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How to make council meeting agendas and minutes accessible
Short answer: Write agendas and minutes from a Word template that uses real heading styles and numbered lists, run Word's accessibility checker, export to PDF with accessibility tags, and check the PDF before posting. Packets that combine many attachments are harder: check each attachment, or post the key attachments separately.
Build a template once
- Title using the Title or Heading 1 style: “City Council Regular Meeting Agenda, March 3, 2027”.
- Sections (“Call to Order”, “Consent Agenda”, “Public Hearings”) using Heading 2.
- Items as a real numbered list, not typed numbers.
- Vote tallies as plain sentences or a simple table with a header row.
- No text in text boxes or headers/footers that matters to the meaning.
Before every export
- Review › Check Accessibility in Word. Fix every error.
- File › Properties: set the Title.
- Save As PDF with “Document structure tags for accessibility” checked.
- Open the PDF; confirm the title shows in the window title bar.
- Run a checker. Ours is free.
Packets
A packet merges staff reports, contracts, maps and scanned letters. Each attachment brings its own problems. Options:
- Post the agenda as its own accessible PDF and link each attachment separately.
- Remediate the merged packet in one pass, then spot-check the scanned and graphic-heavy attachments.
Why this suits automation
Agendas and minutes are mostly headings, lists and paragraphs, which automated remediation handles well. In our tests on real meeting minutes, automated remediation produced correct heading outlines and lists and passed PDF/UA validation. For a weekly agenda, that means an accessible PDF in a couple of minutes.
Frequently asked questions
- Do past minutes need to be fixed?
- Minutes posted before your compliance date and kept only for reference are generally excepted, especially in a clearly marked archive area. New minutes must be accessible.
- What about scanned signed minutes?
- Post the accessible digital version as the public copy. If you must post a signed scan, OCR and tag it, or post both and make the accessible one the primary link.