Avra Valley Fire District

Overview

Meet Avra Valley Fire District

Since 1977, Avra Valley Fire District has protected rural communities across southern Arizona with a commitment to excellence in public safety and community trust. But in recent years, maintaining that trust online became increasingly difficult. Their previous website—a WordPress site hosted through GoDaddy—was difficult to navigate, hard to update, and failed to meet growing expectations around accessibility and compliance. “Everything had to be an add-in,” recalled District Administrator Lorrie Palmquist. Even small tasks like uploading meeting agendas or offering online permit purchases turned into time-consuming challenges. With limited staff and a budget driven primarily by property taxes, the district needed a modern, affordable platform that wouldn’t require an outside vendor to manage.

Making Compliance Easy and Day-to-Day Publishing Even Easier

Avra Valley turned to Streamline to create a site that could handle both public-facing transparency and internal workflows with confidence. Lorrie was immediately struck by how intuitive the backend was—"I can prepare the agenda and scoot it on over to the website... it’s just become routine.” Streamline’s platform also made it easy to stay aligned with Arizona’s strict state retention schedules. The district can now post and archive years’ worth of audits, budgets, agendas, and minutes—all without worrying about whether the site remains compliant. Multiple departments use the system without needing training, saving valuable time and empowering each team to manage its own content.

Achieving Accessibility—Without Expensive Vendors

Avra Valley’s push toward ADA compliance is well ahead of the curve. The district’s website is now much closer to full compliance thanks to Lorrie’s hands-on remediation work—something she credits to the platform’s built-in guidance and clean structure. But for tricky files like audits and state-issued budget templates, she’s eager for a tool that can help close the gap. Enter DocAccess: Streamline’s new tool designed to present PDFs in an accessible, screen-reader friendly view without changing the original file. “I’ve worked like crazy to get us this far,” Lorrie said, “and I’m excited for anything that helps us do even more without needing to spend $7 a document.”

Balancing Bold Design with Local Pride

Despite being a small district, Avra Valley has become a model for others in the region. From top-tier firefighter training programs to strong community engagement, the district needed a digital presence that matched its momentum. Lorrie and her team love the clean, bold look of their Streamline site—and while they were hesitant to make design changes at first, the upcoming Amplify design update has them excited. With more flexibility in colors, shapes, and layouts, Amplify promises even more ways to tell the district’s story while preserving the professional aesthetic their board and leadership admire.