WESTBROOK – Westbrook’s website has been described as difficult to negotiate, text heavy and stale, and a full revision of the site aims to change that.

“Our goal was to make this visually appealing, flexible, interactive and informative. We wanted it to be easy to use for the public,” said Bill Baker, assistant city administrator, business and community relations.

The city’s new website won’t be active until September, but Baker and his team of 16 city employees, business owners and tech-savvy residents finalized the look of the site and the new frame last week.

A draft of the new website’s landing page will rotate familiar-looking pictures of Westbrook. Some of the pictures include a shot of kayakers going over the Saccarappa Falls, an aerial photograph of Westbrook, a historic photo and an inside view of the Westbrook Performing Arts Center at Westbrook Middle School.

Baker said there were already a few changes to the draft site: a maps button will replace the weather button and a photo credit will appear at the top to let people see the whole photograph without it being blocked by the graphics and let them know who took the photos.

“It really reflects the feedback and input we got,” Baker said.

The new website will highlight some of the frequently used and requested services. For instance, the interactive tax maps will now have their own button right on the home page to make them easier to find.

Baker said the road to design an outline for the site hasn’t been exactly easy, and the group has had disagreements on what to include under which section. For instance, Baker wanted to add a “transparency in government” tab on the home page, but the committee voted against the button, saying it wasn’t clear enough for people to understand that’s where they should go to look for financial information. Instead, they changed the tab to “budgets, revenues and debts.”

The text on the current website is being rewritten, and a section has been added, called “Live, Learn, Work and Play,” that has information on arts, culture, the history of Westbrook and any activities taking place in the city. A business tab, called “Doing Business in Westbrook,” includes listings for all the commercial property for sale and steps on how to open a business in Westbrook. Another new tab, “I Want To,” may be the most interactive link on the site, allowing visitors to apply for permits, pay parking tickets, report graffiti and register to vote, among other things.

In February, the City Council approved awarding the website development to Vision Internet, based in Santa Monica, Calif., for nearly $25,000 for the design and an additional $9,000 for three-year hosting and maintenance agreement.

Westbrook Environmental Improvement Corp. is covering the cost of the re-design. and the annual maintenance expense is funded under the Information Technology budget. The resident-led organization helps Westbrook balance its interest in environmental stewardship and economic development. Baker provides the staff support.

Westbrook Environmental Improvement Corp. receives funding from tax increment financing districts throughout the city.

“With an increasing number of residents and businesses communicating, accessing information and conducting business electronically, our website has become a heavily used and highly valuable feature for customer services and public information. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of this tool is diminished by the outdated design of our site, which is not particularly user friendly and challenging to navigate,” said Jerre Bryant, city administrator, about the website in a memo to the City Council in February.

Michelle Mecteaux, administrative aide to the administrative staff at City Hall, has been soliciting feedback about the city’s website and what the public would like to see included on a new website for the past few years via a clickable email link on the current website’s home page.

“Over the years I have received some complaints from the public that it’s not user friendly. Maintaining and updating, for us, not for the public, is complicated,” Mecteaux said. “I’m just hoping the new one will be easier for us to manage and better looking.”

Mecteaux is one of the members of Baker’s website team that started working last October, when Mayor Colleen Hilton asked Baker to take a look at the website, gather any criticisms about the site and begin to research award-winning municipal websites around the country.

Baker and his team asked 10 design companies, including some in Maine, to submit proposals. Seven companies responded, including five from Maine. In the end, Vision Internet was chosen unanimously by the group because of its extensive work with municipal websites.

Brian Mauleon, project manager at Vision Internet for Westbrook’s website, said the company was interested because executives thought they could develop a showcase website for the city, and the company had never created a website in Maine, despite working with more than 500 municipalities across the country.

Mauleon said some municipalities he’s worked with similar to Westbrook include San Marcos, Texas, and South Pasadena, Calif.

“I think people are going to be excited about it, they’re really going to love the way the designers have put the home page together,” Mauleon said.

“I think the citizens will be really proud to show it off and share it with each other. One of the big things was some of the information felt a little old and you get the feeling the site was not well maintained. What we’re trying to do, between the calendar and new sections, is to always have something going on. The site has a great area for residents, the ‘Live, Learn, Work and Play’ section has all the information on what’s going on around Westbrook and gives the experience of what it’s like to live in Westbrook, as well,” Mauleon said.

The next step is adding content to the new website. Vision employees will fly into Westbrook to help train the city employees, like Mecteaux, who will be updating the site to keep the content fresh.

So far, Baker has shared the new website design with a few residents, who have suggested a few changes, but for the most part, have responded positively. He said some comments include: “Attractive, colorful and not too ‘text heavy,” and “Prominent use of photographs (or slideshow) give a positive look to the city on load up.”

The school department website is not included in the redesign project.

Westbrook’s new website home page is still a work in progress, but this version of the draft shows the visual emphasis.