By Casey Jarmes | The News-Review
SIGOURNEY – During the Dec. 15 meeting of the Keokuk County Board of Supervisors, IT Director Darin Hite asked the board for an informal consensus blessing to talk to department heads about possibly getting a new county government website. He explained that he had met with a few vendors and that the company Neapolitan stood out as a good option. He stated the cost for making the new website could be split over four years and that the website would have an annual hosting fee of $4,000, compared to the current website’s cost of $3,000. Supervisor asked what improvements a new website would give. Hite stated that it would be a more modern, easier to navigate website, that would allow them to send notifications out to people. For example, they could send out notifications of open bids for the highway department out via the website. Auditor Christy Bates stated that they could also send out public health updates.
Supervisor Daryl Wood noted that the current website is very out-dated and not user-friendly. Treasurer Christine Edmundson Long stated that it is hard to change things on the website. Hite explained that the Recorder’s Office is unable to edit or remove coroner reports. He stated that they have to contact him to remove old reports, but that the website’s back end doesn’t even let him edit the PDFs. Conservation Director Pie Reighard stated that his department gets weekly complaints about the difficulty people have accessing information like the ice thickness or cabin availability at Belva Deer Park. Hadley stated he was not impressed with the current website. Bates stated she hoped more people would look at it if it was more user-friendly. The supervisors gave Hite permission to speak with department heads and ask if they were interested and if they had any requests for new website features.
Also at the Monday meeting, Edmundson Long informed the supervisors that her office would be closing at noon on Dec. 24 and remaining closed on the 26th. Bates stated that she knew the Clerk of Court Office would also be closed on the 24th-26th. The supervisors discussed needing to check what departments would be open on the 24th and 26th and if the courthouse would be opened.
