By Steve Hubrecht
The District of Invermere has given second and third reading to its municipal budget that includes $100,000 for a website revamp.
There were a few changes to the budget since its first reading, and one of the new items — a redesign for the district’s website – is prompting comments and concerns from some councillors and from the public gallery at the meeting.
The website redesign will cost $100,000, and the money to pay for it will come from some of Invermere’ leftover provincial COVID-19 restart grants.
Councillor Theresa Wood asked if $100,000 was a ballpark figure or an uppermost limit.
“It is an absolute maximum,” replied Invermere chief financial officer Karen Cote.
New Invermere chief administrative officer Dean McKinley added that in the research he’s done he found many B.C. municipalities spend between $90,000 and $120,000 on website revamps. He said that even at $110,000 to $115,00 many municipalities must monitor the project and manage the costs “very closely.”
Website redesign is “a lot of work and takes a lot of time,” explained McKinley, adding that a simple WordPress site is inexpensive “but if you want something a little more functional for people using it, it quickly becomes more complicated.”
Councillor Gerry Taft balked, saying “there’s got to be a way to do it that is more cost effective.” There are plenty of small businesses in Invermere with great websites, noted Taft, adding he doubts any of them spent $100,000 on their sites.
Taft questioned just how much improvement the district’s website needs.
“Our current website may be clunky, but all the stuff is there,” he said, later noting that $100,000 “is ridiculous.”
The public gallery was small at the meeting, numbering just five people, but two of them commented on the cost of the website.
“I hope you can do better than that. It really sucks for taxpayers,” said Trevor Pryndik.
Ryan Neal concurred that “$100,000 is a lot” although he did add that “I agree, as someone who uses the website often, it is not always easy to navigate . . . file management sometimes seems like ‘luck of the draw.”
