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HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 7591 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7591 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council March 17, 1992 Subject: ANERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT TRANSITION PLAN Sumary. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 requires local governments to develop a transition plan by July 26, 1992. The transition plan is a financial and construction plan, outlining the structural changes required for making facilities accessible. This informal report provides the Mayor and Council with staff's recommendation for actions and appropriate time frames to complete the City's transition plan. Background. The City Council was briefed on the Americans With Disabilities Act on ctober 1, 1991, and on the City's efforts for implementation of the Act's provisions on January 28, 1992. Under Title II of the Act, the City is required to develop a transition plan for making facilities accessible. The transition plan must be written by July 26, 1992, and focuses on alterations to facilities. As a minimum the plan should: (1) identify physical obstacles; (2) describe in detail methods to make facilities accessible; (3) specify schedule for making the necessary alterations; (4) indicate the official responsible for implementing the plan. All structural changes should be accomplished as soon as possible, but no longer than three (3) years. If it will take longer than one year to make 0* the facilities accessible, the City will be required to develop an annual plan for each of the three years, identifying which alterations will be made in each plan year. The transition plan also will include a schedule for the provision of curb ramps or other sloped areas where pedestrian walks cross curbs. Finally, there must be an opportunity for interested citizens, including persons with disabilities and organizations which represent them, to comment on the transition plan. Facilit Accessibility Survey. The City has over 600 facilities to inspect. Nine (9f) teams (24 employees 'are participating) have been recruited from the following departments to assist in conducting the facility reviews: City Services, Development, Fire, Housing and Human Services, Park and Recreation, Police, Transportation and Public Works, Risk Management and Planning. The Fiscal Services Department is providing administrative help. Training on facility accessibility concepts and how to survey a facility was conducted Thursday, March 5, 1992, and Monday, March 9, 1992. The training was led by Scott Haynes, R.E.A.C.H Independent Living Center, who developed the facility accessibility survey instrument and who is a board member of the Mayor's Committee on Employment of Persons with Disabilities. The Access Sub-committee of the Mayor's Committee, chaired by R. A. Wade, also assisted in the training and will accompany the City survey teams to important or representative structures. Each survey team has been provided a kit which include a camera, angle finder, fish scale, and a 121 tape measure. The 67-point check list requires comments and measurements on everything from slopes of curbs, ramps, parking spaces, number of pounds of pressure to open doors, widths of sidewalks, ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7591 Page 2 of 3 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council March 17, 1992 Subject: Ton ANERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT TRANSITION PLAN doors and toilets. The "accessible path of travel" concept dictates that each of the following be surveyed at each facility as applicable: parking, curb ramps, pathways, accessible circulation routes, ramps, doors and gates, stairs, building lobbies and corridors, elevators, water closets, lavatories, assembly areas, and drinking fountains. To ensure that the "Program access" mandate of the transition plan is met, we are prioritizing the facilities into "A", "B", and "C" facilities: "All facilities are those with a large volume of public traffic, e.g. City Hall , Recreation Centers, Multipurpose Centers, Public Safety Building, Police Department, etc.; "B" facilities are primarily worksites with little public traffic, e.g. service centers, water plants, storage warehouse, etc.; "C" facilities are remote facilities, occasionally visited by staff, e.g. paint sheds, some storage areas, records holding areas, etc. All "A" facilities will be inspected by May 31, 1992. If time allows, all "B" facilities also will be inspected. These may be altered at some future time due to our obligations as an employer to make reasonable accommodations under Title I of the Act. "C" facilities are not scheduled to be inspected. Two other projects that are also part of the transition plan will be going on simultaneously. (1) Transportation and Public Works will survey its existing sidewalks in need of retrofitting with curb ramps. The time schedule and cost on the retrofitting must be built into the transition plan. This part of the plan must also be subject to the public comment requirements of the transition plan. (2) The Information Systems and Services Department will survey location and configuration of all existing public telephones. At least one pay telephone each floor must be accessible both to wheelchair users (location) and the hearing impaired (variable volume) . Information Systems and Services further will address communication barriers as part of the ADA program requirements through the purchase of Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf (TDD) , opti-scanners, braille software and printer, and a portable closed caption decoder. They also will ensure that our fire alarms which are audible also are visual . Tentative Schedule. It is anticipated the City's transition plan will be adopted by the City Council by July 21, 1992, in order to comply with the July 26, 1992, deadline. The final plan will provide the City with both a construction and a financial plan for each of the three (3) years in which modifications must be made to make facilities accessible. After surveying is completed, proposed modifications to facilities will be prioritized by need and cost. A proposed plan will be submitted for the City Council to review and to adopt. Below is the tentative schedule of key events required to complete the City's transition plan: ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7591 Page 3 of 3 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council March 17, 1992 Subject: AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT TRANSITION PLAN February • Identify City Task Force. • Reactivate Community Access Committee of Mayor's Committee on Employment of Persons with Disabilities to assist in training City survey team and performing facility reviews. March • Develop and standardize a Fort Worth facility checklist. • Prioritize facilities. • Train teams on ADA and checklist. March, April , May • Survey all City facilities. • Survey existing pedestrian walks without curb ramps. June 1-26, 1992 • Prioritize and cost out plan - allocate facilities and actions over three (3) years. June 29 - July 21, 1992 • Public Input, Council Adoption at July 21, 1992, meeting to comply with July 26, 1992 plan deadline. If there are any questions, please call Charles Boswell at 871-8500. David A. Ivory City Manager ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS