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Leaving a website platform

Leaving CivicPlus.

What the agreements say about renewal, notice and your data, and what moving a CivicPlus website takes, step by step. Every fact links to the public record it comes from.

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Who runs CivicPlus.

From the company’s own website, and from LFW’s count of local government sites.

  • CivicPlus is based in Manhattan, Kansas. It says it serves more than 13,000 local government customers.

    Source: CivicPlus, About us, read October 22, 2026

  • Its website product, long sold as CivicEngage, is now called CivicPlus Municipal Websites. CivicPlus says more than 5,000 local government websites run on it.

    Source: CivicPlus, Municipal Websites, read October 22, 2026

  • The same company sells agenda software (formerly CivicClerk), which it says serves 1,500 clerk customers, as well as mass notification, recreation management and Municode codification.

    Source: CivicPlus, Agenda and Meeting Management, read October 22, 2026

  • In a 2025 township contract, CivicPlus describes itself as the acquirer and sole owner of Municode, the code-of-ordinances publisher.

    Source: Hamburg Township, Michigan, Board packet of February 18, 2025, item 12, read October 22, 2026

At least 1,807 of 8,548 local government sites we checked

On October 6, 2026, LFW read the home page of every city, county, district and school site on the federal .gov registry that answered. At least 1,807 of those 8,548 organizations showed CivicPlus on the page. Sites on .org, .us and .com addresses were not checked.

Method: LFW’s check of local government sites on the federal .gov registry (CISA), checked October 6, 2026

What CivicPlus does well, and when staying makes sense.

From the company’s own pages and from public records.

Staying can be the right call when:

  • Your SOW has more than a year left and the money is already committed.
  • Your staff use most of the modules every week, and the replacement for each one is not budgeted yet.
  • A move would launch during an election, a budget adoption or a storm season.
  • You can get better terms at renewal, such as renewal by mutual agreement, which one Florida county has in writing (see the agreements below).

What the agreements say.

Quoted from the company’s Master Services Agreement and from statements of work (SOWs) in public council records.

These are the terms in the records we could open. Ask for a copy of every SOW your agency has signed, and put each renewal date and notice date on one calendar.

What moves, what stays.

The website moves to LFW. The systems in the second list stay on their own contracts, or move to another vendor.

LFW builds, runs and replaces today

  • The website and its content management
  • Agendas and minutes, published as pages with the PDF attached
  • Public notices
  • Forms
  • Alerts and the emergency page
  • Email subscriptions
  • Search
  • The accessibility record

LFW does not replace today

  • Meeting video and its captioned archive
  • The agenda workflow behind the dais: packets, motions and votes
  • Records-request tracking
  • 311 and permitting

Each CivicPlus product runs under its own statement of work, and the master agreement lasts as long as any SOW does, so ending the website SOW leaves the others in place.

Source: CivicPlus Master Services Agreement (last updated May 2024), read October 22, 2026

  • Meeting video and its captioned archive

    Keep it on its own contract. CivicPlus’s agenda software captures and shares live and recorded meeting video with closed captioning.

    Source: CivicPlus, Agenda and Meeting Management, read October 22, 2026

    Or move the video to YouTube and embed each meeting on the new meetings page. YouTube’s automatic captions may misrepresent what was said, so a person reviews and corrects them before the video is linked as the record.

    Source: YouTube Help, “Use automatic captioning”, read October 22, 2026.

    Also in: YouTube Help, “Add subtitles & captions”

    LFW: not built.

  • The agenda workflow behind the dais: packets, motions and votes

    Keep it on its own contract. CivicPlus sells agenda software for building agendas and packets, taking minutes and voting.

    Source: CivicPlus, Agenda and Meeting Management, read October 22, 2026

    Or move it to another agenda vendor. Either way, the new site publishes each agenda and its minutes as a page with the PDF attached.

    LFW: not built.

  • Records-request tracking

    Keep it on its own contract. CivicPlus sells NextRequest for receiving, routing, redacting and releasing public records.

    Source: CivicPlus, NextRequest public records software, read October 22, 2026

    Or move to another records-request service. The new site links to the request portal from every page that mentions records.

    LFW: not built.

  • 311 and permitting

    Keep it on its own contract. CivicPlus sells SeeClickFix for 311 requests, and its permitting modules can run on their own.

    Source: CivicPlus, SeeClickFix 311 CRM, read October 22, 2026.

    Also in: CivicPlus, Community Development

    Or move to another 311 or permitting vendor. The new site links to the request and permit portals and lists what each one is for.

    LFW: not built.

What leaving involves, step by step.

What the platform gives you at each step, what it does not and what LFW does.

  1. Content: the pages

    What CivicPlus gives you. The help center shows how to export the site map, the navigation structure, as a CSV file. We found no help article for exporting the pages themselves.

    Source: CivicPlus help center, “Export a Site Map”, read October 22, 2026

    What LFW does. We read every page from the live site, so the move does not depend on an export. The site map file becomes the checklist: each page gets an owner and a decision to keep, merge or retire.

    Weeks 1 to 2.

  2. Documents and the archive

    What CivicPlus gives you. Document Center folders export as a ZIP file sent by email, and the download link expires 7 days after it is sent.

    Source: CivicPlus help center, “Export Folders from Document Center”, read October 22, 2026

    Archive Center. Attachments download as a ZIP file, chosen by category.

    Source: CivicPlus help center, “Export Archive Center Attachments”, read October 22, 2026

    What LFW does. We download every folder while your access lasts, keep each file’s name and old address, and check that the count on the new site matches the count on the old one.

    Weeks 1 to 3, depending on the number of files.

  3. Forms

    What CivicPlus gives you. Form Center exports the submissions: a CSV spreadsheet, PDFs and a ZIP file of attachments.

    Source: CivicPlus help center, “Export Form Center Submissions”, read October 22, 2026

    What LFW does. We rebuild each form with the same fields, rules and recipients, tested with a keyboard and a screen reader. You keep the old submissions file for your records.

    Weeks 2 to 4.

  4. Subscribers and notifications

    What CivicPlus gives you. Notify Me subscriptions export as a .TXT file, active, inactive or both.

    Source: CivicPlus help center, “Export Notify Me Subscriptions”, read October 22, 2026

    What buyers expect. Joplin, Missouri told bidders that if it leaves CivicPlus, it assumes it will need to replace Notify Me, which it uses for email and text alerts.

    Source: City of Joplin, Missouri, RFP 2025-RFP-24, Addendum 6 (September 23, 2025), read October 22, 2026

    What LFW does. We import the list into a sending service in your agency’s name, with a record of how each person signed up, and put sign-up forms on the new site. Your first message says the service moved.

    Weeks 3 to 4, tested before launch.

  5. Agendas and minutes

    What CivicPlus gives you. Agenda Center lists who subscribes to agendas, as a .TXT file. The agendas and packets themselves are published files on your site.

    Source: CivicPlus help center, “View & Export Agenda Center Subscribers”, read October 22, 2026

    Keeping the agenda tool. The agenda software can stay when the website moves. A city in Los Angeles County, California runs WordPress and uses CivicPlus for agenda management.

    Source: That city’s website redesign RFP and its question-and-answer addendum, in LFW’s bid records, read October 22, 2026

    What LFW does. We copy every published agenda, packet and set of minutes into your document library with an index by meeting. If you keep the agenda software, the new site links to it.

    Weeks 2 to 4.

  6. Domain and DNS

    What to check. Some CivicPlus quotes bill DNS and domain hosting as their own annual line, so the records may sit in CivicPlus’s account.

    Source: Town of Marbletown, New York, CivicPlus quote Q-127006-1 (2026), read October 22, 2026

    What LFW does. We set up DNS in an account in your agency’s name with the same records, before any notice goes out. Launch is then a record change on a day you approve.

    Week 1, then launch day.

  7. Redirects

    What CivicPlus gives you. The Redirects module exports your current redirects to an Excel file.

    Source: CivicPlus help center, “Export Redirects”, read October 22, 2026

    What LFW does. Every old address, including Document Center links and the redirects in that file, gets a permanent redirect to its new page or file. We test them all before launch and watch for broken links after.

    Weeks 4 to 6, and on launch day.

  8. The overlap period

    Why it matters. CivicPlus’s agreement gives no access in the 30 days after an SOW ends, so the new site has to be live and checked while the old one still runs.

    Source: CivicPlus Master Services Agreement (last updated May 2024), read October 22, 2026

    What LFW does. We launch first, check every page, form and redirect on the live site, and only then does your agency send its notice, on the date the SOW sets.

    The new site launches 8 to 12 weeks after we start.

What it costs.

Fixed prices a department can approve with a single quote. Care from $250 a month.

  • Website rebuild for a town or district

    $9,500 fixed price

    A new accessible site on WordPress with your pages and documents moved over, an agenda link on the home page, a legal notices page and an accessibility statement, launched in your name.

    Get a PO-ready quote

  • Website rebuild for a city or county

    $14,500 fixed price

    Everything in the town rebuild, plus up to 500 pages and 300 PDFs moved and fixed, department sections and editor training.

    Get a PO-ready quote

  • Website care

    $250 a month

    Updates and security patches, off-site backups, uptime checked every minute and broken links found daily.

    Get a PO-ready quote

The domain, the DNS account and the code stay in your agency’s name. Care covers updates, backups and monitoring after launch.

Questions.

When should we send the non-renewal notice?

In the SOWs we read, at least 60 days before the renewal date. Send it after the new site is live and checked, and before that 60-day line.

Source: City of Bonney Lake, Washington, Resolution 3281 and CivicPlus SOW (July 2025), read October 22, 2026

Do we own our content?

Under CivicPlus’s agreement, your agency owns the content and data once the project fees are paid. Getting it out is the work on this page.

Source: CivicPlus Master Services Agreement (last updated May 2024), read October 22, 2026

Can we keep CivicPlus agenda software and move only the website?

Yes. Each product has its own SOW. A city in Los Angeles County, California runs its site on WordPress and uses CivicPlus for agenda management.

Source: That city’s website redesign RFP and its question-and-answer addendum, in LFW’s bid records, read October 22, 2026

Has a city left CivicPlus recently?

Great Bend, Kansas approved a move to Revize in September 2025. Its minutes say the yearly cost is half what it paid CivicPlus, and that its CivicPlus contract ends on May 31, 2026.

Source: City of Great Bend, Kansas, council minutes of September 2, 2025, read October 22, 2026

What do cities ask for when they leave?

Joplin, Missouri told bidders that every CivicEngage module comes with its subscription, and that it assumed none would be available if it moved to another CMS. Each one needs a replacement on the new site.

Source: City of Joplin, Missouri, RFP 2025-RFP-24, Addendum 6 (September 23, 2025), read October 22, 2026

What does the new site run on?

WordPress, with the code in a repository your agency owns. Any firm that knows WordPress can take it over.

Plan the move before the renewal date.

Send the RFP or your site’s address. We reply within one business day with what moves, how long it takes and a fixed price.

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