The Village of Park Forest's website is getting a facelift later this year.

Village officials said the upgraded website would include a Chatbot and rearrange its current layout. Communications Coordinator Joshua A. Vinson said the decision to give the page a new look was made after surveying residents and multiple discussions with the Park Forest Board of Trustees.

"The people have spoken and said they want to see the website come to life," said Vinson. "Polling showed that most are satisfied with the website but would like to see it changed a little."

Vinson noted that a survey went out on the Village's Facebook page and asked residents more than a dozen questions about the Village's website and social media platforms. More than 60% of people who responded to the polling said the website was informative but noted a new look would suffice. 

"The communications team took the data and provided it to Mayor Joseph A. Woods and Village Manager Tom Mick," Vinson said. "They then communicated with the rest of the board and paired it with the data to make the needed changes to the website."

Vinson said the updates would include moving the events calendar to the middle of the homepage along with the daily news stories that are written. Additionally, he said the Village will work with its website host, CivicPlus, to see if they can add drone footage of the Village to appear when coming to the website. Lastly, a Chatbot will make searching the website effective and efficient. 

"In the data, residents said they wanted a Chatbot feature to assist with finding things on the website and reporting non-emergency issues," Vinson said. "Soon, Park Foresters can do that with the Chatbot."

Vinson said residents will start noticing the changes on the website within the next three to six months.