Palm Desert outlines plan to make city websites, apps and documents accessible under DOJ rules

Ryland Penta, the city’s community relations supervisor, told the Palm Desert City Council on May 14 that the city is accelerating work to make its digital services usable for people who rely on assistive technology.

Penta said a Department of Justice rule adopted in April 2024 requires local, county and state governments to make digital infrastructure — including websites, mobile apps and third-party systems such as permitting software — accessible under the Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA. He said the city audited the legacy website and its documents and ‘‘the original website had over 6,500 PDFs’’ and that staff have remediated all but about 300 of those files.

The item matters because inaccessible files and web pages can prevent residents with visual impairments or other disabilities from obtaining services, Penta said. He described new staff tools and training already in use: an ADA‑compliant staff report and presentation template created with the city clerk’s office, staff training on accessibility requirements, and long‑term monitoring to ensure contractors and hosted services meet standards.

Penta also described a new tool the city has put into service, which he referred to as ‘‘doc access.’’ The tool uses automated processes to generate image descriptions and to expose table contents so that screen readers can present the content correctly. Penta illustrated the tool by saying it can write out a description of an image (‘‘a cactus with snow in the background’’) and provide full descriptions of charts and tables so people using assistive devices receive the same informational content as sighted users.

City staff said the original statewide compliance date was April 2026 but the DOJ extended that deadline by one year; the extra time is being used to complete remediation of technical documents (for example, engineering drawings and specialized plans) and to extend accessibility work into the city’s Discover Palm Desert site and the mobile app. Penta said the city will avoid creating PDFs where possible and will require third‑party vendors to meet the same accessibility standards.

The council requested that staff return with a formal digital accessibility policy in July to codify processes, monitoring and responsibilities for in‑house and contracted systems. Penta said staff will continue to train employees and to inventory and remediate remaining technical files.

What’s next: staff will bring a drafted digital accessibility policy to the council in July and continue the remediation work on the remaining documents and third‑party systems.