STRUTHERS — The city is taking an opportunity to freshen its look online and on paper.

City administration decided to kick off its rebranding campaign by launching a new website, which has a practical home page at www.cityof struthers.com. It is in a beta-testing phase, but is functional.

Now, people can more easily find how to pay bills and taxes, and more quickly get and report information.

“We rebuilt the site from the ground up. We built it with several things in mind: First and foremost we wanted it to provide information as fast as possible,” said Ryan Rogalski, of Five Points Creative, a Struthers-based creative agency.

Rogalski has been working on the project outside of his normal hours of tax commissioner for the city.

“Since early 2020, we have been striving to reinvent the city image. Our city brand relaunch represents the natural evolution of that transformation,” Mayor Catherine Cercone Miller said.

While designing the new website, which took about four months, Miller said the bottom line was to keep the site user-friendly.

FAST ANSWERS

“You go to a website for information. You want fast answers and quick information,” Miller said. “The website we had before didn’t have that ability.”

There are immediate links to emergency services, utilities, tax department, law services, registration for new residents and landlords, safety services, public services and how to pay fines and tickets are available.

“We wanted to offer as many online services as we could,” Rogalski said.

If a resident sees a street issue or a code violation, it can be reported through the website, Rogalski said.

Road resurfacing updates are included, and as work this year begins on the Mahoning River boat launch project, it will also be added to the site.

The new site works across various browsers and devices, Rogalski said.

Another key factor of the new website is that it is ADA-compliant. “This site will work with any assistive technology” for individuals with hearing and visual impairment, Rogalski said.

The website is one part of the rebranding effort.

MORE COHESIVE

Previously, Miller explained, departments throughout the city used different letterheads and logos. Now, there is one general logo with each department having its own representation.

Rogalski said that now, the city is more “cohesive.”

Input from department heads was used to help arrive to the final look of the general logo, which is a circle with the same “Struthers Red” and font, with each department’s icon. The city’s logo, “The city with heart in the heart of it all” remains, Rogalski said, “It still rings true today.”

“I think everyone liked the idea, too,” Miller said, of a uniform logo and letterhead. “We’re trying to make everyone part of the team — have their own identity but still part of the team,” Miller said.