For many non-technical staff charged with managing websites in addition to agendas, accessibility feels overwhelming.
- Where do we even start?
- How do we make thousands of PDFs understandable?
- Who is responsible for writing alt text or document descriptions?
- What happens if we miss something?
Accessibility fails most often not due to neglect, but due to manual processes that are impossible to maintain at scale.
How Automation Helps Municipal Leaders
Modern accessibility-focused platforms like the Local Level are designed with AI at the foundation—not as a gimmick, but as infrastructure. AI handles repetitive, time-intensive tasks so staff can focus on review, accuracy, and governance.
Alt text is one of the most common—and most overlooked—accessibility requirements. Every image that conveys meaning must include a clear, descriptive alternative for screen readers.
Our use of AI can:
- Analyze uploaded images Generate contextual, human-readable alt text
- Flag decorative images appropriately
- Allow staff to edit or override descriptions before publishing
This alone eliminates one of the biggest friction points for non-technical staff while ensuring consistency across departments.
PDFs are often the greatest accessibility liability for municipalities. Even when documents are technically accessible, they are rarely understandable without context.
The Local Level uses AI to:
- Scan uploaded agendas, packets, minutes, and reports
- Generate a short summary and an expanded description
- Surface key topics for residents using assistive technology
- Improve internal and public search results
For screen reader users, this provides essential orientation. For staff, it removes the burden of manually writing summaries for every file—something that rarely happens in practice.
One of the biggest concerns municipal leaders have about AI is control. The Local Level addresses this directly.
AI provides a starting point, not a final answer.
- Optional and configurable
- Visible and editable by staff
- Logged with processing status and transparency
- Designed to support—not replace—human decision-making
ADA Title II compliance is not a one-time project. Content is added daily. Staff change. Policies evolve.
AI makes accessibility sustainable by:
- Analyze uploaded images Generate contextual, human-readable alt text
- Flag decorative images appropriately
- Allow staff to edit or override descriptions before publishing
For municipal leaders, this means fewer fire drills, fewer resident complaints, and fewer compliance gaps hiding in plain sight.
Automation Bonus: SEO!
Accessibility and search engine optimization are often treated as separate initiatives, but in practice, they reinforce one another. Clear structure, descriptive language, and contextual summaries benefit screen readers and search engines in the same way—they help users understand what a page contains before engaging with it.
The Local Level’s AI analyzes page context, not just individual fields, to support this alignment. Rather than generating generic metadata, the system evaluates page titles, headings, associated documents, events, and related records to understand the purpose of the page as a whole.
- Generate plain-language meta descriptions that accurately reflect page content
- Support consistent, accessible summaries across related pages
- Improve internal site search and public discoverability
- Reduce the risk of misleading or duplicate metadata
For municipal staff, this removes another manual step that is often skipped due to time constraints. Pages that might otherwise launch without metadata (or with copy-and-paste descriptions) are published with clear, meaningful summaries by default.
Accessibility Without Fear
AI is only as intimidating as the systems built around it. When accessibility automation is purpose-built for government—grounded in compliance, transparency, and usability—it becomes a practical ally, not a risk.
The Local Level was designed for municipalities that want to do the right thing but need tools that meet them where they are. By automating the most burdensome aspects of accessibility, local governments can focus on what matters most: serving residents equitably, clearly, and confidently.