Know which of your website's PDFs need fixing before the ADA deadline
Clerkside scans your municipality's website, lists every PDF it finds, flags the ones that fail basic accessibility checks, and sorts them into a plain-English plan: what to fix first, what staff should review, and what may qualify for the archive exception.
See pricing Download a sample report (PDF, 6 pages)
Flat price. No software to install. Built for clerks, administrators and small-town staff.
The rule, in brief
The U.S. Department of Justice's ADA Title II web rule requires state and local governments to make their web content, including PDFs posted on their websites, conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA (28 CFR 35.200).
Population of 50,000 or more
April 26, 2027
Under 50,000, and all special districts
April 26, 2028
These dates reflect DOJ's interim final rule published April 20, 2026 (91 FR 20902), which extended the original dates by one year. See also DOJ's First Steps guide on ADA.gov.
Most small-government websites carry hundreds of PDFs: agendas, minutes, packets, ordinances, forms and fee schedules. Many are scanned images or untagged files that screen readers can't read. Some older files may qualify for exceptions; current forms and documents residents rely on generally don't. Knowing which is which is the first step.
What the report includes
- A complete PDF inventory (spreadsheet, CSV and Excel): every PDF linked from the pages we crawled, with page count, date, document type and where it was found.
- Automated accessibility checks on each file: tagging, document title, language, scanned pages with no readable text, images without alt text, form fields and unembedded fonts.
- A PDF/UA-1 check with veraPDF (the open-source industry validator) for every file, with its most common failures.
- Triage into four buckets: fix first, needs staff review, likely archive (staff to confirm), and fix going forward.
- Cost estimates for outside remediation, based on published per-page vendor rates, so you can budget.
- A short how-to for making new documents accessible from the start, so the backlog stops growing.
- The report itself is a tagged, accessible PDF that passes veraPDF's PDF/UA-1 check.
We can usually crawl CivicPlus sites (Document Center, Agenda Center and Archive Center) and many other hosted platforms. If your meeting materials are hosted elsewhere, tell us and we'll include that portal where we can.
Sample report
This sample comes from a real automated scan of a Wisconsin village's public website. It was not commissioned by the village.
In that scan, 39 of the village's 57 PDFs failed at least one basic automated check, and 11 were scanned images with no readable text.
Pricing
One-time flat fee. No subscription.
Basic triage
$149 one time
For sites with up to about 100 PDFs, typical for villages and towns.
- Full crawl of your main website
- Triage report (accessible PDF) and inventory spreadsheet
- Automated and PDF/UA-1 checks on every PDF
- Fix-first list with cost estimates
- Delivered by email within 5 business days
Full triage
$299 one time
For larger sites with more than about 100 PDFs, or with separate meeting portals.
- Everything in Basic
- Up to about 500 PDFs, including hosted agenda and meeting portals where we can reach them
- Ordinance and municipal-code PDFs called out separately
- 30-minute call to walk through the results with staff
- One follow-up re-scan within 6 months to measure progress
More than about 500 PDFs, or need a quote or invoice for a purchase order? Contact us. Payment is handled securely by Stripe. After you pay, we'll email you within one business day to confirm your website address.
Frequently asked questions
Does this make our PDFs compliant?
No. Clerkside finds and prioritizes the problems; it doesn't fix them. The report tells you which documents to fix, replace, convert to web pages or archive, and roughly what outside remediation would cost.
Is this a full WCAG 2.1 AA audit?
No. Automated checks catch many common problems (untagged files, scanned pages, missing titles and language) but can't judge everything, such as reading order or the quality of alt text. A document that passes our checks still needs human review. The report is a first-pass inventory and plan.
Do you need access to our website or systems?
No. We only read the public pages and PDFs anyone can see. Our crawler follows your site's robots.txt and waits between requests so it doesn't slow your site down.
What about old agendas and minutes?
The rule has an exception for archived web content that meets four conditions, including being kept in an area clearly labeled as archived (28 CFR 35.104 and 35.201). The report flags likely candidates so your staff and attorney can decide.
How long does it take?
Most reports are delivered within 5 business days of payment.
Can we pay by invoice or purchase order?
Yes. Contact us and we'll send an invoice.
Who is behind Clerkside?
Clerkside is a small Wisconsin business. We focus on one job: helping small governments understand their PDF backlog before the deadline.
Contact
- Email: cory@clerksideaccess.com