VIENNA — The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) delayed the deadline by one year for state and local governments to make their websites and mobile applications more accessible for those with disabilities.

The deadline for governments with 50,000 or more residents is now April 26, 2027, and governments with under 50,000 residents have until April 26, 2028, to comply.

The Maries County commissioners and the Vienna Board of Aldermen are now considering how to update their content to meet the accessibility guidelines before the deadline to avoid potential lawsuits.

The DOJ released this rule in April 2024, requiring local governments to follow regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This is so that those with visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive and neurological disabilities can still access government resources.

The DOJ requires that websites and apps follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium. But there are limited exceptions to pre-existing documents and social media posts.

These rules apply to courts, public parks, public schools and colleges, public libraries, police departments, benefits programs, elections offices and public transit entities.

For the county, the commissioners recognized during their April 23 meeting the need to redesign the website. Ray Barry from AQM Information Technology brought this issue to their attention during their March 23 meeting, warning that people to start “frivolous lawsuits” against governments and companies simply to get paid.

County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers said that County Collector Beth Wulff is an administrator for the county Facebook page but is unable to update the website. And Wulff doesn’t know how to make it ADA compliant.

As a result, the website still lists Jayne Williams as the collector, who retired in September 2025, and Doug Drewel as the eastern district commissioner, who retired in January.

“She’s (Wulff) not been doing anything with our website because nobody can,” Rodgers said.

Patrick Kleffner, western district commissioner, said that he knows someone who could possibly make an ADA-compliant website to fit their needs for about $8,000 and will further explore that option.

For Vienna, City Clerk Tracy Shiver mentioned the requirements to the Board of Aldermen’s May 4 meeting. While the city does not have a website, she recognized the need for their Facebook posts to be compliant, especially since a blind woman lives in Vienna.

“It’s something we have to do,” she said.

Shiver will be attending a seminar in Lebanon on May 15 and a clerks’ conference in Columbia May 20-21, where she expects this issue to be mentioned.