Website Accessibility Policy Guideline

Whereas, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) generally requires that companies who provide products and services to the public and who use a website to communicate the substance of those products and services, provide individuals with disabilities equal access to those products and services by means of their company website, unless doing so would fundamentally alter the nature of their programs, services, or activities or would impose an undue burden.

Therefore, it is the policy of the company to make proactive efforts to insure that the company’s website has accessible features for people with disabilities.

The board has appointed an Accessible Web Site Manager (AWSM) who reports to the company’s management.

The duties of the appointed AWSM are as follows:

  1. Become fully knowledgeable on the regulatory compliance guidance which have been published by the Department of Labor.
  2. Evaluate the above guidance relative to the company’s circumstance, including bank resources, the company’s customer base and certain Website Accessibility best practice guidelines.
  3. Following the evaluation of the company’s website accessibility circumstances, the AWSM shall:
    1.  Develop a Website Accessibility procedure which will explain the specific steps that are required to achieve satisfaction compliance with website accessibility guidance.
    2. Periodically evaluate the company’s website and form a conclusion on the degree to which it complies with best practices. The AWSM shall evaluate the company’s website no less than annually, however the ASWM is expected to monitor, at least quarterly, the impact of changes in the customer base, changes in the products and services offered as well as changes in regulatory guidance.
    3. The AWSM shall create, publish and implement training for the company’s marketing department, customer coordinate the evaluation and training with the company’s Department of Human Resources. The ASWM shall also monitor the website’s ongoing compliance as well as the results of the company’s training efforts.
    4. The AWSM shall report the results of the website evaluation to the company’s board once per year. The report shall include an evaluation of the website compliance, the effectiveness of the training and inform the board regarding the strengths and weaknesses.  If improvements to website accessibility are recommended by the AWSM, the presentation should cover the major steps required to achieve improved compliance.