Whitefish launches new city website

The city of Whitefish has a new website that city officials say will give citizens wider access to information.

The website, www.cityofwhitefish.org, was launched Thursday and is designed to give the city better local control over content, City Manager Chuck Stearns said.

“We now have total control over how it looks, what pictures are used, the format of the website and Web pages,” Stearns said. “Under the old website, we had to use their standard format and to add our own picture to the home page was a $600 charge. Now each department can load content onto the website and even design their own pages, so it allows us a lot more flexibility.” 

 The public also now has access via the website to audio and video recordings of Whitefish City Council meetings. Audio and video recordings also are archived from past meetings.

“I think this website format will be easier for citizens to navigate around and to find the information they want more easily,” Stearns said.

 Rich Knapp, former assistant city manager and finance director, was the primary manager of the website project.

He and other city staff members researched and reviewed several other city websites and incorporated style elements and navigational tools that are similar among other local government websites, Stearns said.