This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

Hatboro Considering New Website

The project could cost more than $6,000.

In May, at next capital budget meeting, the issue of whether or not to spend nearly $6,000 from the capital budget to relaunch the borough’s website will be voted on.

Community Relations Committee chairman and council member Robert Hegele told the rest of council that the current website “worked well for awhile” but now needs to be updated. He also called the present site “slow,” "outdated" and “broken.”

Hegele and Steven Plaugher, the borough’s manager, said they researched several web design and hosting companies and determined Doylestown’s Sitecats Web Development would be the most cost efficient and best option.

Find out what's happening in Hatboro-Horshamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The one-time cost to design the site would be $5,587. Every year a $126 hosting fee would be charged. The hosting fee is cheaper than the nearly $600 fee the borough currently pays yearly.

Council member Mark Sheedy brought up the issue of whether there would be an additional cost for tech support. Hegele and Plaugher said their were several packages; the most expensive would cost around $1,400 per year.

Find out what's happening in Hatboro-Horshamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The proposed website’s content management system would make it easier for each of the borough’s departments to produce and upload their own content, inlcuding photos and documents.

Hegele mentioned the new features would, for example, let the post important information regarding crimes or evacuations on the site whenever the need arose - that feature can not be done presently on the current site.

Two residents raised the idea that the borough could possibly sell advertisements on the website to help cover the costs. Plaugher shot down the idea and said it would be a “conflict of interest.”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?