Willmar, MN Saves a Day a Week with Integrated CivicPlus® Legislative Management Solutions

Willmar, Minnesota, is located 95 miles west of Minneapolis-St. Paul and serves as the county seat for Kandiyohi County. Willmar is a diverse community surrounded by rich farmlands, scenic lakes, and rolling hills, with a vibrant and growing economy in the agricultural, medical, education, and technology sectors. With a population of around 22,000, Willmar offers many amenities of a larger city while still providing the benefits of a small town.

Willmar Saves a Day a Week of Time After Implementing Agenda and Meeting Management Solution

Before transitioning to CivicPlus®, the city of Willmar did not use a dedicated Agenda and Meeting Management solution, which meant many manual processes, PDFs, and items got lost in communication, ultimately slowing the process down. Kyle Box, City Operations Director, was aware of the benefits of Agenda and Meeting Management from his experiences before coming to Willmar and was ready to get the city on the right track.

When looking for a system for Willmar, Box searched for something that would check all the boxes from a functionality perspective at a price that made sense.

After Implementing a CivicPlus Agenda and Meeting Management Solution

One of the City of Willmar’s most significant results has been enormous time savings while providing more information to the community.

In addition to the time saved from transitioning from manual processes, he notes time savings from introducing workflows, which has fostered greater collaboration with staff while reducing risk.

“Workflows have been one of the biggest time savers, and they’ve also reduced any risk of error. Before workflows, agenda items would only be sent to Administration; then, the city clerk would need to review everything and make sure all the documentation was in order, and items would get lost in the transition between departments and emails. Now, we’ve got a nice workflow set up with over 30 people using the system. It’s simple, but it’s effective. It starts with department staff, proofed by a department head, then routed to the city clerk to make sure all of the supporting documentation is in order for an agenda item, and finally, Administration has an opportunity for final review and sign-offs.”

Box has seen the advantages and is continuing to work on setting up additional workflows as he continues to take advantage of the robust feature set.

Endless Codification Options From CivicPlus

Kyle Box has had an interesting history that has allowed him to explore the unique benefits of CivicPlus’ Municode Codification services, including the option of choosing from self-service publishing or traditional full-service codification. Self-publishing software (SPS) embraces digital transformation by empowering municipalities to maintain their municipal code, resolutions, minutes, policies, and other publications in-house, giving customers total control of your code and allowing them to update your materials instantly and as often as needed for an annual fee. Full-service codification is another option, where municipalities can utilize the benefits of our legal team as they take care of codification, supplementation, and all the associated tasks at a per-page rate or an annual fee.

“The great thing about having these two options is that people can choose what makes the most sense for their communities. With SPS, it works well for those who have the time or dedicated workforce, as you can have full control of the codification timeline; with full-service, it’s nice, too, because I can trust our code is being delivered accurately as our resources are needed to focus on other things. So, honestly, I recommend either, depending on how the city operates and what the needs are at the time.”

When asked why Box chose to work with CivicPlus for the City’s codification needs, he says, “I think it’s one of the best options out there. I’ve looked at other similar services and done my best due diligence to see if we’re getting the best deal for the City. I think, hands down, with [CivicPlus], the codification services provided are second to none. You also get a lot of those extra features — one of my favorites being the ability to use the municipal research tool where I can go back and look at what other cities in Minnesota are doing and more.”

Another benefit to hosting code online and with Municode codification is the unparalleled access and transparency that it brings to the community and staff due to its ease of use and intuitive interface.

“It’s the usability function of it all, for the public and staff. It’s easy for the public to navigate, and when you look at some of the other services that are out there — they can be convoluted; you have to know exactly where and what you’re looking for. But with Municode, it’s easy and straightforward. I’m always thinking, how can we use it internally? And how can the public use it? And if we direct people from the website, are they going to be lost? And the way it’s all laid out, we can be confident that users can easily navigate and find what they are searching for,” says Box.

With Superior Customer Service and Forward-Thinking Integrations, the Future of the City’s Partnership with CivicPlus Is Bright

Box is excited for the future with CivicPlus, especially knowing he has the support he needs that’s reflected throughout the CivicPlus product suite.

Box is also looking forward to implementing the new integration capabilities between the Agenda and Meeting Management and Codification solutions, “I’m looking forward to implementing the integration and benefit from how each program can talk to each other, and how we can take our items from our meetings, such as ordinances, and get those integrated into our code,” he says.