MAPLETON – A change in website providers will allow the township to save money and make working within the Northern Wellington Economic Development Partnership more efficient.
In September 2020 the Township of Mapleton Economic Development department signed a MOU with the Town of Minto Economic Development department.
While working with the Minto team as well as the Wellington North team on joint projects, “one of ideas we looked at was a joint jobs and housing portal,” explained Mapleton economic development coordinator Aly Cripps in a report at the Jan. 12 council meeting.
“ Through that we realized they are both on the same website provider meaning both their departments know the back end of it and know how to use it we would be the outlier in that,” Cripps added.
After discussions with Harriston-based OSIM Interactive, Cripps said staff determined the company could provide “the services that we currently have, an easier backend portal for us and staffing that would help with the website,” at an estimated cost saving of about $4,000 annually.
“We decided that would be a good idea for us to go forward on, and we can then go forward with working on more joint initiatives with Minto and Wellington North that create some efficiencies within our partnership.”
Cripp’s report states the previous website was costing around $5,141 annually, plus additional hourly costs for support. The OSIM website will cost around $1,356 a year going forward, plus any additional hourly costs for support. The new website is expected to launch during the week of Jan. 18. This new website looks very similar to the current one and will stay under the same URL of www.mapleton.ca.
“This will ensure there should not be any complications for users,” the report states.
“This change over will cost $10,730 for the initial changeover, but will save us around $3,785 a year going forward. In just under three years we will have compensated for the initial fees and will be saving money,” Cripps notes in the report.
Council passed a motion approving the changeover unopposed.
