Humboldt County has been failing to make public facilities accessible to people with disabilities for years, according to a report from the county’s civil grand jury.
The county has been in hot water with the U.S. Department of Justice for over a decade because it has continuously failed to meet deadlines set by the department to bring county buildings up to the standards laid out in the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury report “Here We Go Again” released Friday morning. The ADA states that government buildings need to be usable for people with disabilities and modifications need to be made to make them accessible.
“As the County approaches the final deadline in the Consent Decree to remediate the remaining facilities and curb ramps, it seems unlikely that work will be completed on time,” wrote Joseph Kravitz, foreperson of the jury, in a statement. “Many earlier deadlines have been missed and a number of projects are still out for bid.”
The county needs to remediate 1,695 curb ramps, which are the tapered portions of the sidewalk at intersections, to make it easier for people in wheelchairs or with walkers to get on and off the sidewalk, according to the report. Only six of the curb ramps have been remediated, though the deadline to complete all of the remediations is Sept. 7.
A total of 52 buildings owned or leased by the county also needed to be brought into compliance by June 7, although only 18 of those buildings were compliant as of March 2019, according to the report.
The county cited the economic recession as the cause for not being compliant in the past, according to the report.
The grand jury report recommended the county Board of Supervisors direct county staff to present transparent and complete quarterly reports on ADA projects and review the problems the county encountered in the past to avoid those issues in the future.
The report also found that county staff failed to inform the Board of Supervisors about the failure to meet remediation deadlines.
At a May 2, 2017, meeting there was a failure “to mention the status of the remediation work for the facilities and curb ramps.” At a Nov. 7, 2017, meeting there was a failure “to mention that 17 facilities had not been remediated by the deadline.” At a Feb. 8, 2018, meeting there was a failure “to mention that of the 38 facilities which required remediation by January 2018, only six had been remediated.” And at a Nov. 13, 2018, meeting there was a failure to “mention 38 facilities had yet to be remediated and the deadline had passed for 23 of those.”
Though he said he couldn’t go into specifics until meeting with the board, Sean Quincy, deputy county administrative officer, said county staff has been in regular contact with the DOJ, which is aware of the county’s progress, and has “done a lot of work to keep the board informed on where (they) are.”
Staff has regular meetings on ADA issues, Quincy said. “We have two board members who sit in on a lot of those meetings and that’s one way we keep the board apprised of what’s going on.”
Quincy said those supervisors were likely 2nd District Supervisor Estelle Fennell and 3rd District Supervisor Mike Wilson. First District Supervisor Rex Bohn said even though he wasn’t in on those meetings, he became aware of the magnitude since the DOJ filed a complaint against the county in the courts in 2016.
The county was making budgetary moves toward bringing the buildings up to ADA compliance, but was also coming out of a severe recession, Bohn said. The process of making the buildings slowed down considerably as the county tried to maintain public safety and other services, he said.
Since that time, the move toward ADA compliance is speeding up, Bohn said.
Quincy reiterated that the main hurdle for the county to come into compliance is funding.
“We’re trying to turn over every rock we can and search under every couch cushion,” Quincy said. “But a lot of this is locally funded.”
In addition to dealing with the recession, costs are increasing in sectors like construction, Quincy said. Bringing those buildings up to ADA standards is a priority, but he said the county has to make sure it can afford the upgrades.
In the meantime, people with disabilities can contact the county at 707-445-7266 or ada@co.humboldt.ca.us 72 hours before they need to access a public facility to get the proper accommodations.
Beyond the facility and curb ramp upgrades that need to be done, Quincy said the county has addressed various parts of the consent decree, including hiring an ADA coordinator, hiring four employees and making the website more accessible.
“We were one of the first agencies in the state to have AudioEye, which is a function on our website that enhances accessibility,” Quincy said. “That’s an innovative tool that we have as a direct result of the consent decree.”
The DOJ initially found county buildings lacking in 2005 when 11 facilities that were being constructed or altered were found to have over 200 ADA violations while 40 existing facilities that were owned or leased by the county had more than 900 ADA violations.
That led to the DOJ entering a settlement agreement on July 23, 2008, that required the county to bring county facilities, programs and services into compliance within three years. The county failed to do so.
In 2016 the DOJ filed a complaint against the county in court for failing to meet its obligations, which led to a consent decree requiring the county address 16 areas. The grand jury decided to focus on two of the areas — facilities and curbs — that made up the biggest portion of the work the county needed to do.
The county has 17,494 people with disabilities, or 12.8% of the population, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates cited in the report.
The DOJ, Fennell and Wilson did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
July 5, 2019
Eureka Times Standard
By Sonia Waraich
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