HUMBOLDT — Over the next 18 months Humboldt will make the city, physically and philosophically, more compatible to people with disabilities.
Council members signed on to an agreement with the federal Department of Justice Monday night that City Administrator Larry Tucker described as “about the best we can come up with.”
The city will:
— Publish notices and provide signage to assist citizens.
— Train its staff on American with Disabilities Act requirements.
— Provide ADA access for sidewalks and streets with curbs.
— Upgrade facilities at emergency shelters and parks, including hard-surfaced routes within at least one park to playground equipment.
— Update employment policies and Web-based services to ADA standards.
Tucker pointed out $10,000 was set aside in the 2012 budget to meet ADA requirements and that some things required of the city already had been met.
The Department of Justice sent a team of reviewers to Humboldt a couple of years ago after it received a complaint saying Humboldt did not meet ADA requirements.
Tucker said the reviewers looked at public-use facilities, including the library and First Baptist Church, where voting occurred during local elections. After it was noted that voting was a county function and the church a private structure, it was removed from consideration on the city’s behalf.
Humboldt will be under the gun for three years, although improvements should be completed in half that time, Tucker said.
“We’ll have an annual review and if, at the end of the third year, all is satisfactory the agreement will expire,” he said.
Council members also approved, five-to-one with Dan Julich opposed, a new one-year agreement with the Allen County Animal Rescue Facility to harbor stray dogs picked up in the city.
Per-dog cost will increase $5 to $80. ACARF will, as it has, hold dogs for six days to give owners time to reclaim and then seek to have them adopted.
