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Ellensburg council studies costs, ADA obligations of recording advisory meetings
Summary
City staff told the Ellensburg City Council that new Department of Justice guidance on ADA accessibility for web audio/video will apply to the city in 2027, and that recording advisory boards would add staffing, software and captioning costs; council directed staff to return with more information.
Ellensburg City Attorney Chris Horner told the City Council at a Sept. study session that the Department of Justice has issued new Americans with Disabilities Act requirements that will apply to Ellensburg’s online meeting content beginning in 2027 and that the requirements will affect any recordings posted to the web.
Horner said the city must weigh costs and technical choices if it expands recordings beyond regular council meetings to advisory boards and commissions. “The big wrinkle in all of this is the Department of Justice has come out with new Americans with Disability Act requirements for audio and video recordings,” Horner said.
The issue matters because staff estimated the city could be looking at 156 to 192 board-and-committee meetings a year if recording is expanded, with monthly captioning needs of roughly 1,500 to 1,700 meeting minutes. IT Director Jim Gaiten told council there is no statutory requirement that every public meeting be audio or video recorded,…
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