With its 50th birthday coming in August, the Regional District of Nanaimo is looking to give itself the gift of a re-tooled website.
The regional district's committee of the whole is recommending a number of initiatives for the milestone, including $20,000 to its Internet services contractor, Trinex Internet Solutions Inc., to add an easier user interface to the website, streamline information and optimize it for mobile use.
A departmental review of pages will also be part of the process and old press releases will be removed from the website.
"Our current website doesn't work on mobile phones or tablets, so we're going to have it responsive after this process is over, that's the biggest part, and then we're just taking this opportunity to clean it up as well and get rid of some old content and update with some new content," said Christina Gray, regional district spokeswoman.
In addition to the website, the regional district is also budgeting $3,000 for an open house, $200 for prizes for a social media campaign and between $5,500 and $7,000 for a video on the role of the regional district.
"We just saw it as an opportunity to tie it into our 50th anniversary. I'm also going to add a section about our history and some of the big accomplishments along the way over the past 50 years. We just saw that as a great time to unveil a refreshed site," said Gray.
The renovated website is anticipated to go live on Aug. 24. The regional district board is expected to vote on the measures at its regular meeting on March 28.