The City of Butler is close to launching a major update to its online services once some final hurdles are resolved.

Councilman Troy Douthett said at a city council meeting Thursday, Feb. 26, the city’s new website is nearly feature-complete. However, it is not ready to launch until a hosting service is selected.

“(The website) is built out and right now, we’re just going back and forth with hosting services,” he said. “So once we secure a proper host and everyone’s happy, it’s going to be up.”

However, Douthett added online payment services will likely not be available upon launch. They will come later.

“At first, it’s going to be up without the ability to pay because that’s something else we’re going around and around about,” he said.

Online payment options was just one key feature officials prioritized in their request for proposals last year. According to the request, residents will eventually be able to pay for parking permits, parking fines and shelter rentals.

Resident accessibility was another focus, as officials requested the site include livestream support for council meetings, intuitive menus and search function, mobile device support, Americans with Disabilities Act compliance and multilingual support.

The request also included community engagement features to give residents the ability to submit public feedback forms, register for events through a calendar and sign up for email or SMS notifications.

Work on the website began last year after the city voted to hire Neumeric and Weblinx to build it at an original estimated cost of $59,500.

During Thursday’s meeting, council voted 4-1 to add a “landlord occupancy” section to the website at a cost of $11,500. This section will give landlords the opportunity to submit their annual occupancy reports and will automatically compile those into the city’s database.

Councilwoman Lisa Quebedeaux was the only dissenting voice.

She said her concern was more with the landlord occupancy procedure rather than any additions to the website. She said she feels putting the procedure on the website commits the city to the current procedure too much for her liking.

“My worry is that this will feel as if the walk has been finished and now we’re resting at the bench and not moving forward forever after this,” she said. “The enforcement of this ordinance and how it sits to me is not satisfactory. I think there needs to be much more teeth than what it has.”

Adding this additional section should cause no delay in the website’s launch, treasurer Linda Graham-Greek said.