Pueblo County's information technology staff told commissioners Tuesday the county has made substantial progress toward meeting Colorado's digital-accessibility requirements but must sustain work on training, governance and software procurement.
Interim ITS Director Mark Welty said state requirements cover information and communication technology that has been active since July 1, 2024, and that the county has made a public accessibility statement and adopted scanning tools. "We were given some leeway in anything that's considered archival," Welty said, describing how the state will not require historic documents that are impractical to convert unless a citizen requests them.
Welty said the county has partnered with vendors including Monsido and is using CommonLook and Microsoft and Adobe accessibility tools to identify problems; he described the task as ongoing because websites and documents change. He said the county has 48 hours to respond to technology-accommodation requests and that a training program for employees who create electronic documents will be deployed via a SharePoint site and NeoGov over the next three to nine months.
Welty told the board he will convene a small ADA team that includes stakeholders from offices with public-facing functions, such as the clerk and county attorney, and work with departments to ensure new software acquisitions meet accessibility guidelines. County Manager Sabina Genesio added that the legislation did not include dedicated funding and that the county pursued small grants to help cover software costs.
Commissioners asked about the county's flexibility and the ability of vendors to meet Colorado-specific requirements; Welty said Colorado is an early adopter and that Microsoft provides built-in accessibility checkers that help, but that some guidance remains in flux.
No formal action was taken; commissioners received the update and asked ITS to continue training, scanning and vendor review as described.