Clerk outlines .gov deadline, ADA and FOIL changes; board votes to start exploratory web designer search

Town clerk Monica reported April receipts and described training she attended in Syracuse. She told the board that New York State has a mandate tied to Municipal Law 300 requiring towns with populations over 1,500 to adopt a .gov domain and meet ADA accessibility standards on their public websites. "The cutoff for turning over to a .gov is 12/21/2025," she said, noting the town’s population fluctuates around the threshold and that the town should prepare even if it is just under the limit.

Monica also summarized changes to state FOIL (Public Officers Law) affecting municipal employee records. “New York State has made a change to their FOIL ordinance on the federal level under public officers law 87, which now requires municipalities to provide a municipal employee notification when the municipality responds to a FOIL request for said employee's disciplinary records,” she said. The clerk said the association suggested either amending the town FOIL ordinance or adopting a short standalone resolution to comply.

Boardmembers voted to begin an exploratory search for a new web designer to make the town website compliant with the mandate and ADA standards; the clerk offered to work with vendors she met at the conference and to provide packets and samples for the board to review. The town will ask counsel and technical vendors to advise on the email/domain migration and cost implications before further action.