Utah County approves assessment and remediation contracts to meet web accessibility rules

The Utah County Commission voted to approve two related actions to address web and ADA accessibility across county online services: one contract to hire an outside firm to test and identify accessibility issues, and a second contract to remediate health department materials and provide staff training.

County counsel and information-technology staff told commissioners the work is necessary to comply with federal accessibility requirements and to reduce the risk of litigation by private plaintiffs. Zachary Sandow of the county attorney’s office described item 12 as a remediation and training contract: it would not only identify page problems but also fix existing documents on the county site and provide training so future materials meet accessibility standards.

Commissioners emphasized the scale of the task: the county serves a large number of downloadable PDF documents and online applications that must meet accessibility standards for screen readers and other assistive technologies. Patrick (county staff) said the county has been rebuilding its website in anticipation of these requirements and that a private assessment is intended as an extra check to ensure the county is prepared.

Several commissioners noted the U.S. Department of Justice recently granted a one-year extension on enforcement deadlines, but said the county still needs to proceed. One commissioner described a national trend of small counties removing PDFs or taking websites offline rather than risk noncompliance lawsuits. After discussion, a motion to approve items 9 and 12 carried with the commission recording the roll call: "All in favor. Aye." The meeting then moved to closed session.

Next steps: the county will work with the contracted firm and internal IT and health-department staff to complete testing, remediation, and training; officials said the work will cover PDFs, online applications and other county online content.