Ward County is working under a time crunch to comply with new federal rule regarding access to a government’s online content by people with disabilities.

State and local governments must ensure their web content and mobile apps are compliant with the Department of Justice’s final rule within two or three years of its publication on April 24, 2024. Ward County, because its population exceeds 50,000, must comply by this coming April 24. Smaller entities get another year.

Jason Blowers, the county’s technology director, met with the commission April 7 and recommended a software overlay from a company partnering with the county’s software provider. The software overlay would enable documents produced in the common Portable Document Format (PDF) to be opened accessibly.

The county would need to come up with about $10,000 for the software overlay for this year. Blowers said he contacted Cass and Burleigh counties about options they are considering and they indicated they are in the same position of struggling to find money in their existing budgets to come into compliance this year.

To continue the software overlay into 2027 would require Ward County budget about $16,000 for next year.

Blowers said his recommendation for an immediate solution isn’t necessarily what he might recommend for the long-term. He plans to continue researching options.

Blowers said fines for noncompliance can be up to about $15,000, but fines are not the main concern.

“It’s the fact that people like to litigate against agencies that are not meeting federal compliance,” he said.

County Auditor Marisa Haman said her office has begun saving all commission agenda documents as PDFs because they will work with the software overlay. However, the commission delayed taking action on the software overlay until its April 21 meeting.

“We have to find out how we are going to find funding for this,” Commissioner Miranda Schuler said. She also asked that a demonstration be provided to the commission regarding how the software overlay works.

The City of Minot and Minot Park District are not required to meet the digital accessibility rule until next April.

Parks Director Elly DesLauriers said the district’s staff is working on a website update to meet the requirements and aims to be in compliance by this August.

Jennifer Kleen, communication and engagement manager for the City of Minot, said the city is in the process of researching tools that can help with compliance. Kleen said the research should present some options, which the council will need to consider as it prepares the 2027 budget.

In the meantime, the Public Information Office is aiming to use alternative text, links and color schemes in all new uploads, she said. The city also is eligible for a redesign of its website this year as part of its contract, and digital accessibility will be part of that discussion, she added.

State and local governments that contract with other entities to provide public services for them, such as public transit agencies, also have to make sure their contractors follow the rule.

Content archived before the rule took effect does not need to be converted to an accessible format, with certain exceptions, such as documents needed to apply for services, according to the Department of Justice.