The town of Davidson will unveil a redesigned Website on Monday, May 5, replacing the current text-heavy site with one that has maps, photos, a town calendar, easier-to-use archives of board agendas and minutes, and guides to town services. The website is at http://www.ci.davidson.nc.us/.

The upgrade took about six months and $20,000, according to town communications director Sara-Lynne Levine. The town last November hired Civic Plus, a consulting firm from Manhattan, Kansas, to help with the work. Ms. Levine has said the redesign was to create a “virtual town hall,” where citizens can carry out transactions as well as seek information.

The old site was created 8 or 9 years ago, she said. “I think the old site was just really out of date and there is a lot of information we had that we wanted to provide to citizens.”

With all the expanded information, “You could spend all day here,” Ms. Levine said.

Citizens will be able to download forms and permits for tree cutting, new developments and other services. You’ll also be able to request a home security check from police.

With the re-design, the town is expanding responsibility for maintaining the website throughout town hall. Now each department will have a person responsible for updating departmental web pages.

“For it to be successful, we had to have everybody working on it,” Ms. Levine said.

Along with the re-design, the town is expanding its eCrier email service, adding categories for activities such as Downtown Davidson Inc.

Meanwhile, as it expands digital information, the town is not giving up on the printed word. Ms. Levine said the town had considered scaling back the Town Message, its quarterly printed newsletter to residents. After shifting to lighter weight paper, the town has actually been able to expand the number of pages in each issue, to handle town information and Parks & Recreation Department program listings.