Town staff presented a recommendation on July 1 that the council approve an annual contract to purchase ReciteMe accessibility‑checking software for $2,500 to evaluate and help maintain Americans with Disabilities Act web accessibility (WCAG AA) compliance on carefree.org and visitcarefree.com. The staff presenter summarized alternatives researched, described key features and pricing, and recommended ReciteMe as the vendor that best met the town’s needs.

The presenter said the U.S. Department of Justice updated Title II web accessibility guidance and that Carefree — as a local government with a population under 50,000 — has a compliance deadline of April 26, 2027. The recommended ReciteMe package includes a $2,000 base fee plus $500 for an additional site (the presenter said the town intends to add VisitCarefree), a page scanner that can identify noncompliant elements and PDFs (but not automatically optimize PDFs), AI quick fixes for some issues, reporting documentation and a responsive customer success team. The presenter also reviewed other vendors (AccessiBe, Accessibility Checker and AudioEye), noting differences in cost, response time and features; she said ReciteMe best met the town’s criteria and communication expectations.

Council members asked about contract duration, whether the town could switch later to a bundled option with the website vendor CivicPlus, and what a nonconforming page looks like to users. The presenter said the recommended contract is one year, that she plans to reassess vendor bundling with the website contract renewal next year, and that nonconforming pages often fail to provide keyboard access or have poor contrast or missing labels for screen readers.

A motion to approve the purchase passed. The presenter said the toolbar add‑on is optional and would increase the first‑year cost to $5,000 if chosen later; staff said they will first use the checker to achieve and maintain WCAG AA compliance and then consider toolbar features or a CivicPlus bundle when the town’s website contract is up for renewal.