County approves CivicPlus subsite and moves to address ADA document compliance

Washington County commissioners voted June 30 to authorize a CivicPlus subsite and department header for the Engineering & Development Services (EDS) department, accepting a prorated first-year charge of $3,461.87 and an annual recurring fee of $813.

Mister Harris, who presented the item, said the approach follows the county's earlier work creating subsites for the sheriff's office and EMS and would give EDS a consistent branded presence and easier access for constituents. "It will provide us countywide consistency in our web presence," he said.

County staff noted a recent CivicPlus demonstration revealed that not only must the website meet WCAG standards, but embedded or linked documents (for example, PDFs) must also be ADA compliant. The chief of staff (speaker 10) said the county learned that document-level compliance is required and emphasized planning ahead of the compliance deadline: the staff discussion identified an April 2028 WCAG enforcement target and suggested work should begin six to 12 months prior.

Commissioners discussed whether the sheriff's office would join the subsite. Staff recommended proceeding with the EDS implementation and said they would delay invoice processing from other departments until those departments decide whether to participate. A motion to approve line item 6 was made, seconded and passed by voice vote.

The court recorded no further budget amendments in the meeting transcript; staff said the item will be included in upcoming budget discussions.