Calvert County Government has updated several of its disability-access policies, including a revised Care Attendant Policy, as part of a broader public notice reaffirming the county’s obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the county’s Department of Community Resources announced this week.
The notice reiterates Calvert County’s compliance with Title II of the 1990 federal law, which bars state and local governments from discriminating against people with disabilities in their services, programs and activities, and with Title I’s employment protections enforced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Under the policy, the county will provide auxiliary aids and services — including qualified sign language interpreters and documents in Braille — upon request to ensure people with speech, hearing or vision impairments can participate equally in county programs. Service animals remain welcome in county government offices even in spaces where pets are otherwise prohibited, and the county said it will not impose surcharges on people with disabilities to cover the cost of accommodations or reasonable modifications.
The most substantive change is to the county’s ADA Care Attendant Policy, which governs how the county accommodates residents who need a personal care attendant to access government programs and services. The updated policy affirms that people cannot be denied participation in county programs because they require an attendant, while clarifying that the county itself does not provide, hire, supervise or pay for attendant services — that responsibility remains with the individual. The policy also lays out standards for when the county will waive fees related to attendant access, addressing a gap advocates have said can otherwise create a financial barrier for residents who rely on personal care assistance.
The update comes as local governments nationally have been navigating a shifting regulatory landscape around ADA compliance, particularly involving digital accessibility. The U.S. Department of Justice finalized a rule in April 2024 requiring state and local governments to make their websites and mobile apps meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 Level AA standard. That rule initially set an April 2026 compliance deadline for larger jurisdictions, defined as those with populations of 50,000 or more, but DOJ issued an interim final rule in April 2026 pushing that deadline back a year, to April 26, 2027, citing resource constraints and technical challenges reported by governments working to comply. Calvert County, with an estimated population of roughly 94,500, falls into the larger-jurisdiction category and would be subject to that 2027 digital accessibility deadline.
Residents who need an auxiliary aid, service or policy modification to participate in a specific county program or event are asked to contact ADA Coordinator Kieko Nash at ADACoordinator@calvertcountymd.gov or 410-535-1600, ext. 8803, at least 48 hours before the scheduled activity. The same office handles complaints from residents who believe a county program, service or activity is not accessible.
Under the ADA, the county is not required to take actions that would fundamentally alter the nature of a program or service, or that would impose an undue financial or administrative burden — a standard that has featured prominently in disability-rights litigation nationally as advocates and governments have disputed where that line falls in specific cases. Calvert County’s notice does not identify any pending complaints or litigation tied to the policy update.
Local ADA coordinators, a position required under Title II for public entities with more than 50 employees, typically serve as the central point of contact for both accommodation requests and complaint intake, helping ensure a jurisdiction’s compliance efforts are centralized rather than handled inconsistently across individual departments. Federal regulations require that entity-wide employee counts, including part-time staff, be used to determine whether the coordinator requirement applies, meaning even smaller municipalities with multiple departments — police, fire, parks and recreation, and general administration among them — are typically covered once their combined staffing crosses the 50-employee threshold.
More information on Calvert County’s ADA policies and how to request reasonable accommodations is available at calvertcountymd.gov/ADA.
