BC City Connection Podcast

Digital Services: Ensuring Information is Accessible

• City of Battle Creek • Season 3 • Episode 1

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This time on BC City Connection, a discussion outlining how Battle Creek is building an accessible digital city that meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards and puts residents first. 

From language-ready alerts to a content-first website overhaul, the plan, the tools, and how neighbors can help us improve are part of the discussion.

Episode Resources
City of Battle Creek website

Watch the video of this discussion here or see the episodes on Access Vision in Battle Creek Tuesdays at 6:30 PM on channel 17/917.

The BC City Connection Podcast is produced by Livemic Communications.




Richard Piet:

I'm Richard Piet. Welcome back to the BC City Connection Podcast. This is the podcast you're hearing or seeing or both from the city of Battle Creek. You might be seeing us on YouTube or on Access Vision, or you're hearing us as a podcast. Either way, we invite you to subscribe and be alerted when these episodes come available. Today we're talking about the Citywide Digital Accessibility Initiative. Brianne Humphreys is here, communications manager at the City of Battle Creek, and Kimberly Holley, organizational development manager as well. And we welcome you both. Thanks for being here. So, uh, Brienne, I'll start with you. What is this digital accessibility initiative and what is it meant to do?

Breanne Humphreys:

Well, so um, it's called Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. That's what we're trying to meet. Um, you might hear it referred to as um a CAG for short, um, but these are essentially international standards. Um, they explain how to make websites usable for people with disabilities. You know, we generally refer to it as accessibility standards, accessibility guidelines, requirements. But ultimately, these are federal and international, you know, standards that we have to follow. Ultimately, if a city provides information or services online, they have to be usable by everyone.

Richard Piet:

That's a marvelous point. And that is really clear. And I didn't even realize that there are international standards for this. And guess what? We have to understand them and put them into practice.

Breanne Humphreys:

Yep, absolutely. And so this applies to the city's main website, key pages and services our neighbors rely on, forms, documents, downloadable PDFs, um, our online alerts and communications. And then these have accessibility has different levels. So, for you know, what we're required to do, level A is the minimum, making sure that things like assistive technology works. And then uh level double A is like everyday usability. So clear labels, strong contrast, and pages that adapt to your screen. Um, so I mean, I guess just in simple language, screen readers can read content correctly. Text is easy, things are high contrast. Websites work on phones, they work on tablets, they work on desktops, and pages can be navigated um without a mouse. So, and it's not limited just to design. This is also, you know, all the content, navigation, and how we structure our information as well.

Richard Piet:

Now, this has been in place for some time, has it not? The these standards. So this is not new to us. We're just trying to make sure we're following those guidelines. Is that right?

Breanne Humphreys:

Yeah, absolutely. So for Babel Creek, uh being a city this size, the federal compliance deadline is uh for digital accessibility is in April, April 24th. And so that's what's guiding our work right now. But I think it's important that to note the deadline, it marks compliance, but it's not completion. Accessibility improvements that that's something that's just going to continue. We need to meet that minimum threshold, but then we're not going to stop there. And so we're following these guidelines uh and we're going above and beyond them because usability matters to everybody. And so, to your point, yes, you we actually had begun on some of this work um in the past. So, like this past summer, um, we invited residents to share their experiences and priorities um in our national community survey. Like we kicked that off early summer. Um, and in the fall, we, you know, we got back those results. And so the report gave us a lot to be proud of. Um, neighbors obviously they feel connected. Uh, people tell us that they feel like inclusion matters in Battle Creek, but there were also some opportunities for improvement. And the website was right there at the top of the list because the website is the number one place that people go to for information. And so clearly, you know, it needs improvement. But even before we took this survey, there were some things we'd already identified that we could be doing better. So, for example, one thing that we upgraded actually mid-summer are uh mass communication systems. So now we use something called Civic Ready. It helps us connect with the community faster when we have updates, it's more efficient and in ways that makes um our messages and the information we're sending out more accessible because it think includes things like language translation. And so people can receive important updates in the way that works best for them as well. And if you haven't signed up for those, navigate your way on over to the website, battlecreekmi.gov, and um just click on the green sign up uh button. It's under the banner next to the search bar. So, you know, we we get that community feedback. We had some early improvements in place, but we really ultimately need like a clear understanding of where to focus our attention for like this second half of it and how to sustain it. And that's really where Kimberly played and continues to play a key role in that part of our work.

Richard Piet:

I'm fascinated about the language translation. Now, you know, I know Google can do it, and you know, you say it in English and it comes up in French or whatever you need, but you're talking about important alerts and the ability to deploy them in English, and then a person who's signed up for alerts and wants them in a different language, it does an instant translation.

Breanne Humphreys:

Yeah. So when you get received, like let's say that you choose to receive the notification, you know, to your phone or to your email. Um, there's uh it'll include a link to open in a browser, and and through opening to the browser, that you know gives you the option to select your preferred language. And it's gonna remember that language. So until you change it the next time, you're gonna continue to receive it that way.

Richard Piet:

Pretty slick, like that. Kimberly, how do you look at this from an organizational development standpoint? This has to be a pretty significant part of what you're concerned about, right?

Kimberly Holley:

Oh, absolutely. Accessibility is a priority for the city. And we, you know, as Brianne said, we want to ensure that any community member can access city services, information, and resources, um, but moving beyond compliance to intentionally building the knowledge, skills, and um capacity and consistency across all city departments so that accessibility is embedded into who we are as a city entity, into our operations and into our organizational culture. Um, we did seek out professional help expertise. So we partnered with the Disability Network of Eastern Michigan. Um they provided a website audit so that we could understand where our gaps were, what were some of the patterns, and where we should really focus our greatest efforts initially. And that has been a successful partnership because it's provided the the guidance that we've needed to understand what should be our our next steps. And just to reiterate the importance of you know, making this a part of our operations and who we are as a city, um, we are providing the training across city departments. We're providing, you know, reference guides, um, resource hubs, and you know, recognizing good habits in terms of accessibility so that we can ensure that this becomes a part of our daily practices and isn't dependent on one particular person or an initiative or a moment in time.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, I I'm getting the impression that accessibility, first of all, is is somewhere early in the process evaluating what that means in whatever we're talking about. But also it could mean different things in different areas, couldn't it? So when we're talking about website standards and and being able to uh access alerts and things of this nature, some of the things you've cited obviously are part of that, but it could mean something different in another area, couldn't it?

Kimberly Holley:

Absolutely, for sure. Um, and you know, that's part of wanting making sure that, you know, regardless of who you are and what your needs are and your abilities, that you can interact with the city and get the information and resources that you need and participate in, you know, government programs and activities. Absolutely.

Richard Piet:

Yeah. Brianne, you talked about April, but generally speaking, give us uh an idea for the timeline here. And I I'm kind of thinking this doesn't just end at a certain point. You've got to constantly be evaluating this, don't you?

Breanne Humphreys:

Absolutely. So, you know, some of the things that we've more recently put in place, um uh early December, um, you may have noticed this an accessibility toolbar that's uh at the bottom of our site. That's Audio Eye. Um placing where I see it is on the bottom right of my screen. Um, so that allows users to personalize their experience. So you can do things like adjust text size, contrast, and other settings. Um, but then also behind the scenes, it's running um like automated scans to help identify those accessibility issues. Some of them it can fix automatically, and some of them it's going to, you know, let us know that there's something that needs to be addressed. And then at the same time, and this is probably the most important part, we're actually cleaning off the website, you know, removing outdated and duplicative information, um, trying to organize content more clearly, adding keywords and page tags so search functions work better. Because if the information exists, but people can't find it, that's that's also that's a barrier. And we're working to remove those barriers. And so, you know, right now, neighbors who maybe are on our website more routinely, they might notice changes here and there, like, oh, this looks a little different. I've, you know, these buttons look different, or I haven't seen this before. They're gonna be like small, gradual design changes, though, maybe bolder colors, a little clearer layouts, improved contrast, um, maybe more updated information, more concise, you know, layman language that, you know, that people, when they read it, they go, Oh, okay, I understand, versus that was a lot of words. And these are intentional changes, they're ongoing. And, you know, like like Kim mentioned, like you mentioned, uh, this it's a step-by-step thing, not all at once. But then even then, so when April comes and, you know, let's say we meet that you know a minimum threshold, which who will, we're not stopping there. So after that milestone, so we're gonna be um beginning like a uh a larger redesign. And that's gonna be with our website platform provider, Civic Plus. Um, so that phase is gonna focus on like custom navigation, improved layout, and an overall facelift. That's gonna take um about six to eight months, we estimate, and it's gonna be larger going on in the background. So it in that moment, the final stage will be a true like switch flip moment where one day neighbors will open a browser and see a completely redesigned city website, cleaner, more intuitive, and easier to navigate. So, you know, 2026 is our year to make our website fabulous.

Richard Piet:

Well, you uh went right in the direction that I was thinking about, you know, from a business owner standpoint, you think about the website and you say, oh boy, you know, probably should redo that sometime. And I was thinking about that as you're both talking about the notion of accessibility and implementing these pieces. Boy, when it comes time to rebuild the site, you've got to account for all of that again. But it what you've described, Brian, sounds like it's it's in motion most of the time. As you're rebuilding, these things are already part of the rebuild and you understand them better and they're implemented maybe a little easier.

Breanne Humphreys:

Right. And I, you know, I like the idea of doing that final stage website redesign after all this because it makes sure that we're taking our time, energy, unlimited resources to really focus on making sure the meat of the content and the information we're providing is accurate, that it's timely, that it makes sense, that it's answering the questions that people want and the information they're looking for, um, making sure, like we said, makes that meets those um accessibility threshold. And then going, okay, now we can take, you know, let's make it look even better. We have to start with the most important stuff. And and, you know, so that's what we're doing.

Richard Piet:

Yeah. Kimberly, when you talk about or when you think about accessibility, I presume you think about it on a grander scale, a 50,000 foot view. So we're talking about website and alerts, but you're looking at it from all across and all corners. Uh, how are we in in Battle Creek? Are we pretty good at implementing accessibility measures like most cities? How do you look at it?

Kimberly Holley:

You know, I think as a city government, we're in a good place, particularly as it relates to our facilities and our physical spaces. You know, when you go from business to business and then it varies. But I should also mention that with the city, when we're looking at accessibility and digital accessibility, we're also now looking at our vendors. And are they meeting these standards? If not, maybe these aren't the right vendors for us to work with because we believe this is a shared responsibility across the ecosystem of the city, right? Um, and so we want to ensure that vendors that we're working with and partners are also meeting these same standards. Um, and then, you know, absolutely that broader view. Brianne touched on language access in City Hall last summer. We added a ADA compliant restroom on the main level. So we are absolutely taking, you know, a broad view of where we need to be to make sure that we live into that value of make uh wanting everyone to be able to access city services, facilities, resources. But it is a shared responsibility. And we want to model that, obviously, for the city and ensure that our partners are meeting those standards as well.

Richard Piet:

I think there, correct me if I'm wrong, there's a there's a a connection between the city and vendors such that some of them may connect with our residents in such a way that if there was a disparity in the accessibility uh standards, it would be noticeable, wouldn't it?

Kimberly Holley:

Absolutely. That's why we believe we have an obligation to work with our vendors to make sure that we are meeting those standards as a shared responsibility and that they're able to provide services on our behalf that meet those obligations.

Richard Piet:

Yeah. So, Brienne, this uh is ongoing. It's uh it's a moving process, and we can expect to see some of these things at least through the website. And as you pointed out, at some point we'll log in someday and see a whole new version of it, which is pretty typical. I think we probably generally speaking get used to that. Is there a standard to update your website every so many years? I mean, is that part of this too?

Breanne Humphreys:

Well, so with our um with our uh provider, we actually have you know, a website redesign is something that's part of our package. So that's something we were already planning to do. But when we took a look at, you know, where we needed to be at what point and and really knowing what the best order of operations is, let's start with content and then let's learn, move to structure, and then, you know, and and so on and so forth, it just made sense to go, look, you know, let's start, let's start here first. We're gonna hold off on the redesign because we know that it's not going to cover the content. And then once we're we get this to a good place, then we'll move on. Um, and I also think it's important though, you know, I want I would like neighbors to know that we're following a set of requirements. We're following these standards and we're implementing them to the best of our ability. We're using our our resources, we're using our partners, we're using experts, but ultimately the end user are our neighbors. And so if there's a gap that we're not aware of, you need to let us know. We want to know. So whether you're connecting with us on social media and one of our platforms, or you know, email us at publicinput at babblecreekmi.gov, or stop in the city hall, stop with our 311 desk and you know, uh let our customer service refs there know you know what what you need, and they'll get you in contact with us. And, you know, we'd love to talk to you and get a better understanding of of where that may be falling short and and what we can do to remedy that.

Richard Piet:

All right. And the information that Brianne alluded to in terms of uh contact will be in the show notes for this episode as well. So if that went by quickly, just look at the show notes for this episode and you'll see that info there, or go to the website, as we were just talking about, and that info is there too. Brianne Humphreys, Kimberly Holley, thank you for the update on digital accessibility.

Kimberly Holley:

Thank you, Richard.

Richard Piet:

Make sure you subscribe where you get this podcast, the BC City Connection. Take care.