For cities and towns, websites are increasingly mandatory as a way to connect with and serve their residents. Websites are now repositories for the forms and contact information that residents and businesses need for their city services. They have also become a place to go for city council meeting information as well as news, special events and emergency alerts.
For all of their value, websites also represent a meaningful expense. Websites typically come with development and maintenance costs, as well as staff time spent creating and updating the content for a site.
One option for website development and management available to municipalities is Palmetto SiteBuilder. SiteBuilder is a content management system available at not cost to South Carolina's state and local governments. The product comes out of a partnership between the state government's official web portal, SC.gov, and NIC South Carolina, which manages that official site and provides guidance from the SC Department of Administration's Division of Technology Operations.
The Palmetto SiteBuilder process allows for no-cost hosting and maintenance of websites, as well as a professional design using templates. As a content management system, it provides a means of editing a site without the need for specialized skills, and it also allows for a newsfeed and social media integrations. The system also provides for compliance with Section 508 of the federal Rehabilitation Act, which generally requires online information to be accessible regardless of disability.
The system is used by municipalities and other government entities. NIC South Carolina counts more than 60 websites in production under Palmetto SiteBuilder, including 10 municipalities and five county governments.
Find information on Palmetto SiteBuilder at www.scinteractive.sc.gov/palmetto-sitebuilder.