City proposes website redesign and upgraded council audiovisual system to meet ADA and transparency goals

Marketing and communications staff asked the council to include funds in the proposed budget for a website redesign, an ADA compliance tool and an upgraded audiovisual system for council meetings.

Staff said the city’s website was last redesigned in 2008 and that a modern CivicPlus implementation would support ADA compliance, subscription email communications and regular refreshes. “We are not compliant currently,” the marketing presenter said, and the city must meet new accessibility requirements by April 2027; staff proposed AudioEye and CivicSend subscriptions to help with compliance and outreach.

For council meetings staff proposed contracting with a meeting‑streaming vendor (presented as Swagit/Granicus) to improve audio and video quality, provide live switching and closed captioning, and transcribe and tag agenda items so viewers can jump directly to an item. Staff said improved audio and closed captioning would also support ADA access and simplify minute‑taking. Costs presented included one‑time equipment and setup expenses plus an annual recurring streaming/transcription subscription covering about 25 meetings per year.

Council members asked about benchmark expectations for towns of similar size and whether the camera counts matched the room; staff said vendors visited the council chamber and tailored recommendations to the room and that audio fixes — including hardwiring microphones to avoid interference — were a priority. Council did not take a formal vote at the workshop; staff will include the request in the proposed budget for council consideration.