ADAMS, Mass. — The town is working on a plan to address accessibility for residents from parks to Town Hall to its website. But so far it's doing a good job in making its public area accessible. 

 

"Adams, for all the buildings, is in very good shape. I think it's clear that for years, this town has definitely taken their ADA responsibility, seriously," Andrew McKeever told the Selectmen at their meeting last week. "There's nothing really egregious that's out there."

 

McKeever, a community planner with the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, was updating the Selectmen on the progress in identifying areas of need.

 

The BRPC is helping Adams conduct a self-evaluation to identify barriers that exist for disabled residents to programs and services and develop a transition plan to bring it into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The project is being funded through a Massachusetts Office of Disability grant. 

 

"You identify and inventory all the barriers that exist ... You take all those and you create a priority list of what to address and when you can address it over time," explained McKeever. "The Department of Justice recommends that these plans are updated every three years. So the reason why these are important is because it is a legal requirement that communities have these and that they are making sure that their services are accessible." 

 

Creating plans also help with long-term capital spending and are prerequisite for funding through the Massachusetts Office of Disability, he continued. "Once you create one of these plans, you are now eligible to apply for the implementation grants with MOD. And therefore some of these capital projects that you're looking at, MOD will be a resource for those." 

 

McKeever said this is important also because 17.5 percent of the town's population self-identified as having a disability on the census. That doesn't count the number of people who may have a disability but didn't identify it, or who may have a short-term disability. 

 

"Then lastly, it's important, because facilities, parks, buildings, if they are designed to be accessible, then they're more usable and enjoyable for for everyone," he said. 

 

The needs survey looked at all the town services, reviewed public spaces and evaluated the website against the 2010 ADA federal standards and the state's Architectural Access Board's standards, with the most stringent the most applicable. 

 

They were then evaluated by priority with entrances (parking, entryways, doors, etc.); goods and services (counter heights, doorways, space, etc.); public bathrooms, and phones and water fountains. (McKeever noted that "phones" may be a little out of date.) 

 

Adams has fulfilled the requirements to appoint an ADA coordinator, have policies that address accessibility and allow for grievances policy, and post a public notice of non-discrimination.

 

"I want to point out that I've done a lot of these, and Adams is the second community that I've seen that actually has full formal policy that addressed all these matters," McKeever said. "I want to commend the town for that. It's really a good, good policy as well."

 

He advised the town establish a commission on disabilities to oversee a recommendations in the ADA plan, as well as items that go beyond it, such as accessible trails or more accessible technology or community programs that can provide certain aid. One such program is clearing sidewalks for the elderly and disabled, an issue that's come up at numerous communities over the years. 

 

Somerville, for example, has partnered with a local school to have student volunteers shovel walks, McKeever said. He also recommended staff training on opportunities for accommodation. 

 

"The Massachusetts Office on Disability and [regional] ADA Center both have a significant number of trainings that can be very broad about the ADA and accessibility, and some very specific things for individual staff, sort of responsibilities," he said. 

 

Most of the issues that were found in the survey were fairly minor — a door to a bathroom was too heavy, lack of accessible parking at certain locations, the slope to enter the Memorial Building needs fixing along with door thresholds, exposed pipes under sinks, doorknobs rather than handles in some buildings, high counters, and some repairs needed on the front and back entrances to Town Hall. Picnic tables and trash bins at the parks aren't always easy to get to and it was recommended that a significant investment be made in Bowe Field to bring it up to standards. 

 

The lift is not working in the Registry of Deeds; the Selectmen said they were unaware and directed interim Town Administrator Ken Walto to look into it.

 

"We did stop up the Greylock Outdoor Center. No recommendations, that place is beautiful," McKeever said of the town's newest structure. 

 

The town is also getting a full report on its website as the federal government has issued Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Sites should be usable with screen readers, have color contrast, have readable alternative text and clearly marked links. 

 

Selectman Jay Meczywor asked if there was a particular priority, outside of Bowe Field. McKeever thought Bowe wasn't an immediate priority as the town wasn't providing services there, and he noted that the Memorial Building was about have some reconstruction.

 

"There's a lot of, like the smaller things, of the sort of lower-cost items, things that you probably wouldn't need to go through design work to do," he said, like door handles and relocating trash cans. "When you look at some of the sort of larger projects, like we talked about coming into the entrance, you're going to need design work for it, and so MOD doesn't pay for design work."

 

The town is not providing any programs or services in inaccessible spaces right now, he said. "I think you do have some accessible spaces you can use if you needed to."

 

The Selectmen also approved an extension of the intermunicipal agreements it has with BRPC for three projects: mapping the town's stormwater system with geographic information systems, a report on slums and blight for Community Development Block Grant funding and economic development planning services. The initial contracts expired on June 30.