Memorandum
City of
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TO: |
David Corliss, City Manager |
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FROM: |
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CC: |
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Date: |
May 20, 2008 |
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RE: |
CVB proposal for website support |
The Convention and Visitors Bureau has recently solicited support
to move its website hosting services and to create a new website, www.visitlawrence.com
. The CVB requested using Visit 2020 funds
for getting the site to a reasonable capability not to exceed $15,000. Funds would be used in two parts, 1) $2900 or
approximately 41 hours at $70 per hour for the move and 2) up to $12,100 for
the website redesign.
A review of the
proposed work was requested on May 13 and city staff provides the following information. The assumption is that the project must go
forward because of the current use of the proprietary content management
software.
The project was
examined in three areas 1) is the proposal reasonable 2) what potential
challenges are being created and 3) do alternative solutions exist?
City staff concluded
that the proposal is reasonable in cost, scope and is likely to result in an
operational website. The costs are
within the reasonableness parameters given the high cost of programming. The
agreement for $2900 to get the CVB site moved from the current hosted server to
a new host is a reasonable cost and does not appear to skip over any
elements.
The second item
of the proposal is the redesign of a CVB website. The proposal lacks the level of detail as the
first element. However, for a programming project of this magnitude, the price
seems fair and the approach seems inline with standard redesign projects. The project may be better described as a need
to create new programming around a successful web design. The assumption is the $12,100 will complete
both back end and front end operations of the new site.
One unaddressed
item is the cost to host the website.
However, CVB currently budgets $7000 for website annually and it is highly
likely that hosting fees can be negotiated within that budget. It is recommended that the CVB monitor the
redesign project closely to avoid expenses outside the proposal. In addition staff has some concern about the
possibility of transitional resources being used to maintain the site and the
availability of continued support in the future.