Edwardsville Township Supervisor Frank Miles today announced the Board of Trustees of Edwardsville Township adopted an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Transition Plan at their May 26th meeting. This is the first formal action the Board has taken to address the Township’s compliance with the ADA.
The Federal Government enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) to prevent discrimination of the physically and mentally disabled relating to employment and access to public facilities and governmental services. This groundbreaking legislation required municipalities and units of local governments throughout the United States adopt standards to improve access and remove barriers for disabled persons in their use of public facilities and governmental services.
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Title II of the ADA requires that units of local government develop and adopt a Transition Plan that documents physical barriers to accessibility, provides proposed modifications to remove those barriers, and establishes a schedule to complete those modifications.
“The purpose of our ADA Transition Plan is to ensure Edwardsville Township fully considers disability access issues with regards to service provision, through all levels of Township policy and practice,” said Supervisor Miles. “Compliance for the Township is significant. We must ensure we are fulfilling our obligation to our citizens with disabilities and meeting the requirements of this law.”
All buildings owned by the Township and services offered/used by the public were inspected for ADA compliance. All public spaces were investigated including areas where the public travels to conduct Township business, including parking lots, ingress and egress locations, meeting rooms, public restrooms, drinking fountains, and other public areas at the following Township facilities – Town Hall, located at 300 W Park in Edwardsville, and the Robert C. Stille Township Community Park, located at 6368 Center Grove Road in Edwardsville.
“Edwardsville Township will make reasonable efforts to improve the accessibility of programs and services and facilities by appropriating funding specifically for ADA compliance,” said Supervisor Miles. “We will implement a phased approach to bring our programs, services, and facilities into compliance. This year we are focusing on the bathrooms at Township Park and basic repairs at the Town Hall. Installation of the pre-fabricated restroom facility is scheduled for August. This will bring all season accessible restrooms to the park. The Township received funding from the Metro-East Park and Recreation District for this project.”
“We have also received funding from Madison County to renovate the bathroom facility located by Tennis Courts. This renovation will also create accessible restrooms for the Park,” said Supervisor Miles.
The ADA Transition Plan was one of the projects completed by the Township’s SIUE Graduate Intern Mary Castillo. “Mary did a great job auditing our facilities and evaluating our services. She has created a plan that satisfies the requirements of the ADA and sets a path for making the services the Township offers accessible to all,” said Supervisor Miles.
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