Big-ticket item: Revamping the City of San Diego's website

How much more will San Diego taxpayers be required to come up with for mayor Kevin Faulconer’s new PR-centric city website? The outcome hinges on responses to a recent request for proposals to provide the city with a new “content management system.”

Last year the mayor named Chicago’s Maksim Pecherskiy to be what he called the city’s chief data officer, at a $100,000 annual salary, but apparently even more help is needed. According to the proposal request, “It is a priority of the City’s Mayor, Kevin Faulconer, to redesign and enhance the Sandiego.gov website in order to provide easier and more Website User-friendly access to City services, departments, resources and data.”

Notes the solicitation, “the City has contracted with other vendors to develop a Style Guide, Pattern Library, and Information Architecture that will serve as the basis for the City’s new website design.” The advertisement adds, “to improve and increase usability for both the public and City staff, many of the existing web applications will be re-factored, migrated, and consolidated to the new site during the process of implementation.”