Livonia Public Library seeks contractor to meet federal website accessibility deadline

The Livonia Public Library asked the council on July 21 to award a contract to Synergy for a WordPress website redesign, citing the need to meet federal web content accessibility guidelines before an April 2026 deadline. Lindsay Fricke, branch library operations, said Synergy was selected through a competitive process, has federal government contracting experience, and offered the lowest ongoing hosting and maintenance costs among proposers.

Why it matters: Federal accessibility requirements apply to government websites and carry a calendar deadline; the library staff said moving the project forward now would put the library ahead of that schedule and reduce technical burden on library staff.

Details presented at the meeting: the proposal in the packet lists $19,285 for production and referenced a $2,700 annual hosting and maintenance fee described as "if required" in the vendor pricing schedule; Fricke said the hosting fee would cover ongoing patches, backups and security updates to reduce staff workload. The library site is maintained separately from the city's primary website, and Fricke said the vendor uses cloud hosting rather than a library-hosted server. The library told the council that if the contract is placed on the August 11 consent agenda, work could begin in September 2025.

Audience members asked clarifying questions about what the redesign covers and whether it replaces library computers; Lindsay Fricke confirmed the work is the public-facing website redesign and not an upgrade of in-library computers. Councilmembers offered approval on consent during the meeting.