Jefferson County, PA

About Jefferson County, PA

Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, is the administrative and legal center for a large rural population. Its web presence carries a lot of the county’s civic transparency. Residents use it to reach government services, public records, court schedules, and department resources.

The business challenge

Jefferson County had three legacy websites: the main county site, the District Attorney’s portal, and the Maintenance Department system. All of them had grown outdated and hard to navigate, and keeping them up was a chore. Each needed a full rebuild with its own technical requirements, including secure document handling, role-based admin control, and Section 508 accessibility compliance. The county wanted a long-term digital partner who would learn how they operate and turn that into modern web platforms that last.

What we did

Jefferson County brought in Imagi-tech to design and rebuild three independent environments, each built for the department that uses it. We led the county through a collaborative process in several phases, from discovery and prototyping through launch and support afterward. We sat in on stakeholder discussions and built design prototypes for review rounds. We also managed the content migrations and made sure each system met the county’s technical, legal, and usability goals.

What happened

The Jefferson County work shows we can run a complex, multi-site government project with care and stay with it for the long term. The partnership covered accessibility, automation, security, and branding, and it gave the county a solid base for how it serves residents and runs online.

The main county site

We rebuilt Jefferson County’s main public website from the ground up and turned over 200 pages of legacy content into a modern, accessible site organized by department. A role-based permissions system lets each department manage its own section while the rest of the site stays secure. The design meets Section 508 accessibility standards. Navigation is simpler and the site works on phones, so forms, meeting schedules, court calendars, and announcements are easier to reach.

• Rebuilt 200+ pages into a responsive, modern, accessible layout.
• Set up role-based permissions by department so each one manages its own pages securely.
• Met Section 508 accessibility standards for public access.
• Made public resources easier to search and better organized.
• Connected the court calendar through a modern plugin; it drives the daily agenda display at the Jefferson County courthouse.
• Trained staff and wrote documentation for web updates and permissions management.
• Password-protected content for district attorney access only.
• Set up secure purchase and download of paid court forms through the site.

The District Attorney’s secure document exchange

For the District Attorney’s Office, we built a secure document exchange for sending sensitive case files and confirming they arrived. The providing party uploads records directly, and the system emails the assigned attorneys automatically. Attorneys log in securely to download the materials. Each download generates a receipt, and files expire on their own after 30 days. It replaced a manual, error-prone process with an automated one that stays compliant and leaves an audit trail.

• Built a secure, automated system for sharing documents and managing records.
• Automatic email notifications and download receipts for accountability.
• Uploaded case materials expire after 30 days.
• Sorting and filtering by date, case, and status.
• Less manual coordination and better compliance.
• The system runs with minimal administrative oversight.

Maintenance Department ticketing

We set up a ticketing system for Jefferson County’s Maintenance Department to handle building service requests. Staff report an issue and can follow it from the first report until the work is done. Each ticket tracks status and priority along with communication notes, so every department can see who is handling what. With the workflow in one place, facility management got simpler and turnaround time improved.

• A complete digital ticketing and maintenance workflow.
• Simpler submission, assignment, and progress tracking.
• Better collaboration between building staff and maintenance staff.
• A clean interface that staff of any skill level can use.

Visual identity and logo design

The county was modernizing, so we designed a new logo and visual identity based on the Jefferson County Courthouse. We handed over a complete asset set with vector files and a brand color palette, formatted for web and print, so everything looks consistent online and on paper.

• Designed a new Jefferson County logo drawn from the courthouse architecture.
• Presented several refined concepts for stakeholder feedback.
• Delivered complete vector and color assets for web, print, and signage.

The .com to .gov transition

Moving from the county’s legacy .com domains to official .gov addresses was the most technically demanding job after launch. We planned it carefully to keep it accurate and secure, with no break in service. Every database value across all the sites had to be replaced, including internal links, document paths, and employee email addresses on the new domain. We mapped out the order of operations and ran several controlled test migrations. Then we ran the live transition together with Jefferson County’s IT department, and it went through cleanly. After launch we checked every redirect and integration to confirm accessibility, working links, and working email across systems.

• Planned and ran the domain migration from .com to .gov.
• Replaced every database value for links, URLs, and employee emails.
• Ran several test migrations before the live one.
• Completed the live transition with no downtime or data loss.
• Set up redirects and checked links for SEO and usability.

Ongoing technical consultation

During the rebuild and after it, Imagi-tech served as Jefferson County’s outside IT and web consultant. We troubleshoot problems, tune performance, and advise on server maintenance. We have helped the county’s IT team configure servers, validate plugins, and monitor performance, working as an extension of their staff. Getting ahead of problems kept each site running reliably and securely, and the county’s team feels confident managing the systems long term.

• Ongoing IT consulting and web troubleshooting.
• Help with server configuration updates and security tuning.
• Maintenance planning and on-call technical support.
• Advice on hosting and update practices.
• Kept watch on site performance, uptime, and stability.
• A long-term IT partner after launch.