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Committee hears website complaints and creates ad hoc committee to address accessibility ahead of 2028 ADA requirements
Summary
Members criticized the village website’s usability and staff warned of impending 2028 ADA requirements that will require alt text and manual tagging of PDFs and images; the committee moved to form an ad hoc website committee and referred the matter to the village board.
Committee members described the village website as difficult to use, not mobile- or Apple-friendly, and a step backward from prior functionality. Committee member (speaker 6) urged soliciting community feedback and meeting with the vendor to prioritize fixes.
Staff member (speaker 9) warned about upcoming ADA accessibility requirements — described in the discussion as taking effect in 2028 — that will require alt text and manual tagging for PDFs and images. "The recommendation from Civic, from legal, has been that any PDF or anything like that that is not needed, you do not put on your website because we could be heavily fined if we reach that deadline and we don't have everything coded," the staff member said. The staff member added that alt text will be required and that images and PDFs without text will require manual description to comply.
Members agreed to create an ad hoc committee to address website issues and moved the matter to the village board for formation of that committee. Several trustees volunteered to serve, and staff will coordinate next steps and vendor engagement.
The village board will consider formation of an ad hoc website committee and any proposed next steps for vendor negotiations and accessibility remediation.
