WARREN City looks to general fund

The justice department issued a report earlier this year, listing 32 modifications to be made to city buildings.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The city faces the possibility of having to pay more from its general fund this year to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The city has been working since 1999 with the Urban Design Center at Kent State University and an architectural firm that evaluated more than 50 buildings in the city for compliance with the ADA.
Resident Rodger Mease filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice in 1995, saying the city is in violation of ADA requirements. Department of Justice officials toured the buildings in 1999.
The city previously hired a consultant to do the work, but it was never finished and a dispute ensued.
A court freed the city from that contract in 1997, and officials at the time said the dispute stalled building upgrades.
Modifications
The Department of Justice issued a report earlier this year listing 32 modifications that must be made within a year to be in compliance with the ADA. Failure to comply could result in fines.
The city had devised a five-year plan to address the modifications, attempting to lessen the effect on the general fund by spreading the improvements out over five years.
Improvements done at buildings that fall into enterprise funds, or those funds that are self-supporting such as the water department, can be paid for using money from those departments.
The city intended to spend about $130,000 the first year at the operations department, Packard Music Hall, the Water Pollution Control Department and the Christy House shelter, with about $49,800 coming from the general fund.
More improvements
But the Department of Justice wants improvements at the Packard Music Hall band shell, water department and municipal justice center also completed this year, increasing the total to $295,929, said David Robison, director of the city's community development and engineering, planning and building departments.
That will likely cut into a roughly $300,000 general fund reserve, said Mayor Hank Angelo. He is working with the Packard Trust to try to come up with a plan to address improvements at the music hall to lighten the burden on the general fund.
"We may be able to get a historic exemption for the Christy House," Robison said of the emergency shelter off of Main Street.
City Hall has an exemption because of its historic value, but the Department of Justice called for more handicap parking spaces.
At the municipal justice building, which houses city courts, council chambers and the police department, the Department of Justice called for improvements to a restroom, including installation of side grab bars. A counter is too high and the building has two handicap parking spaces but needs three. A counter in the prosecutor's office also needs to be lowered. At Packard Music Hall, the city needs to add a seventh handicap parking space.
dick@vindy.com