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18. Public Hearing: Approve the Transition Plan for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Assistant Manager Steve Bocian gave the staff report, stating each City with 50 or more employees is required to prepare a plan, it puts in place the evaluation of all buildings in the City which was done in 2002/03, it reviews all barriers and tries to prioritize how staff addresses issues in the evaluation report. He said the City has been working for many years to address ADA issues and is making progress. Money is put forward each year for this, and the City is required to hold a public meeting which was done on March 13, 2008. Staff received some comments at the meeting which are attached to the report and he recommended the Council adopt the plan. Staff will continue to move forward in addressing ADA issues and will continue to remove barriers. Councilmember McGovern questioned if some improvements in the CIP program be funded through the plan's adoption, and Mr. Bocian said yes, curb cuts, major buildings, and improvements funded through the Facilities Renovation Fund. He said there is an earmark of money set aside in the CIP for reviewing ADA issues and the priority to date have been curb cuts and renovation of buildings. City Manager Fialho said there is a Replacement Fund used to renovate facilities utilized for ADA upgrades. Councilmember Sullivan confirmed that staff controls the schedule for ADA needs and City Manager Fialho briefly described examples of improvements to be made. Mayor Hosterman opened the public hearing. Carmen Rivera Hendrickson said she is an ADA bilingual advocate, is on the HSA Board and is a DAN member. She attended the March meeting, said parks, sidewalks and City facilities were addressed in the plan, but she never received the study in time to properly address items for the meeting. She has questions as to which facilities will have modifications made, when and how much will be allocated and as a disabled person, believed more areas needed to be addressed. She asked for the opportunity to take the plan to the Action Network to receive feedback, said she contacted the ADA Resource Center in Washington, D.C. and was informed that the guidelines can be expanded by cities, citing wheelchair access width problems. Mayor Hosterman closed the public hearing. Councilmember Sullivan referred to Attachment 2 and confirmed it was presented at the March 13 meeting. Mr. Bocian said items on the attachment will be included in the document and made part of the plan, staff will be reviewing the items, some were temporarily addressed, some will take more time, and some cannot be addressed. He said the Council could adopt the plan and amendments could be made if the Action Network had requested changes. Councilmember Sullivan confirmed that significantly more than $50,000 is dedicated annually to the program and he suggested that items identified on March 13 be prioritized in the context of the CIP review process. City Manager Fialho agreed the plan is a roadmap, projects are prioritized, and confirmed that Councilmember Sullivan would like to review the list during the CIP process. He said the comment period may not be up when the CIP review takes place, but staff will work to reconcile any additional comments prior to the final approval of the CIP and agreed to forward comments to Councilmembers. City Council Minutes 14 May 6, 2008