Municipal websites rarely fail all at once. They fade — a little harder to update each year, a little further out of date, a little more frustrating for residents. Here are ten practical signs it’s time to replace yours rather than patch it again.
- Staff can’t make routine updates. Posting an agenda or changing office hours requires a vendor ticket or one specific person.
- It’s painful on a phone. Pinch-zooming, tiny links, menus that don’t work with a thumb. Most residents visit on mobile.
- Residents call instead. The same questions — hours, forms, meeting dates, trash pickup — ring the phone at town hall all day.
- Search doesn’t find things. Even staff use Google to find pages on their own site.
- Out-of-date content everywhere. Former staff still listed, expired notices still posted, agendas trailing months behind.
- Accessibility concerns. The site was never tested with a keyboard or screen reader, and no one can say whether it meets current standards.
- It looks — and feels — like 2008. Residents judge credibility in seconds, and an outdated site erodes trust in everything behind it.
- Every change costs money. Small fixes come with invoices, so small fixes stop happening.
- Documents are a maze. Minutes, budgets, and forms are buried in folder structures only their creator understands.
- Nobody’s proud of it. When staff apologize for the website before sharing a link, the website is telling you something.
If you counted more than three
You’re not alone, and it’s not your staff’s fault — older platforms simply weren’t built for how residents use the web today. The good news: replacing a municipal website is faster and more affordable than it used to be, and the result can be something any staff member can keep current.