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Chief of staff warns Alders of April 2026 federal web‑accessibility deadline; staff to issue guidance
Summary
Karen, the Council chief of staff, briefed the Executive Committee on federal accessibility requirements that will require public‑facing web content to meet standards by April 2026, urged simple steps (avoid all caps, add alt text) and said IT will provide training and guidance; members raised captioning and PDF concerns.
Karen, the council chief of staff, told the Executive Committee on Aug. 5 that federal law requires that the city’s public‑facing web content meet accessibility standards by April 2026 and that council offices should begin making simple changes now to comply.
Karen said one actionable step alder offices can start doing immediately is avoiding all‑caps headlines in blog posts because it impedes screen readers. She also encouraged adding concise alt text to images and noted that PDFs and externally produced content pose additional accessibility challenges. Karen said IT is developing guidance documents and training and that staff may reserve the right to make minor corrections to meet compliance.
Committee members asked about captioning for video and the impact on neighborhood meeting materials. Alder Tishler, who has a background in broadcast and media, urged the committee to consider budgeting for captioning or human review of machine captions. Karen deferred technical details to IT but said she expected more guidance soon and that staff would work to clarify which content is in alders’ responsibility and which is the city’s to maintain.
Other reminders in the chief of staff’s update: the alder retreat is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 13, and the deadline to register for the YWCA Racial Justice Summit is Aug. 29. No formal action was taken; staff said they will circulate guidance and training opportunities.
