Full Text:

GENNEWS OR PAGE ONE

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

The Persons With Disabilities Committee decided Tuesday to ask for a meeting

with the town's new personnel director to try to resolve questions about the

town's efforts to accommodate the disabled.

"We don't want to be confrontational," said committee member Art Bennett. "But

we need some answers."

The committee had received the copy of an American with Disabilities Act (ADA)

policy proposed by First Selectman Bob Cascella and Human Resources Director

Nancy Markey, which covered employment practices of the town.

"This policy says it is unlawful to discriminate in all aspects of employment,

but if the building (Edmond Town Hall) isn't accessible, isn't that

discrimination?" asked committee member Patti Brandt.

Committee members also wanted to know exactly what the town is doing to

provide and promote equal opportunities in all of its programs and services,

as the policy indicated.

The committee approved a letter to Mr Cascella, written by its chairman, Wendy

Beres, which explained a grievance filed by the committee in June regarding a

Planning & Zoning meeting held by former P&Z Chairman Stephen J. Adams in the

Alexandria Room at Edmond Town Hall.

To resolve this grievance, the town must disallow any government body,

commission, department or commission to hold public meetings in rooms or

buildings that are inaccessible to disabled residents, the letter said.

All meetings and voter registration must be moved to an accessible building,

the grievance procedure must be published and posted, and the town's ADA

transition plan must be written, with planned action dates, as required by the

federal ADA law, the committee said.

"Except for the Board of Education, which has been extremely cooperative, I've

had no response contacting people in charge of buildings - Edmond Town Hall,

the police department, the library, Town Hall South and the town garage," Mrs

Beres said.

Public meetings still are being held in inaccessible places, she said,

including several this week: the Newtown Local Housing Partnership, the

Charter Revision Commission and registration of new voters, all of which took

place in Edmond Town Hall.

Mark McCready, former head of maintenance at Edmond Town Hall, attended the

meeting. He said suggestions he made for handicapped renovations have never

been implemented.

"The town has been flaunting the federal law since it went into effect," he

said. "You can't fix the problems if you don't have the money."

If Edmond Town Hall is to be handicapped accessible, the elevator needs to be

enlarged or replaced and a ramp needs to be constructed in the front of the

building, he said, costs which the Board of Managers said it cannot afford

because the building needs a new roof and other critical repairs.

The committee also discussed the possibility of getting ADA and disability

awareness training for emergency services personnel.

Mr Bennett said he has sent to the Legislative Council's ordinance committee a

request for a tax exemption for one motor vehicle for residents whose vehicles

have been modified for handicapped controls.

In a separate matter, Mrs Beres told The Bee that she received a letter from

the Republican Town Committee, which indicated the committee intended to

cancel her membership because she has missed more than five meetings. She

responded by resigning and explained that the meetings became inaccessible

when the former RTC chairman, Stephen J. Adams, moved them from Town Hall

South to Edmond Town Hall.

"There are only a few handicapped parking spaces next to the building and

these are used by movie patrons," she said. "It is unfeasible to expect

someone who is disabled to get from the lower parking lot, into the building

and up to the Alexandria Room."