Council Memorandum - Digital Accessibility

Under the Town’s contract with CivicPlus, our website provider, the Town website receives a refresh, at no additional cost, every four years. Our next refresh is scheduled to begin the end of this year, with its launch being in the Spring of 2027. The goal is to have our current site conform to WCAG 2.1AA standards by this Fall so when the information is ported over, it already meets the standards.
The staff has been working to add ALT Text to the pictures – and that work is almost complete. Based on discussions with our CivicPlus representative and Loudoun County’s ADA Accessibility Coordinator, the staff is recommending the Town procure DocAccess, a program that automatically converts all current and future PDF’s into screen reader-friendly WCAG 2.1AA HTML transcripts (see attached fact sheet).
- Implementation Fee: $1,500
- Annual Cost: $3,159
In order to provide closed captioning, a new encoder will be needed and CapLive Basic, a closed captioning module, added to the Town’s Swagit contract. The cost estimate for the encoder is $16,500 and the annual cost for the module will be approximately $5,000. An amended contract will be presented to Council after July 1, 2026, with the goal to have the closed captioning system in place by the beginning of 2027 in order to work any bugs out of the system.
Virginia Code Section 2.2-3505(A) makes the Digital Accessibility Coordinator responsible for developing and implementing a digital accessibility policy for the Town. I am working to obtain a copy of Loudoun County’s policies, which I will use to draft one for Middleburg.
Finally, the Town Attorney has provided language that will be inserted into all future RFPs and contracts related to digital communications and ICT requiring the contractor to meet WCAG 2.1AA standards.

Should Council concur with the recommendation related to the procurement of the DocAccess program, below is a motion:

I move the Council authorize the Town staff to amend the contract with CivicPlus to add the DocAccess module to the Town’s website, said implementation fee to be $1,500 and at an annual cost of $3,159.