The City of Gluckstadt’s official website has been launched and is currently live online after months of planning.
City Clerk Lindsay Kellum said the website is important because every local governing authority needs to have the ability to communicate and provide resources to its residents in a timely fashion, which the website will allow them to do.
“Our primary goal in the development of this website was to be able to house a wealth of information that is easily accessible on the site, and for our citizens of all ages to be able to navigate the site in a user-friendly environment,” Kellum said. “We also wanted to be able to provide a level of convenience for our citizens and visitors – helping save time and a trip to city hall to find what they are looking for.”
The website is home to everything anyone could want to know about the new city and city business as well as Gluckstadt’s history, incorporation story, contact information for the board of aldermen and staff, and departmental content and resources. Information from the city’s board meeting can also be found on the website, including meeting agendas, minutes and ordinances.
“The city will also post the latest news, feature community events and important information related to 311 alerts,” Kellum said. “We also hope to have our online payment system going live in the next month or so to accomplish the final piece of our website.”
The planning and development of the website took about five months from the board selecting a vendor in the spring to starting the design development of the site in mid-summer, followed by administrative training, content additions and implementation wrap up in the fall.
“It was a large undertaking,” Kellum said. “Our Deputy City Clerk, Scott Maugh, was tasked with the majority of the heavy lifting on this project. Scott, who settled into his new role with the city in mid-June, jumped right in and took this massive project on without hesitation. His dedication, creativity and hard work on this project should not be overlooked, and we are very appreciative of his efforts. I’m quite proud of him, and I know the mayor and board are proud of him as well. He did a phenomenal job.”
Now with the city’s public website and Gluck on the Go app live, Kellum said their focus will turn more towards maintaining and building on the foundation they have worked hard to put in place.
“As you can imagine, both platforms are moving targets and will require constant updates, upkeep and maintenance by our staff to stay current and to keep residents informed in order to get the most out of our new investment,” Kellum said. “Our social media presence is also a primary consideration in this equation as it presents a useful tool to disseminate information to the public and connect with our citizens.”
Communications and updating the city’s public platforms is a fulltime job, Kellum said.
“As with any new system there will be trial and error and some growing pains,” Kellum said. “We are a fast-developing city with a long list of priorities, and hiring a communications director is just not one of them at present. So, for the moment, we will continue to do as much as we can, as we can, to post and update the public timely and continue fleshing out the website to meet our goals.”
The website can be found at: https://www.gluckstadtms.org.
“The city officials and staff hope the public finds the new website, as well as our Gluckstadt on the Go app, to be a wise and economical use of public funds, providing helpful resources and convenience to all Gluckstadt citizens and visitors,” Kellum said.
