What VLCT staff need to do before launch

Decide which topics get an overview page and write the Housing overview first

vlct.org has no Housing overview page. We drafted an outline (short-term rentals, enabling housing, houselessness, state programs, CHIP). Four other broad topics could use one: Economic & Community Development, Infrastructure & Utilities, Flood Recovery, and Human Resources. Five topics could use an existing page instead, and four thin topics could be merged. We'll send our recommendation with view counts.

Numbers to double-check: Page view counts and the 42 Housing items, when we send the recommendation

Write two short MAC landing pages for 'Land, roads & animals' and 'Open meetings & public records'

These two groups in the Legal Support sidebar have no overview page. Unless you'd rather not, we'll set them up as empty drafts for MAC to write.

Look over the decisions we made on your behalf and flag any you'd change

While building, we made 38 calls (wording, defaults, what shows where) so work could keep moving. They're all on the test site now. Open the list and email us the number of any you'd change, with what it should be instead. The spreadsheet's “Decisions we made” tab has columns for this too. 23 of them are things the public reads or that sort content; please name a reviewer for those. If we don't hear back by 9 October 2026, the current version stays.

Walk through each page that now differs from live vlct.org and answer yes, no, or changes

There is one row per changed page: Handbooks page, handbook PDFs and e-books, homepage and footer, Resource Library, Treasurers Handbook cover, the role ('Info for') pages, All Topics, and /legal-support/. Each row links to a detail issue that holds the before and after text.

Sign off the contacts, staff, callouts and quick actions on the role pages

Pages that were empty on vlct.org were filled with text from the redesign mockup. Please confirm the inbox for each area (mos@, EPLReferral@, losscontrol@, info@), the 3–4 staff named per page, the callouts for new officials, the quick actions and the pinned top resources. Also tell us whether HR's 'Submit an HR question' should go to the PACIF-only HR program, and whether the Clerks callout should link the public 'Elected Town Officers' page or the members-only version.

Numbers to double-check: The line 'Answers are logged in your dashboard' about Ask a Question

Approve or reject the new /legal-support/ page and check its two numbers

A new page with nothing like it on vlct.org, drafted by us as a friendlier front door to the Municipal Assistance Center page. Decide: keep it alongside the MAC page, replace the MAC page with it, or drop it. Also tell us which single address the /mac, 'Legal Assistance' and 'Municipal Law Topics' links should all go to.

Numbers to double-check: '4,000+ member inquiries a year' and '24–48 hour' response time

Approve the new 'Ask Someone at PACIF' page so the homepage insurance door can link to it

Lisa asked for this page. It introduces PACIF staff by team (Claims, Loss Control, HR, Underwriting, leadership) and is published on the test site, but the homepage door still points to the MAC inquiry page. Please answer: does the 802-229-9111 front desk route PACIF calls? Should HR get its own staff department, or should Christine Marsh be named in the HR section? Are the staff placements right (Julie McKenzie, Lia Adame, Trisha Clark)? Should VERB and benefits get a section? Is the underwriting email underwritingdept@ or underwriting@? Which title do you prefer?

Numbers to double-check: Underwriting email address; front-desk routing claim

Confirm the open items from Lisa's homepage and footer feedback

Most of Lisa's edits are already on the test site. Still open: should the 'Search' door read 'Search resources'? Is 'What members are saying' right? What counts as a 'resource' in the library count? What did 'light blue is only here?' refer to (we think the footer column headings)? Should 'Ask Muni-Pal' come out of the Get Help menu?

Numbers to double-check: Resource count shown in the search box

Sign off the Resource Library wording and what it shows by default

These items need a decision: the new lede ('Everything VLCT publishes…'), the 'Sign in to read' badge, the 'Open to everyone / Members only' filter labels, the 'Topic overview' card wording, the six 'Try: open meeting law, budget…' search hints, and hiding articles and news by default behind 'Show' toggles.

Check which news posts, FAQs and legislative reports were members-only in Drupal

The export does not carry gating for these content types, and at least one live news post is proven to be members-only. Someone with Drupal admin access needs to identify the gated ones.

Numbers to double-check: Count TBD

Approve the member sign-in copy and the claim that every town is a member

Approve the /login intro (option 1 recommended) and the announcement email copy, and give a go-ahead before any bulk username email goes out. Tell us whether Drupal checked purchases for paid products. Also confirm that every Vermont town and city is a member, because a card says 'You're covered'; if not, we'll change it to 'Most Vermont municipalities are members'.

Numbers to double-check: 'Every Vermont town and city is a member'

Approve the Treasurers Handbook cover changes and the 'New to the job' picks

The four starter chapters were picked by the design mockup, not MAC. We removed the old 'click the grey box' instructions, which described Drupal features that no longer exist, from all 10 handbook covers. Decide whether the 'School District Treasurers' page that says 'coming soon' stays up (our default) or comes down.

Confirm the handbook chapter fixes and that handbook covers stay public

Our defaults: add 27 table-of-contents entries across 5 handbooks that are missing from their books as sub-chapters, and put 'Insurance Information for Selectboards' back as Selectboard Handbook chapter 12 to match live. Covers of members-only books are currently public, while live sends visitors to the login page.

Numbers to double-check: 27 entries (first count was 14)

Review the new Handbooks page and the handbook PDFs and e-books

The page now shows cards for all 10 VLCT handbooks and 7 outside handbooks, up from 2. Tell us whether the layout and the card labels work and whether to keep the 5 added outside handbooks. The new PDF and e-book downloads have generated covers, one proposed icon per chapter (96 in all) and 'Notes' filler pages. Figures and callouts will need approval book by book.

Numbers to double-check: 96 chapter icons

Confirm the new topic list and the All Topics page

Lisa's restructure is on the test site. Still open: how to show the PACIF topics (their own group, or marked in place), whether to drop '& Highways' from Public Works, whether to rename 'Special town meeting', and '&' or 'and'. Also needed: OK on six link labels we added (e.g. 'Playground Safety', 'Finance overview'), where the Safety Briefs tile should point, and an optional intro sentence (the page never had one).

Confirm that /events-calendar/ can replace the Annual Events schedule page

The calendar now has type filters, format badges, office closures and ClearVantage thumbnails. Once staff confirm it does the job as well as the table, the annual schedule page and /training-events-calendar/ will forward to it. Also decide where undated events (e.g. 'November, TBD') should appear.

Review 25 suggested rewrites in the Treasurers Handbook

The redesign mockup suggested 25 wording changes. We'll send each with before and after text. MAC should read the legal ones (public records, borrowing).

Spot-check the topics and roles machines assigned to content

140 Municipal Policy items carry a 'Topic check' flag (filter by it in the WordPress dashboard and remove the flag once the topic is right). A computer pass added 1,752 confident topic tags and left 1,584 less certain ones for review. There are also 1,868 low-confidence audience (role) tags. First decision: accept the computer's tags as they are, or review them before launch.

Numbers to double-check: 1,752 / 1,584 / 1,868 rows

Review the 136 AI-drafted FAQs: approve, edit or reject each

The drafts wait in the staff FAQ queue, about 20 per service area, and each shows its sources and the numbers to check. None is public until approved. 99 will publish as members-only unless the approver ticks 'Publish answer publicly anyway'. Reviewer accounts are needed first.

Numbers to double-check: Numbers and deadlines flagged on each draft

Decide fix, remove or keep for each broken link in our report

There are 455 rows: dead outside links, links to deleted or unpublished vlct.org pages, and broken videos. Most are broken on live too. A Google Sheet with a decision dropdown exists but has not been shared yet.

Numbers to double-check: 455 rows (was 472)

Review 28 recovered files and send originals of two missing images

28 dead files were recovered from the Wayback Machine as unattached drafts, and staff should decide which to re-link. Please send the two Town Report infographics, which can't be recovered. Also tell us whether the dead '2025 VLCT nominating committee report' is the same as the VERB one.

Skim the remaining labels we wrote and accept or change them

These cover the jobs board labels ('A service of', 'Back to VLCT.org', RFP labels, 'Rounded to the dollar'), the italic sidebar group labels (Finance, CHIP FAQs), the MAC and MOS disclaimer order and wording, and whether the request-coverage form is really members-only. Each defaults to 'as shipped' on 2026-10-09.

Review the site's look in the style-guide packet and choose the callout labels

Say yes, no or change for each building block (callouts, lists, tables, cards, FAQs, buttons). Also choose between a fixed list of callout labels plus 'Other', or free text. We'll send the packet separately.

Reply to the 19-document packet, listing only the rows you disagree with

19 documents are linked from both members-only and public pages. By default, 17 become members-only and the 2 FEMA pocket guides stay public, per the steer that 'VLCT errs on the side of gating'. Answer by 2026-10-09.

Confirm where member and staff personal data should be kept

Three export files hold names, emails, phones and addresses for about 10,500 people. Today we keep them outside our code storage. Please confirm that, or tell us you're comfortable with them in our private code storage.

Numbers to double-check: ~10,500 people

Decide whether the role (“Info for”) pages launch with the site or follow it

Members-only is settled with VLCT. These seven pages are new (vlct.org has none), and launching them well depends on the other role-page items: the copy sign-off, ‘Who to ask at VLCT’, real testimonials and the FAQ review. As discussed, if those approvals or the new content aren’t ready in time, the site can launch without the role pages and add them afterwards.

Decide what to do with 'Who to ask at VLCT' on role pages

Lisa noted that questions are usually triaged before they reach a specific person. The options are to remove the section, replace it with a 'Call or email / Ask a question' pointer, or keep it on some pages only.

Pick the insurance colour used across the site

Lisa said insurance can't be purple. We changed it to forest green everywhere it appears (homepage band, Insurance sidebar, header button, mega panel, tooltips) as a proposal. If PACIF has a brand colour, send it and we'll swap it in.

Decide whether the 4,559 machine-made link and document entries stay public, and how their descriptions get reviewed

An automated sweep created 4,559 library entries (3,811 links and 748 documents). They are hidden from the default library view but public at their own addresses and in search. Their machine-written descriptions are already hidden until someone approves them. Decide whether to keep the entries public (the default) or unpublish them, who reviews the descriptions, and whether approved text should carry an 'AI-drafted' note.

Numbers to double-check: 4,559 entries (one count says 4,546)

Decide whether three members-only topic overview pages should open to the public

/governance/, the Auditing overview and the Dog Control overview are members-only, so a lock appears in breadcrumbs and sidebars across whole open topic areas. Option (a) is to make the overview pages public. Option (b) is to keep them gated but show the lock only on the link itself.

Fill or drop the old Drupal content blocks we couldn't rebuild

These are: State House Happenings testimony and alerts (no source content in the export), the curated link list on the July 2024 flood FAQ resource (also confirm our link retarget there), an unidentified block on /subscriptions/vlct-journal, and the 'equity resources' list on /underwriting-faqs.

Numbers to double-check: This list dates from 2026-08-30 and may be partly resolved

Choose existing pages to act as overviews for topics that have none

16 topic-tree nodes have no linked overview (e.g. Workers' Comp, Liability, HR, Law Enforcement, Employee Benefits). Several top-level topics also lack one after the restructure: Governance, Finance, Employee Benefits, Public Works & Highways, Public Safety, Land Use & Development, Housing & Infrastructure. Separately, five pages need hand-picked sidebar links: /pacif-underwriting, /loss-control, CHIP, /municipal-policy, /get-involved.

Confirm the office-closure rules and who keeps the holiday list

Office closures now work out the dates by rule for future years. Please confirm: a Saturday holiday closes the Friday before and a Sunday holiday the Monday after; New Year's 2028 means closing Friday Dec 31, 2027; how Christmas Eve moves; and whether to add Town Meeting Day or Indigenous Peoples' Day. Staff can also edit the typed list on the Contact page once a year.

Decide on grant list updates: which wording is current, and whether to add HR and Clerks grants

Six programs appear under different categories with different wording, and we need to know which version is current. Research found 10 HR and 8 Clerks funding programs (e.g. PACIF Grants, a Dept of Labor apprenticeship grant, NHPRC records grants). Should they be added? Should closed-but-recurring programs be listed? Should there be new grant categories?

Numbers to double-check: Deadlines and amounts in the research draft

Decide whether to publish the 'Municipal Support Specialist' article

It is unpublished in Drupal, yet it is the first link on the Municipal Administration overview, so visitors hit a dead end. Check that Kathleen Ramsay's details are current first.

Replace the made-up member quote and supply real testimonials

The Governance role page shows a placeholder member quote from the design mockup, not a real person, and it must be replaced before launch. Other areas need real testimonials (Finance, Land Use, Public Works and others), the homepage needs a fourth 'What members are saying' quote, and we'd like an OK to fix a typo ('offs' → 'offers') in Diane Knight's quote.

Write one approved sentence describing what the Municipal Assistance Center does

The same claim appears in up to four places: the homepage Get Help intro (now 'VLCT staff answer member questions…' per Lisa's feedback), the Resource Library 'Stuck on something?' band, the MAC department glossary entry and the /legal-support/ lede. They should all use one wording that MAC has approved.

Supply the real links for the Insurance mega-menu placeholders and approve the menu copy we added

The Insurance menu has four links to a claim page that doesn't work yet and a Pet-health link that is a placeholder. The Resources menu's 'Most searched-for' list isn't based on real search data yet. We also changed some menu wording without sign-off: 'See all training & events', removed subtitles, and hid Subscribe.

Replace our drafted department descriptions with VLCT's own wording

Hovering a department in the library shows a one-line description, and we wrote three of them (Advocacy, ARPA, MOS); MAC and RMS use vlct.org's own wording. Also tell us: should FFA and ARPA have one entry or two? Is ARPA a program rather than a staffed department? Are names like 'Loss Control (PACIF)' OK? Which CHIP spelling is right? Staff can edit these in the WordPress dashboard under Glossary entries.

Fix known errors in Drupal so the final export doesn't bring them back

Errors to fix: the Contact page holiday list has two wrong New Year's dates; /pacif-underwriting/ shows one email but links another; the Community Wellness Grants 'Healthy Community Design Resource' link is broken and the grant has no program link; and 6 closed grants are still listed on live.

Write the homepage search description and site tagline, and pick how other pages get descriptions

No page has a meta description, and the homepage description and tagline are blank. The options are automatic descriptions per content type, hand-written home text only, or both.

Write short glossary explanations for VOSHA and Acrisure

These two terms are left unexplained in topic chips and sidebars on purpose, because we don't want to define them in VLCT's voice without VLCT.

Write answers for the 54 common questions the site has no material on

The questions are listed per area. Examples: who can sign contracts, recusal, early and absentee voting, personnel policy, FMLA and leave, the health officer's role, burn permits, speed limits. Public Safety and HR have almost nothing today. Access to the MAC inquiry log or Muni-Pal questions would help us draft the rest.

Settle facts that contradict each other in existing VLCT content

Found while drafting FAQs: the RPA deadline (60 vs 30 days), the EAP phone (888-392-0500 vs 888-392-0050), the Single Audit threshold ($300,000 vs $1 million), the breeder license still in the Town Clerk's Handbook after Act 121, the conflict-of-interest policy requirement, the CMV weight (26,001 vs 10,001 lb) and farm zoning under Act 166. One FAQ, 'Housing Infrastructure Agreement', also shows another FAQ's answer.

Numbers to double-check: Each listed figure

Send working links for 4 YouTube videos, or say they should come out

Two videos are on the Municipal Access Portal FAQ, one is the BCA mock hearing and one is the locally elected auditors training. They are private or have bad IDs and don't play on live either.

Supply the job title and town for the 8 Vermont Town Careers storytellers

Live shows these under each name, but the export has no such field. Alternatively, give us the OK to copy them from the live page.

Write a one-line description for 20 images that don't have one

Every image on a website should carry a short hidden description (called “alt text”). People who use screen readers hear it in place of the image, and search engines read it. These 20 images on 11 pages came over from vlct.org without one, and we don't want to guess what they show. For each, write one sentence such as “Map of Loss Control consultant territories”, or mark it decorative if it adds nothing (a logo beside the same name). The images are below; type your descriptions into the spreadsheet's “Image descriptions” tab and we'll add them to the site.

See the 20 images

1. 
   Image 1Loss Control Consultation ↗

   Text around it: “… Download a pdf of the map.Loss Control the PACIF WayThe PACIF Loss Control team uses their”

2. 
   Image 2Town Fair 2026 ↗

   Text around it: “Celebrating 250 Years of Local Leadership … October 7 | DoubleTree by Hilton, South Burlington Join municipal officials from across Ve”

3. 
   Image 3CHIP IN VT: Building Local Capacity for Housing and Infrastructure ↗

   Text around it: “… CHIP IN VT (CHIP Invest in Vermont) gives municipal staff the skills, tools, and confidenc”

4. 
   Image 4Promote Your Own Vermont Town Careers ↗

   Text around it: “their openings.We look forward to hearing your success stories in the months to come!Logos … Download BlueDownload White Download Blue”

5. 
   Image 5Promote Your Own Vermont Town Careers ↗

   Text around it: “ies in the months to come!LogosDownload BlueDownload White … Download BlueDownload White Ads and Banner Ads”

6. 
   Image 6Promote Your Own Vermont Town Careers ↗

   Text around it: “p; Download BlueDownload White Ads and Banner Ads … Download Download &”

7. 
   Image 7Promote Your Own Vermont Town Careers ↗

   Text around it: “Ads and Banner Ads Download … Download Download”

8. 
   Image 8Promote Your Own Vermont Town Careers ↗

   Text around it: “Download … Download Download”

9. 
   Image 9Promote Your Own Vermont Town Careers ↗

   Text around it: “Download Download … Download”

10. 
    Image 10Testimony to House General Affairs and Housing Committee Regarding Housing, 1/7/26 ↗

    Text around it: “Draft Tier 3 Mapped Area Example Road Rule 800ft Modeling Example … Road Rule + Tier 3 example: Sugar Hollow Road, PittsfordThe road rule: applies Act 250 to”

11. 
    Image 11The Power of Pooling: The Value of State League Risk Pools ↗

    Text around it: “… THE POWER OF POOLINGMunicipality-Based. Municipal governments are organized and governed d”

12. 
    Image 12ARPA: Vermont NEUs Guide to Treasury's Compliance Portal ↗

    Text around it: “d written instructions. Just click on the images below or the top link in the box at left. … Updates on ARPA compliance and reporting can be found on our ARPA: Compliance and Reportin”

13. 
    Image 13ARPA: Vermont NEUs Guide to Treasury's Compliance Portal ↗

    Text around it: “d written instructions. Just click on the images below or the top link in the box at left. … Updates on ARPA compliance and reporting can be found on our ARPA: Compliance and Reportin”

14. 
    Image 14Preventing Heat Stress (Safety Brief) ↗

    Text around it: “dical services and cool the employee down until help arrives. This is a serious situation! … Safety Training Attendance RosterTrainer: Training Date: 1.9.2.10.3.11.4.12.5.13.6.14.7.15”

15. 
    Image 15Building Bridges or Battlegrounds? Housing Policy About Development for Some, Environmental Protection for Others ↗

    Text around it: “he meantime, here is an overview of the legislation previously presented to the committee. …”

16. 
    Image 16Building Bridges or Battlegrounds? Housing Policy About Development for Some, Environmental Protection for Others ↗

    Text around it: “he meantime, here is an overview of the legislation previously presented to the committee. …”

17. 
    Image 17GMWEA Legislative Day ↗

    Text around it: “reform, infrastructure investment, and how to manage PFAS in municipal treatment systems. …”

18. 
    Image 18Municipal Advocacy Day 2026 ↗

    Text around it: “n gathered at the State House to meet with key legislators and to network with each other. … Our advocacy day began in the State House cafeteria over coffee and breakfast, where many”

19. 
    Image 19Municipal Advocacy Day 2026 ↗

    Text around it: “ith their local representatives to discuss the issues most important to their communities. … After breakfast, we spent the morning participating in a joint hearing of the House and Se”

20. 
    Image 20Joint Hearing for Municipal Transportation and Town Highway Funding ↗

    Text around it: “nt funding levels, half of all paved roads will be in poor or very poor condition by 2035. … Two weeks ago, the Senate Transportation Committee advanced the annual transportation bill”

Write your descriptions in the spreadsheet’s “Image descriptions” tab, one per row.

Create the four tentative annual events in ClearVantage, then check that no 'Tentative' events are left

The events are Municipal Policy Retreat (11/7), Governing All with Skills Roundtable (11/19), Communicating Your Budget in the Town Report (12/2) and CHIP IN VT Office Hours (12/8). Use the same date and a similar title, and the daily sync will replace each placeholder. Also sign off the 'Tentative' notice wording.

Numbers to double-check: 'About four weeks' notice; the Municipal Policy Retreat city (Fairlee, inferred)

Delete the 'LG Test' event in ClearVantage

If we delete it in WordPress, the nightly ClearVantage sync brings it back. We've hidden it for now, but it needs to be deleted in ClearVantage.

Agree how events are classified and start tagging them in ClearVantage

ClearVantage sends events with no category, department, audience, topic or format, so today every event's tags are our best guess. Agree on the lists of values, then tag each new event when it's created. ClearVantage already has two empty category fields (MajorCategory and MinorCategory) on all 90 events; we've asked Euclid whether staff can fill them.

Numbers to double-check: ~90 events

Decide the department and roles for 8 event series we couldn't classify confidently

The series are selectboard meet-up, ethics, planning-zoning forum, short-term rental, UI modernization, workplace matters, CHIP and grants. Also say whether advocacy events should be tagged to governing roles (our default) and whether all-member events (Annual Meeting, Town Fair) should show on every role page.

Upload larger event images in ClearVantage if you want event banners

Of 90 events, 87 have only a 150px thumbnail, which we now pull in. Full-size ('FV') images uploaded in ClearVantage would allow bigger pictures.

Talk with us about who reviews, approves and edits, so we can shape each person's editing setup

Your coordinator is in place. Next is a conversation, not a form: who will review pages before launch, who approves FAQ answers, and who edits the site afterwards. We can tailor WordPress to each person rather than give everyone the same admin screens. For example, an FAQ approver sees only the FAQ review queue; a department editor can change only that department's pages; events staff see only the calendar; a reviewer can comment but not publish. Bring a list of names, what each person does today, and what they'll need to change after launch.

Set a content-freeze date and arrange one final Drupal export at the freeze

The 2026-09-30 export showed 43 new and 87 changed pages since Aug 5, and we are loading those. Anything edited on live after the freeze needs a final export, and we recommend freezing two weeks before cutover. That export should also include every taxonomy term regardless of status (45 orphan term ids are still unresolved). Please also confirm whether the staff and member data files are still syncing on live, because they were byte-identical to August.

Numbers to double-check: 43 new / 87 changed; 45 orphan term ids

Send staff headshots, or confirm initials are fine where there's no photo

42 of 54 staff have no photo, including 21 of the 25 PACIF staff on the new Ask PACIF page. Live shows photos for only about 13 people (leadership). Send bios too if you want them on staff pages.

Numbers to double-check: 42 of 54