Saving 5–8 Hours a Week: How Fort Lupton Simplified PDF Accessibility
Keys to Project:
Improving document accessibility while saving staff time
City:
Fort Lupton, ColoradoPopulation:
10,566
Challenge:
The city needed to make hundreds of legacy PDFs accessible to meet new state requirements but lacked the staff time and expertise to remediate documents manually.
Solution:
The city implemented DocAccess to automatically convert PDFs into accessible, user-friendly formats without requiring manual remediation from staff.
Result:
The city saved an estimated five to eight hours per week, reduced staff stress, and made city documents easier for residents to access, translate, and use.
Hundreds of PDFs. One Staff Member. Rising Accessibility Requirements.
Like many small cities, Fort Lupton, Colorado faced a growing accessibility challenge. New state accessibility requirements increased the urgency to ensure public-facing content, including website documents, was accessible to all residents. At the same time, the city had hundreds of PDFs on its website, some dating back more than a decade.
With no dedicated accessibility team, the responsibility largely fell on one person. Juan Arellano, Marketing Communications Specialist for the City of Fort Lupton, manages the city’s website, content, and digital communications. Before using DocAccess, Arellano manually remediated PDFs using Adobe Acrobat. Large documents, such as the city budget, could be 40 to 50 pages long and required significant time to remediate.
Manually fixing documents also meant coordinating with other departments that uploaded PDFs but were unfamiliar with accessibility standards. Questions, reviews, and rework quickly added to the workload, making the process stressful and difficult to sustain.
Automated Accessibility Without Manual Remediation
Fort Lupton discovered DocAccess through the Colorado Municipal League (CML) and quickly saw it as a strong fit for a small city with limited staff capacity.
DocAccess automatically converts posted PDF documents into accessible, user-friendly HTML versions without manual remediation. Residents can switch between printer-friendly and HTML transcript views, translate content into other languages, and receive live assistance navigating documents when needed.
Implementation was straightforward. The solution was easy to install, simple to manage, and integrated smoothly with the city’s existing CivicPlus® Municipal Websites solution.
Hours Saved, Stress Reduced, Access Expanded
With DocAccess in place, Fort Lupton significantly reduced the time and effort required to maintain accessible documents. Arellano no longer needs to oversee remediation work across departments or spend hours tagging PDF files himself.
It’s definitely saving a lot of time, and I don’t have to worry about manually making every document accessible.
Juan Arellano
Marketing Communications Specialist, Fort Lupton, CO
Arellano estimates he previously spent five to eight hours per week on document remediation. Today, that time is redirected to higher-impact work, such as marketing initiatives, content creation, and community engagement.
The benefits extend beyond internal efficiency. City staff use DocAccess to translate documents for Fort Lupton’s large Spanish-speaking population, making forms and information easier for residents to understand and complete. City Council members also value the ability to share translated documents with constituents in their wards.
Departments have noticed that residents are actively using the accessible versions of forms and documents, often without needing additional assistance.
It’s less stress and more relief. It makes my job easier, and I can focus on other parts of my job like editing photos and videos.
Juan Arellano
Marketing Communications Specialist, Fort Lupton, CO
A Smarter Path to Accessibility for Small Cities
For small cities with limited resources, hiring dedicated staff or outside vendors to remediate documents can be costly and unrealistic. DocAccess provided Fort Lupton with a faster, more sustainable path to accessibility without increasing staff workload.
Arellano says he would recommend DocAccess to other municipalities facing similar challenges, especially those with small teams.
You save a lot of time and money because remediation services cost a lot.
Juan Arellano
Marketing Communications Specialist, Fort Lupton, CO
By simplifying document accessibility, Fort Lupton is better equipped to serve residents, meet accessibility expectations, and focus on broader priorities that improve the overall community experience.
Ready to Simplify PDF Accessibility?
DocAccess helps cities deliver accessible PDFs without adding staff workload or relying on manual remediation. If your team is struggling to keep up with accessibility requirements, CivicPlus can help you save time, reduce stress, and better serve your community.
Learn how DocAccess can support your accessibility strategy.