County website to get name change, upgrade

In following best practices with security, County Manager Steve Nevada said it is recommended to have a domain name that ends in .gov.

During the transition period, Nevada said there will be a redirect sending residents to the new website, and emails will also be forwarded. The length of time for the transition period has not been defined, Nevada said, noting people will receive a bounce back email after a certain point.

Nevada estimated they spent about a year on the new website, including securing the domain name along with the approvals needed.

With numerous interactive components of the website, Nevada said they are making sure those items work when converting to the new website.

It is important for the county website to have forms and other essential information accessible for the public at their fingertips, especially if it can save them a trip to the courthouse, said Marty Qually, commissioner.

“I truly think as time goes on people expect upgrades to the website,” Commissioner Vice-Chair Jim Martin said.

After recently viewing a preview of the site, Nevada said there will be “some changes to the website’s appearance.”

“It has improved user-friendliness. That is one of the goals,” Nevada said. “I think it will work well for the public and their access.”

Adams County also houses the websites of municipalities that opted into the service.

“That change will impact them in the design of the website,” Nevada said. “They will have to get their own domain name.”

The county has been working with municipalities, and they are aware of the change, according to Nevada.

Nevada said he hopes the changes will enhance the public’s experience using the website and that the transition is “seamless.”

Nevada did not know the costs of the new website offhand but mentioned there are “ongoing costs” since the project is not complete.

Commissioners commented on receiving correspondence in the past from people who live in Colorado because there is an Adams County there. The website for the Colorado county is adcogov.org, which differs from Adams County’s current site.

There was a time when someone referenced street names he never heard of in an email, realizing it was sent to the wrong Adams County, Qually said.

Martin also received Colorado zoning complaints at one point.

The county has coordinated on this project with the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP), the website administrator, said Phiel.

In 2014 and 2016, the county won CCAP awards for website design, according to officials. The county was also recognized by CCAP for Phiel’s newsletter in 2015.

Phil Walter, chief information officer of the county’s information technology department, previously said he heard of other counties spending $40,000 to get websites up and running in comparison to the $6,500 spent for Adams County’s past redesign due to work being done in-house by the department.

Previously, the county switched to a more user-friendly website for mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, due to the increase in usage recorded from 2015, according to Walter.

In 2015, there were more than 15,000 hits on the county website from desktops and nearly 7,600 from mobile devices. Around 14,500 viewed the website from their computer desktops in 2014 with 5,500 views on mobile devices.