Phase One: Establish the Baseline (Days 1 to 30)

The foundation of any refresh effort is understanding where your organization stands today. Start by identifying the top 100 pages by traffic using tools like Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, or your CMS reporting system.

As Jay Warren, Director of Communications and Legislative Affairs for the City of Arlington, explains, “Traffic is a major deciding point. We analyzed which pages residents actually used versus which pages departments assumed were important.” That insight helped his team focus their limited resources on the content that mattered most to residents rather than internal vanity pages.

Once you know your high-traffic pages, conduct a technical audit across that set. Use link checkers to identify broken internal and external links, and take inventory of every PDF. “Get rid of all those PDFs,” advises Molly Gillespie, Director of Communications and Community Engagement at the Village of Buffalo Grove. “That will save you a ton of time in the future when your search can read the content and when your AI bot can read through that.”

Outdated dates and stale information are another quick way to lose trust. Scan event pages, news releases, and program descriptions for missing years or irrelevant references. A simple find-and-replace search for common date patterns can surface hundreds of issues quickly.

Accessibility scanning should begin at this stage as well. Identify missing alt text, improper heading structures, poor color contrast, and untagged form fields. With new regulations on the horizon for April 2026, Bratton Riley, CEO of Citibot, notes, “Ensuring your digital platforms are compliant is not just good practice, it is a necessity.”

This baseline audit becomes your action registry for the next 60 days — a master list organized by department, page type, and issue severity. From there, you can measure improvement, set accountability, and build momentum for the next phases of your refresh program.

Phase Two: Define Standards and Assign Ownership (Days 15 to 45)

While the technical audit is underway, begin developing the standards and accountability structure that will sustain your progress. The most effective websites are not just technically sound, but also written in a clear, consistent voice that reflects how residents actually speak and search.

Start by creating a plain language style card — a one-page reference that guides tone, terminology, and structure. Include ten action-oriented verbs that make instructions clear, a list of jargon or acronyms to avoid (or spell out on first use), and a few formatting rules for headings, lists, and calls to action.

As Molly Gillespie notes, “If every department is putting in their own content, they aren’t necessarily speaking the same language. Being able to see it from the resident’s perspective and keeping it up to date is an essential piece of the puzzle.”

Alongside your style card, establish a content lifecycle policy. Define how often pages should be reviewed or archived. Critical pages such as permitting, utility billing, or public safety information should be checked quarterly. Event pages should automatically expire within 30 days of the event’s end date. Department news or blog content might be removed or archived after 18 months unless it contains evergreen guidance.

In Arlington, Jay Warren’s team embedded this accountability into their content management system. “Setting goals and ensuring consistency are essential for website management,” he noted. “You need clear accountability.”

That accountability starts with ownership. Each department should have a designated content owner responsible for maintaining its pages. Meet individually with department heads to share their baseline scores and next steps — framing the conversation around resident experience and risk mitigation, not blame.

As Bratton Riley puts it, “When you provide departments with definitive data on what needs to be updated, they are empowered to act. This is the leverage communications professionals have been waiting for.”

By giving departments data they can see and fix, communications teams shift from being the “website police” to being trusted partners in maintaining a credible, compliant, and resident-focused site.

Future of Resident Engagement

Citibot Refresh integrates with Citibot’s other AI-powered tools (web chat, text, WhatsApp, and voice), extending its impact beyond maintenance. When website content is healthy, every resident interaction — whether online or through chat — becomes faster, clearer, and more effective.

Key Takeaways for State and Local Leaders

• Build a continuous refresh program supported by automation and accountability.

• Use the four pillars — accuracy, currency, persona, accessibility — as your quality framework.

• Empower departments with actionable data to improve transparency and performance.

• Treat accessibility and plain language as the foundation of resident trust.

• Measure what residents feel — search success, reduced calls, cleaner navigation.

• Reclaim time for strategy and storytelling instead of endless fixes.

Closing Thought

“Residents do not ask for perfection. They ask for honesty, speed and transparency. With the right mix of governance and technology, local governments can deliver that experience every day” 

Clean, accessible, accurate information isn’t a dream — it’s an achievable daily discipline, made possible with the right tools and a team committed to serving their community well.

To learn more about Citibot Refresh, schedule a product demo today. Please visit https://www.citibot.io

All attributions in this paper are derived from direct quotes and insights provided during the September 2025 3CMA panel, Citibot Refresh launch presentation.