2011-09-21 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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00*%,. /�N understanding of the problem is that there are certain requirements that need to conform, and he doesn't know if the EEO /ADA person is the person to assist in that, but he does know that when the department did the recruitment software system, somebody in the office went down and searched for the best available software. He knows the County has its technology people, but does Mr. Takahashi view the EEO /ADA person as the person to assist in the task of making websites accessible? She is the person attending the seminars on the mainland and is in the best position to know what's out there. Mr. Takahashi responded that he believes the EEO /ADA coordinator's task in this area is to advise the creators of the website as to whether it's compliant or not and to suggest to them where to go and what to get. However, she's not the person who's actually going to make the website compliant. Mr. De Lima agreed, but thought that she should coordinate and assist departments in making their websites accessible. He doesn't expect the ADA/EEO person to go there and do the actual work, but she's in the best position to know what's out there for them to utilize, as she has been going to those conferences. He had suggested to the Mayor to ask the EEO /ADA coordinator for assistance in improving the County's website accessibility, which was an impetus for the Mayor to ask her to review the external websites. Mr. De Lima is also interested in the data that's being recorded and thinks it should reflect the number of complaints. Ms. Toriano responded that what Mr. De Lima is speaking to is very problematic. The department's ADA division is extremely well versed in what is necessary to become compliant; and they do provide that education, but the loop that needs to be closed is what Mr. De Lima is describing. Knowing the departments have a deficit, how then does the division help to close that loop? Much of what is required, and this is not offered in the conference training, is IT specific. It's knowing what software is out there; it's knowing how to adapt and write programs to say "okay convert to;" and that's where, if that's the gap, the department will be working on what it can do. What are the tools, where is the money, how do they strengthen maybe not only the department's IT but also the master web developer? Some of the departments have actually contracted this service, and it's not compliant. So, they have completed that assessment and have to stand by the users and help them. It's not enough to just identify what's not compliant, it's coming up to that next level of service that Mr. De Lima speaks to.