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Town staff outlines DOJ web‑accessibility timeline; resident raises contaminated well concerns
Summary
The board assistant outlined Department of Justice deadlines and a plan to make town web content accessible; later in public comment a resident reported well testing that found bacteria and chloroform and asked the board to consider extending public water, which the board said the upcoming water study will examine.
Diana, the board assistant, briefed the town board on Department of Justice guidance for web accessibility and described steps the town will take to make its website compliant.
"In April of 24, the Department of Justice published a rule that set requirements for state and local governments to follow to make websites and apps accessible to people with disabilities," Diana told the board. She said jurisdictions with populations under 50,000 have until April 26, 2028, to meet those standards and that the town is working with CHPC and using a temporary accessibility overlay while it converts older PDFs to accessible Word templates and fixes broken links.
The assistant said the town will archive documents older than 2024, convert 2025‑forward materials to accessible formats and publish a notice that the town is working on accessibility. She asked for board input and noted the workload is being handled alongside other assignments.
During public comment, Victoria Mandal, who identified herself as a New York State Trooper and prospective Maple Ridge resident, said her well test "came back positive for bacteria, um EC coli, chloroform, stuff like that" and asked whether public water could be extended to affected properties. The supervisor responded that the forthcoming Craig grant water study — authorized earlier in the meeting — is intended to evaluate blended rates and whether forming a single water district would be feasible, and that the study would consider costs and bond implications for residents.
Why it matters: web accessibility deadlines are federal compliance obligations that expose small jurisdictions to legal and technical work; the water question raises a potential public‑health concern and highlights why the town is pursuing a water study.
