New City of Jackson website launches

Jackson information technology director Joan Evans gave a tutorial Tuesday, Sept. 5, to city aldermen about the municipality's new consolidated website, www.jacksonmo.org, which came online in mid-July.

"(Our old site) was due for a facelift and we began looking real hard at re-doing the site back in 2019, then COVID hit and everybody changed how they used websites," said Evans, who has led Jackson's IT department since 2004. "We merged our previous three websites into one and settled on Manhattan, Kansas-based CivicPlus as our vendor."

CivicPlus, according to company-provided information online, specializes in creating and supporting approximately 3,500 governmental websites.

Evans said the new site enables scheduling and payment programs for the city's Parks and Recreation department and allows for an enhanced permitting and licensing module, which is being used by Jackson's building and planning office and by the city clerk and city collector.

Additionally, the new site is making special trash pickup requests considerably easier to track and implement, Evans added.

"In just a few short weeks since the launch, we already have 150 scheduled pickups."

Evans noted quick links on the main page can also connect residents to setting up and paying utilities, to the city's municipal court and to the city's code.

"It's a big improvement (and) a sea change from what we had," Evans said.

Jason Lipe, director of Parks and Recreation, cited the new site's ability to streamline requests and gave an example of improved accessibility for citizens.

"It used to be if you wanted to schedule a (park) pavilion, you had to come into the Civic Center or call on the phone during business hours. Now, if you can't sleep and you want to schedule at 2 a.m., you can jump online, get a date reserved, pay for it and never have to set foot in the Civic Center," said Lipe, who has led the department since early 2022.