Residents thanked for participating in durham.ca redevelopment survey and focus groups

Whitby, Ontario –

The Regional Municipality of Durham would like to thank residents for participating in the recent durham.ca redevelopment survey and focus groups. The feedback received plays a very important role in the redevelopment of the new durham.ca, which is anticipated to be rolled out by the end of 2017.

More than 1,000 responses were received from the durham.ca website survey, which was open from Oct. 14 to Nov. 11. Further, 12 focus groups took place in late November, and included participation from Regional staff, councillors, mayors and members of the public.

Most survey respondents noted that durham.ca could be improved by making the site easier to navigate; improving the search functionality; ensuring that the new site is mobile-friendly; and, simplifying the website’s design, search, home page and content. The focus group sessions gathered more detailed information around the type of features residents would like to see in a new and improved durham.ca—suggestions such as more online communication, interactive content and compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).

“The Region’s website is an important tool that will help us reach our goal of communicating information to the public in an open, transparent and timely way,” said Matthew Gaskell, Commissioner of Corporate Services. “Collaborating with the public on this initiative will help to ensure that the new durham.ca is resident-centric, accessible and innovative, and provides the service excellence that we strive to offer.”

Moving forward, the public’s feedback will be incorporated into a web strategy that will lead to a more interactive, and easier to navigate, website (durham.ca). A sitemap focus group is scheduled for early 2017, with the intent of identifying and creating a structure that will organize content on the new Regional website.

The new durham.ca will be a mobile-friendly website that meets accessibility standards, highlights news and emergency notifications, and will include more fulsome event and council calendars. In addition, a new eProcurement system, bids and tenders, will be launched as part of the project in early 2017.

Residents can stay up to date with the durham.ca website redevelopment project by visiting www.durham.ca/YourOpinionCounts. 

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For more information, please contact Corporate Communications.