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Commission approves AudioEye contract to monitor county website accessibility
Summary
The Miami County commission voted April 16 to add AudioEye website accessibility monitoring to its CivicPlus contract at $4,000 per year starting Sept. 1, with unanimous approval.
The Miami County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously April 16 to add AudioEye, a website accessibility service, to the county’s CivicPlus contract at a reduced price of $4,000 per year beginning Sept. 1. County staff said the tool provides continuous monitoring, automated remediation for web-based accessibility issues, and a toolkit that assists website users with accessibility needs.
Sydney Ming, assistant director of finance, presented the proposal and said the 66% compliance score the county previously received applies to web-based content only; the vendor had not yet scanned PDFs. Ming said AudioEye agreed to lower its annual price to $4,000 and that the county would have no cost for the product until Sept. 1. “They have people on staff that require these tools that they would supply us with to actually test the website and make sure that it is accessible for those citizens,” Ming said.
Commissioners asked whether the county could do the remediation in-house; staff replied that bringing the work in-house would likely require a full-time position because departments frequently change content (photos, carousels, forms) and the vendor provides continuous monitoring. Ming said AudioEye’s continuous monitoring would pick up departmental updates and newly uploaded content.
Mackenzie Owens, administration, and Laura (Clerk’s Office) both noted the county has many departments with staff that edit pages, and staff argued that continuous vendor monitoring better protects accessibility across the entire site.
Commissioner Bonds moved to approve the contract addition; Commissioner Bickery seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Staff noted an alternative, AccessiBee, which offers a lower one-time-scan price but not continuous monitoring or the integrated CivicPlus support. Ming said AccessiBee does not provide the same ongoing toolkit or integrated CivicPlus representative.
The county will be able to opt out annually with notice; staff said the product is continuous monitoring rather than a one-time compliance scan. No fiscal officer raised objection to the first-year cost; staff argued vendor remediation would reduce staff time and likely cost less than maintaining compliance in-house.
A formal vote was recorded: moved by Commissioner Bonds, second by Commissioner Bickery; outcome unanimous approval.
