Located in the heart of Kansas, the City of Salina serves as the regional hub for state-of-the-art medical services, retail trade, and arts and entertainment.
In the City government, Scott Gardner wears many hats: He’s Director of Computer Technology, Continuous Process Improvement, and Media. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, an MBA, and a Black Belt in Continuous Improvement.
When it came time for the City to build a new website, he analyzed the situation from a variety of angles:
- What solution had the best, most up-to-date website technology for governments?
- Who would provide the best service and support?
- And what made the most business sense?
The answer to all three questions, Scott found, was GovBuilt.
Legacy Systems
The City of Salina’s website used to be hosted by a large, well-known website provider. But it lacked a modern interface as well as all the functionality that the City needed.
“With our old website, you could look at it and you could be like, ‘Man, this is just old. It just doesn’t function,’” Scott recalls.
In addition to an outdated look and feel, it had only a rudimentary forms center. That meant that they were paying for four or five other vendors for all the forms the city needed—and none of them talked to each other. This resulted in bloated costs and added manual labor once forms were submitted.
Why GovBuilt?
Of all of the government website solutions available, why did Salina select GovBuilt?
Customizations. GovBuilt websites can be completely customized based on the city’s specific needs.
Easy to Implement. Although each website GovBuilt creates is unique, it’s all built on the same architecture. That makes it faster and easier to implement, and with fewer bugs.
Easy to Edit. The website’s interface is simple enough for staff to edit themselves.
Communication. From the beginning, GovBuilt impressed with their quick responses to Scott’s questions. “We sent an email, and usually within an hour, we got a response back.”
Robust Forms Center. “Making a form for government business is different than making a form for a manufacturer,” Scott said. But since it was specifically designed to meet the needs of government agencies, GovBuilt’s Forms Center checked all the boxes for him.
Scott shows how easy it is to edit the site from the backend.
Tangible Benefits: A Closer Look at the GovBuilt Impact
Since implementing GovBuilt, the City of Salina has witnessed substantial cost savings, streamlined processes, and an elevated citizen experience, marking a paradigm shift in their digital landscape.
Cost Savings
Scott discusses the money the city saved by consolidating vendors.
Scott believes that a city government has a responsibility to run like a business and make the most of its taxpayer dollars. “We’re always looking to reduce our expenses,” he said.
GovBuilt has allowed him to drop all his other forms vendors, and several other vendors, for an estimated $30,000 savings.
Plus, there are no surprise fees.
“I hate it when you have a contract and they come back and they say, ‘Oh, well, this is an add-on. This is an add-on.’ You must go back and modify the contract and add this or that. GovBuilt doesn't operate that way."
“We're more efficient, we’re more effective, we’re spending less money than we were before.”
And that’s just good business.
Service and Support
The responsive communication that impressed Scott initially didn’t stop with implementation.
“I’m looking for a vendor that I trust to give me exactly what I need to get the job done so that I become efficient and effective,” he said.
He also appreciated that this level of support didn’t come with additional fees: “It wasn’t one of those situations where we had to pay an extra $2000 to get this level of service. This was just the service that was provided, and it was better than anything we had with our old website.”
Modern Citizen Experience
The City of Salina’s website features drone footage of the City’s downtown that highlights its unique heritage and culture.
But it’s also very resident-friendly. The megamenu makes the site easy to navigate, while the most frequently requested links are prominently featured—from “City Commission Agenda and Minutes” to “Pay Your Water Bill.”
Since the City’s social media accounts are an important source of information for residents, their social icons are also at the top of the page.
The City of Salina staff can update the website at any time to provide the most current information to their residents.
A quick tour of the City of Salina’s new site.
GovBuilt is now part of MCCi! Elevate your city’s digital presence with a modern, customized website tailored to your unique needs.
