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Commissioners table proposal to add AudioEye website accessibility tool for one week
Summary
The board delayed a vote on adding AudioEye to the county website after members asked staff to obtain more detail about what problems the vendor would fix and whether lower-cost alternatives exist.
Miami County administration presented a proposal on April 9 to add AudioEye — an automated monitoring and remediation service — to the county website managed by CivicPlus. Mackenzie Owens, county administration staff, said the county’s site had fallen to about 66% compliance with accessibility standards since a 2023 redesign and that AudioEye would identify and fix many issues automatically. Owens said AudioEye cannot automatically correct PDF files; the vendor would flag PDFs for county staff to update.
Owens said the vendor’s introductory period would delay payment until Sept. 1; after that, AudioEye would be billed through the county’s CivicPlus contract. The AudioEye-only fee was estimated at $4,500; including CivicPlus maintenance, Owens said a combined estimate would be $17,392.52.
Several commissioners asked for specifics about what parts of the site accounted for the reported compliance gap and whether the issues were primarily PDFs or site verbiage. One commissioner said $4,500 appeared “exorbitant” for a service that had not provided a detailed list of needed fixes. Commissioners asked staff to seek more detail and to check whether other vendors could provide the same service at lower cost.
The board voted to table the item for one week so staff could obtain the requested details. The clerk confirmed the vendor quotation remained valid for the near term and staff will return with more information at the next meeting.
