Council approves police radar trailer purchase and WCAG accessibility consulting contract

Troy City Council approved two procurement items at its March 2 meeting: a cooperative purchase and budget amendment for an upgraded speed‑alert radar message sign and trailer for the police department, and a bid waiver to hire a consultant to guide the city toward WCAG 2.1 AA web accessibility compliance.

Chief of Police Josh Jones described the radar trailer as a data‑capable unit that will collect speed, vehicle counts and timestamps; he said the existing fleet of three trailers is aging and none collect data. "Speed, number of vehicles, basically, and times," Jones said when asked what information the unit collects. Council approved a $19,000 budget amendment to bring the city’s fleet to four trailers and authorized the cooperative purchase (SEG 1434–1476, 1606–1622).

Communications Director Courtney Flynn explained that the Department of Justice updated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act in June 2024 and that municipalities with 50,000 or more residents must address WCAG 2.1 AA compliance by April 24. She said the consultant contract with Common Threads LLC would provide an audit, a prioritized remediation roadmap and staff training; the contractor would not perform the remediation but would help the city prioritize and train staff to sustain compliance (SEG 1623–1669, 1710–1724).

Council members asked how quickly training and the roadmap could be delivered; staff said the training window is tight but that municipalities commonly prioritize remediation of PDFs and critical items first. The council approved the bid waiver and contract and approved the radar trailer purchase and related budget amendment in recorded votes.

Next steps: procurement and deployment of the radar trailer within several weeks of order placement; consultant engagement to audit city web assets, prioritize critical accessibility issues and begin staff training.