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City unveils website overhaul with accessibility tools and chatbot
Summary
IT Director Karen Kirby demonstrated a redesigned DeSoto website featuring AudioEye accessibility tools, Doc Access for PDFs and a regenerative chatbot; council members asked about ADA compliance, data transfer and community testing ahead of a planned launch next week.
The city’s IT director, Karen Kirby, presented a preview of a redesigned City of DeSoto website on May 5, showing accessibility tools (AudioEye and Doc Access), Google Translate and a chatbot the city describes as a site‑search, “regenerative” assistant. Kirby said the tools were purchased previously and the site would go live about a week after the presentation.
Council members asked detailed questions about ADA compliance, search functionality and community testing. Council member Perrette Parker said the community needs improved search and asked when the site would officially launch; Kirby answered the launch was planned for one week from the meeting and said the chatbot is being trained and that the city exported and migrated many 'notify me' subscribers from the prior system. Kirby acknowledged not all back‑end integrations had been fully audited and said staff would provide logs and continue testing.
