City working to enhance business capabilities with website redesign

Cameron Montemayor, St. Joseph News-Press, Mo.
·2 min read

May 16—The City of St. Joseph is moving ahead with various changes to its website meant to boost the ease of conducting online business.

Currently, trying to locate and navigate parts of the website for things like making payments can be like walking through a maze.

"Nobody likes to call and get an auto attendant and they have to go through eight different menus to get where they want to go," said Mary Robertson, St. Joseph's director of communications and community engagement. "

It's a move the city hopes will improve overall accessibility and navigation for residents, particularly for those making payments for things like sewer bills and municipal court.

The city has seen exponential growth in the number of people making online payments since the COVID-19 pandemic, making the need for website changes all the more pressing.

"You can pay your sewer bill online ... your muni court fees ... garage sale permits, but you have to go to three different places to do that," Robertson said. "So we want to centralize and modernize that navigation. That's not been a priority for the website and we need to make it a priority."

City officials hope to have the website redesign in place by the fall, but at the very latest by the end of the calendar year.

One of the biggest changes will gradually move business license renewals online. With roughly 9,000 renewals being sent in the coming weeks, the changes could streamline the process for many business owners who previously have had to come to City Hall directly to make their renewals.

"We found that while the organization is a 24/7 365-day service organization, administratively we're 8 to 5 Monday through Friday. And that's not convenient for people who work those hours as well," she said.

"A large percentage this first year will still probably want to pay in person, but we're hoping that we can get it converted to the majority being online by next year. That's one of the major reasons for the redesign," she said.

As part of the city's agreement with host site Civic Plus, costs for a redesign will come at no expense.

Officials will post announcements about the changes on different platforms to alert businesses and citizens when the changes are implemented to prevent confusion.

"We'll have a little post on the website and we'll push out on social media as we do that redesign on what to look for," Robertson said.