Web users can visit bargersville.in.gov to see the town’s new website.
Screenshot from website
With Bargersville’s new website, users can click on links to view community news, upcoming events and pay their utility bills all without leaving the homepage.
Town officials worked with Troy, Michigan-based website designer Revize on the project, paying the company $41,300 for the project in December 2021, but told the company to pause their efforts until a new logo for the town had been finalized. With the new logo published on Bargersville’s social media pages in February, the website redesign was underway and the website went live June 7, said Kevin Killinger, IT and utilities manager for Bargersville.
Up until that point, the website hadn’t been updated in at least five years, he said.
“The previous website used a different style of programming and our staff wanted to see something a little more user-friendly,” Killinger said. “It’s a fresh, new look.”
Town staff will also be able to make changes to the website more quickly.
“This new website allows us to have multiple staff members update content daily versus the old website, where we would have to email the webmaster and wait for the changes to take place,” he said. “Having this new site allows us to do so much more and be more responsive when we find things that need to be adjusted.”
The new website includes dropdown menus for links to town projects, parks and recreation, town meeting agendas and videos, permit applications and Johnson County resources, among other options. These features are meant to make it easier for residents to navigate.
“Our hope is residents and customers will find it easy to find things they are looking for,” Killinger said. “The new site is 100% ADA compliant, and with some of that ADA requirement, the site will tell you if you made a programming mistake and will give suggestions on how to display information so everyone can access it, view it and read it.”
While the previous website was limited to English, the new website can be translated into 80 languages with the click of a button, he said.
Along with ease of access to information, the town’s website went through visual changes as well, with a display of the new town logo displayed at the top left and bottom of each webpage. The logo of a rising sun over an abstract field is an allusion to the town’s agricultural roots and the dawn of a new time in Bargersville, according to a logo explanation on the town’s website. The logo was part of a $60,000 almost year-long rebranding effort that included conversations with community members and a new motto: “Bargersville: A Growing Legacy.”
“A lot of folks are under the impression the town spent $60,000 for a logo to be designed. That’s not the case,” Killinger said. “The logo is a small piece of the project. The rebranding included numerous meetings with residents and research data. The town had never gone through an extensive analysis of ‘where do we see ourselves going?’”
Webpages also include a balance of text, links and photos of Bargersville. The selection of displayed media will evolve over time.
“It’s a fresh new layout,” Killinger said. “We’re going to continue working on updating pictures within the community and working with professional photographers to take those pictures. Some of those might be drone images or video we incorporate.”
Officials are still working to integrate the new site with the My Bargersville app, which is available for both iPhone and Android. The app allows users to interact with town government on the go and complete functions such as paying bills, contacting elected officials and seeing the town events calendar. Soon the app with a new function that allows residents to report issues they spot around town, he said.
With the new website and the app, Bargersville residents will have greater access to information than ever before, Killinger said.
“The ability to share news and events is something I’m excited about, and the ability for residents, businesses and customers to navigate and connect with us as needed,” he said. “We feel we’ve given them a good tool to do that and it’s something that will allow us to continue to improve.”
