Digital Accessibility

Digital Accessibility Statement

The City of Lakewood is committed to providing accessible digital services. In support of this commitment, the city is engaging in ongoing accessibility efforts to provide digital services that align with the current WCAG AA standards (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). Aligning digital services with WCAG AA helps digital services be accessible to everyone, regardless of ability.  

The city is committed to continuously improving digital content and improving access to services, programs, and activities for all users. However, accessibility compliance with every piece of digital content in the City will take time and may not be feasible depending on resources and/or technology restrictions. If the city is unable to provide information in an accessible format, we will provide reasonable accommodation to the extent possible.  

We welcome your feedback about the accessibility of online services. Please let us know if you encounter accessibility barriers by contacting adacoordinator@lakewood.org by email or by phone: 303-987-7612 TTY: 303-987-7735 and we will respond within 7 calendar days. 

Website Assistance

If you need assistance with a website function, please email webteam@lakewood.org.

Accommodation Requests and Feedback

To request reasonable accommodations or modifications, or to report inaccessible content, please reach out to the ADA Coordinator:

Within 7 calendar days after receipt of the issue/request, the city’s ADA Coordinator will contact the person initiating the issue/request to discuss the problem and the possible resolutions. Within 14 calendar days of the meeting, the ADA Coordinator will respond in a format accessible to the submitter. The response will offer options for a resolution. If the response by the accessibility committee does not resolve the issue/request, the submitter or their designee may submit a grievance.

Digital Accessibility Plan

Accessibility Standards 

Our ongoing technology accessibility efforts rely on the technical standards provided by: 

Accessibility Maturity 

Accessibility Level 

 Date Select One Stage Criteria
 1/2022-12/2023   Launch  Awareness and recognition of need. We are inventorying
technology, have begun to make investments, etc. Recognized
need organization wide. Planning initiated but activities not well organized.
 1/2024-current X  Integrate Roadmap including timeline is in place; overall organizational approach
defined and well organized. 
    Optimize  Incorporated into the whole organization, consistently evaluated and actions
taken on assessment outcomes. 

How We Are Implementing Accessibility 

The City of Lakewood is committed to providing equitable access to all Coloradans. To that end, we have a plan to prioritize, evaluate, remediate and continuously improve digital touchpoints within our services, programs and activities. We are incorporating accessibility into our day-to-day work. Below, you’ll find some of the measures that our city is undertaking. 

  • Defined an accessibility roadmap including timeline, goals, roles, responsibilities and policies as needed.  
  • Include accessibility in our procurement processes.
  • Create and implement a plan for providing reasonable accommodation and modifications, which includes preparing our staff to respond to requests for assistance. 
  • Provide contact information for people to give us accessibility feedback and request reasonable accommodation or modifications.  
  • Train current employees on providing accessible content. 
  • Recruit people with accessibility skills. 
  • Incorporated accessibility requirements in the technology procurement process and the city’s contract template. 
  • Conduct and maintain an inventory of technology and digital content to prioritize, remediate and address accessibility issues. 
  • We prioritize the order to address technology assets by Community Impact and Strategic impact. Community Impact includes considerations of user impact, and the importance of the technology asset to accessing our programs, services, and activities. Strategic Impact includes considerations of legal requirements, the type of program or service that the technology asset supports, and our plans for continuing / sunsetting / replacing / expanding the technology asset or the program in the future. 
  • Prioritize the development of accessible templates and components to support the creation of accessible content.  
  • Prioritize procurement processes and legal contracts to support compliance requirements. 
  • Train employees to create digitally accessible content. 
  • Create policies and processes like other adopted ADA nondiscrimination policies. 

Formal Approval 

Billy Cooper, ADA Coordinator 

Date of approval June 25, 2025/Last updated June 25, 2025 

Progress-to-Date

June 25, 2025 - We’ve made great progress since 2024, despite challenges.

Progress includes: 

  • Trained 286 staff on how to make accessible documents.
  • Created nine accessible templates for our newsletter(s) and City Council meeting agenda. 
  • Started requesting accessibility conformance reports from the vendors for the software and applications that we purchase. 
  • Improved the accessibility of 30% of GIS publicly facing offerings, 322 documents, 25-page publication with an audio/visual companion, and assessed compliance of 20 business solutions throughout the year during RFI/RFP events.  
  • Achieved Digital Certainty Index score of 83.3% for website quality assurance, accessibility and SEO.
  • Kicked off a project to migrate our website into a new accessible version. 

Challenges include: 

  • Limited budget for our program.
  • Two FTEs that manage the website.
  • Vendors of business applications (COTS and SaaS) often underinvest in digital accessibility, as comprehensive requirements have not yet been universally mandated for all their customers. This landscape is expected to change as more states adopt relevant legislation. 

Aug. 1, 2024 - The City of Lakewood has taken the following steps to foster a culture of inclusion and continuously improve digital accessibility throughout the city in accordance with the spirit of the digital accessibility law (HB21-1110).  

  • Established a Digital Accessibility Team – Created a citywide team to guide our digital accessibility strategy and compliance efforts.
  • Digital Accessibility Transition Plan – Created a Digital Accessibility Transition Plan to establish formal guidelines, goals and timelines related to the city’s efforts.
  • Technology Accessibility Statement – Posted a digital accessibility statement to the city’s websites informing members of the public how to report inaccessible digital content and request a reasonable accommodation or modification.
  • Documents Accessibility – Completed a review of the city’s documents used on the city’s websites. Are actively partnering with the city’s records liaisons on document creation and remediation efforts.
  • Web Accessibility – Completed a digital accessibility audit of the city’s websites to identify content that need remediating. Leveraging user experience tools to improve web accessibility of the city’s websites. 
  • Citywide Training – Offering numerous trainings for city staff on digital accessibility fundamentals including how to use the city’s existing tools in an accessible manner, and how to remediate old documents and create new documents that meet accessibility standards. Trainings are offered by city staff and external partners.
  • Administrative Regulation Created – Published Digital Accessibility Administrative Regulation policy to offer clear guidelines on conformance, standards, procedures, and exceptions, making it easier for city staff to understand and implement.
  • External Vendors - The city is working with external vendors to help ensure their services meet digital accessibility standards.
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