Accessible Government Website Checklist for Cities and Counties

What makes a government website accessible?

Accessibility means a resident can use the site with a screen reader, a keyboard alone, a magnifier or voice control, and still pay a bill, find a meeting or report a pothole. The widely used benchmark for public websites is WCAG 2.1 Level AA, a set of testable criteria covering text alternatives, color contrast, keyboard access, form labels, captions and predictable navigation.

Accessibility rules under federal and state law apply to many public entities, and the details depend on your agency's size and situation. Your attorney or ADA coordinator should confirm what applies to you. What a vendor such as Netsam can do is build to WCAG 2.1 AA, test against it, and give you the tools to keep it that way. Compliance remains a shared responsibility, and your agency keeps its own accessibility program.

Accessibility checklist: what to look for in the build

Use this list when reviewing a redesign proposal or auditing your current site. Each item is something you can ask a vendor to show you, not just promise.

• Templates built with WCAG 2.1 AA as the target and checked with automated tools plus manual keyboard and screen-reader testing before launch
• A content editor that requires alt text on images and enforces heading order, so staff cannot accidentally break the page structure
• Accessible PDFs or, better, agendas and notices published as web pages instead of scanned documents
• Captions for recorded meetings and transcripts where practical
• Forms with clear labels, error messages that explain the fix, and no time limits that lock people out
• Color contrast that passes in every theme, including buttons and alerts
• An accessibility statement with a way for residents to report a barrier

Can residents find agendas, notices and services quickly?

An accessible site that nobody can navigate still fails residents. If your front desk takes the same calls every week, the website is not answering those questions. Organize the top navigation around tasks (pay, apply, report, attend) rather than department names, and write pages in plain language.

Agendas, minutes and public notices deserve their own structured section. They should be published on a schedule, searchable by date and body, and keep prior versions on record so a revised agenda does not quietly replace the original. Netsam's web and content systems work treats these as structured records, not loose file uploads.

• Search that returns agendas, ordinances and forms, not just news posts
• Meeting pages with agenda, packet, minutes and video in one place
• Emergency and service-interruption alerts that appear site-wide

Which online services should be included?

Most cities and counties start with two services: service requests and payments. A request form should route to the right department and give the resident a way to check status, which cuts down on follow-up calls. Payments for utility bills, permits and fees should run through a secure payment provider so card data is never stored on your site.

Some agencies add a resident assistant that answers routine questions from your own published content and hands off to staff when it is unsure. We build these with human review in mind; see our AI and workflow automation approach for how approval gates work.

What should you ask about hosting, security and records?

A public website is critical infrastructure on the day of a storm, a boil-water notice or a contested election. Ask who patches the system, who watches it overnight, and when a backup was last restored as a test. Ask whether there is a staging site where changes are reviewed before they go live.

Your vendor should work within your procurement, security and records-retention policies rather than asking you to adapt to theirs. We run separate staging and production environments, with changes approved by a named staff member, and we document our incident process. More detail is on our Government & Municipalities page.

How does Netsam run an accessible website project?

Every project follows the same steps described on our How We Work page: discover, design, build, launch and grow. Discovery includes reviewing call logs and analytics to learn what residents actually look for, plus an accessibility review of the current site. Design produces working prototypes your staff can click through and test with assistive technology.

After launch, Netsam hosts and maintains the site, trains staff on accessible publishing, and reviews accessibility as new content and features are added. Accessibility is never finished at launch. It depends on every page published afterward.

If your agency is planning a redesign or wants an honest read on where its current site stands, tell us about your project or call 866-294-3489. We will start with what your residents need to do online.

Frequently asked questions