched last year, village leaders have not allowed comments, concerned that incorrect information might be posted on the site, and valuable staff time would be used correcting it.

Village Attorney Steve Andersson reiterated Tuesday that if the village opens the door to comments, then it must accept all of them.

“That’s not a bad thing,” he said, “but if people decide to post negative things, you have to allow it.”

Trustee Matt Brolley said in a case like this, where village leaders are asking for input, Facebook comments are a necessity. But Trustee Denny Lee again questioned whether it would be worth the staff time to keep track of the comments, and correct misinformation.

In the end, the board decided to stick with a comment-free Facebook page, and simply post a survey on the village website.

Montgomery’s current website was created in 2003 and paid for with a Kane County Small Cities grant. Village officials initially set aside $2,000 for upgrades to the site in the 2012 budget, but after further consideration, decided to go for a full-blown redesign.

CivicPlus has roughly 800 clients in the United States and Canada, and more than 50 in Illinois. The company has designed websites for Elgin, Lemont, Elmhurst and Oak Brook.

According to a timeline handed to trustees Tuesday, the plan is to have a design feedback meeting on the new site on Aug. 11, with final design approval set for Sept. 9. Employees will be trained on the new site from Nov. 14 through Nov. 17, and the finished product will launch on Dec. 9.