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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 05071991 - IO.3 I.O.-3 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Contra FROM: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE Costa n1 s } April 22, 1991 �° -- `Pti'4 County DATE: rrq-(40- REQUEST FROM HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION THAT THE TRAINING SUBJECT: INSTITUTE BE MADE MORE HANDICAPPED ACCESSIBLE SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS: 1, Request the County * Administrator to discuss with the Community College District the possibility of increasing the nighttime lighting at the entrance to the first floor of the George Gordon Education Center and report to our Committee on the outcome of these discussions on July 8, 1991. 2. Request the County Administrator to discuss with the Community College District the feasibility of recommendations # ' 2 and # 3 made by the Human Relations Commission, namely: * "Keeping the elevator unlocked during office hours and evening meetings to assure ready and easy access to the second floor." and * "Eliminating the restriction that only those with disabilities can use the elevator to gain access to the second floor thus eliminating the need for disclosure of physical condition by those with non-obvious disabilities, and eliminating the isolation otherwise imposed on persons with disabilities." If these requests are unacceptable to the Community College District, then attempt to negotiate a compromise which is CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENTYeS YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY D I R RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE TH SIGNATURE(S): S ER SUNNE WRIGHT McPEAK ACTION OF BOARD ON a 7; 1991 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE X UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. CC: ATTESTED '�� /, /99/ Please see Page 2. PHIL BATCHELO ,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR BY DEPUTY M382 (10/88) 61 acceptable to both the Community College District and the Human Relations Commission and report his findings and conclusions to this Committee on July 8, 1991. 3 . Authorize the members of our Committee to send a letter to the President of the Community College District Board of Trustees to advise them of the situation the County is confronting and soliciting their cooperation and support in finding a mutually acceptable solution to the problem. This letter should also offer to have our Committee meet with the President of the Board of Trustees if that is the wish of the Board of Trustees. 4 . Request the County Administrator to write to the City of Martinez soliciting their cooperation in providing enhanced enforcement of the disabled parking spaces in the area of the Community College District. BACKGROUND: The Board of Supervisors recently received and referred to our Committee a letter expressing the Commission' s concern that the second floor of the George Gordon Education Center (The Training Institute) is not more readily accessible to the handicapped. While the second floor is accessible to the handicapped by use of an elevator on the first floor on the Community College District offices, this elevator is locked at all times and must be unlocked during the day by college district personnel to allow access to the second floor. In the evening, arrangements must be made in advance with the Community College District in order to gain access to the second floor of the building. The procedure is only available to those who are in a wheelchair or otherwise obviously disabled. Unless advance arrangements are made, it is often impossible for a handicapped individual to gain access to the second floor of the building for a meeting unless the group holding the meeting has stationed an individual in the lobby of the Community College District offices to allow access to individuals who may need to use the elevator. The Human Relations Commission believes that this procedure is cumbersome, continues to subtly discriminate against the disabled and requires advance knowledge that a disabled individual may wish to attend the meeting. On April 22, 1991 our Committee met with the Chair and staff to the Human Relations Commission as well as staff from the Personnel Department, County Counsel' s Office and County Administrator' s Office. The Chair of the Commission reviewed with our Committee the attached report. We also had available to us correspondence between County staff and the Commission on this subject. As a result of our meeting, we have agreed to make the above recommendations to the Board of Supervisors in an effort resolve this issue satisfactorily and at minimal expense to anyone. We will meet again on this subject on July 8, 1991 and will hopefully be able to make a final report to the Board of Supervisors following this meeting. cc: County Administrator Director of Personnel County Counsel Chancellor, Community College District (Via CAO) President, Board of Trustees Community College District (Via CAO) Chair, Human Relations Commission Ami Mezahav, Coordinator, Human Relations Commission f ..I Contra s........L HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION Room 103, Adm. Bldg. Costa s 651 Pine Street County Martinez, California 94553 '� �' (415) 646-2013 0 DATE: April 11, 1991 TO: C. Van )`darter, Assistant County Administrator FROM: Ami Mezahav, Coordinator SUBJECT: REPORT ON ACCESS ISSUES AT THE GEORGE GORDON EDUCATION CENTER, 500 COURT ST, MARTINEZ At issue here is access for disabled individuals to the George Gordon Education Center in Downtown Martinez. In memos' dated July and August 1989 former HPLC Director Fred Persily notified County staff of the building's inaccessabilty to people with disabilities who are interested in attending various important meetings that are often held at the Center during work hours and in the evenings. County staff responded to this request by suggesting that the Commission move it's meetings from the Gordon Center to an accessible location. All meetings held at the Center would still be off limits to those with disabilities, unless previous arrangements were made for someone from the Community College District to be present to allow people in wheelchairs or scooters entrance through the first floor- lobby to the elevator. Furthermore, according to this policy only those with apparent disabilities were to be allowed to use the elevator. An embarrassing incident during which disabled persons were barred from attending an earthquake education meeting highlighted the impracticality of this policy. Thereafter the CAO began to recommend to various County bodies that formerly met at the Center that they would be best off if they too moved they're meetings. Throughout this process the HRC continued to maintain that it was the responsibility of the Center and of the County to make 500 Court Street accessible to all rather than to close its doors to meetings that might be of interest to disabled individuals. After reviewing the recently passed Americans with Disabilities Act and learning; from County Staff that a ramp to the second floor public entrance from the street is a prohibitively expensive prefect. the Chair of the Commission in Sep. 1990 offered the following; suggestions to remedy the access situation: 1. Lighting; the entrance to the first floor for evening public meetings to eliminate current risks to personal safety. Keeping; the elevator unlocked during office hours and evening meetings to assure ready and easy access to the second, floor. 3. Eliminating the restriction that only those Nvith disabilities can use the elevator to gait: access to the second floor thus eliminating this ?geed fo disclosure of physical condition by those with non-obvious disabilities- . and eliminating the isolation othervrise imposed. on persons wit'r: disabilities. ACCESS PAGE 2 4. Placing signs or symbols at the first floor and primary entrances, visible to the public with disabilities, for the purpose of identifying the entrances and locations of the access entrance. 5. Enhanced enforcement by. local Police of reserved disabled parking. Commission staff is glad to report that some of these suggestions appear to have been adopted. Unfortunately, others have not. The Chair of the Commission is interested in having the Board of Supervisors move on this issue.