WARREN Officials take steps to comply with law

A resident complained that many of Warren's buildings are not up to code.
By AMANDA C. DAVIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The city says the U.S. Justice Department knows it wasn't trying to be insensitive when it failed to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, but it still wants things to be made right.
David Robison, the city's director of engineering, said Warren will spend upwards of $729,000 over the next five years to comply.
The city has been working since 1999 with the Urban Design Center at Kent State University and an architectural firm that evaluated all of the city's more than 50 buildings for compliance, Robison said.
Before that, the city 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.
Warren has been putting together a five-year action plan that outlines what needs to be done to bring city buildings up to code.
Complaint: City resident Rodger Mease filed a complaint with the Justice Department in 1995, saying the city is in violation of ADA requirements.
Mease, 57, of Kinsman Street N.W., was left a quadriplegic after he fell from a ladder while helping a neighbor trim a tree in 1986. He attends many city council and council committee meetings at the Municipal Justice Center on South Street S.E.
Mease said the city is seven years late in addressing the problem and he believes officials have been giving him the runaround and making small changes to pacify him.
Able-bodied people sometimes don't understand how hard it is for disabled people to navigate their way through everyday life, Mease said.
"I don't do this just for me; It's for everyone [with disabilities] out there," he said. "I just happen to be the one with the big mouth."
Report: Justice Department officials visited the city in 1999 and toured buildings.
It issued a report to the city in February, outlining 32 modifications that need to be made in the city within a year.
Robison said the city could face fines if the changes are not made.
The city had planned to make $130,000 worth of changes this year to the operations department, Packard Music Hall, the Water Pollution Control Department and the Christy House shelter.
Because the Justice Department said the 32 items must be completed within a year, Robison said, the city might bump Christy House from the first-year projects list.
He said changes at Christy House will cost about $38,000.
Effort: Councilman Alford Novak, D-2nd, said the city has made an effort to comply and pointed out money has been set aside for some work in this year's capital improvement fund.
The Justice Department told Robison it will contact the city to discuss findings.
The difficulty is that some communities aren't financially able to make ADA changes within the allotted time frame, "but I think it's a good program," he said. "It's worth doing."
Changes the Justice Department outlined for the Municipal Justice Building include modifications to a restroom, including installation of side grab bars. Also, a counter is too high, the building has two handicap parking spaces but needs three, and a counter in the prosecutor's office needs to be lowered.
At Packard Music Hall, the city needs to add a seventh handicap parking space.
City hall is exempt from ADA requirements because of its historical nature, Robison said, noting a data processing building behind city hall is accessible.
More handicap parking also is needed at city hall, leaving enough room for a wheelchair between spaces, he said.
davis@vindy.com