ADA compliance cost may not be be as high for city

The City of Clarendon has gotten some breathing room on federal requirements to upgrade City Hall, according to information presented as last Thursday’s regular meeting of the City Council.

Officials had been informed before the New Year that a condition of USDA funding for water system improvements would be the total compliance of City Hall with the Americans With Disabilities Act. An ADA assessment of the building then led to projections of $100,000 to $200,000 that could be needed to upgrade the 1918 building.

Further discussions with USDA, however, has resulted in more flexibility in those requirements, City Administrator David Dockery told aldermen last week.

Dockery said USDA will give the city three years to bring the building into compliance, provided that the city develops a plan and a budget to meet certain objectives each year. Additionally, requirements calling for electrical switches and receptacles to be made ADA complicate were eliminated entirely, which resulted in about $40,000 in potential savings, the administrator said.

As the first step in making plans and developing a budget for the ADA compliance work, aldermen approved a $2,100 proposal from the architectural firm of Playa Design Studios in Amarillo. Playa’s work will allow the first upgrades to be planned for in the 2018 fiscal year and will allow the city to continue with its USDA funded water system improvements.

In other city business, aldermen approved the audit report for fiscal year 2016 as presented by Foster & Lambert, approved a backup animal control agreement with the City of Pampa, and approved changes to the city’s employee handbook.

The council met closed session with the city’s attorney regarding a tort claim. Following the closed session, the aldermen approved a motion to allow the city attorney to negotiate in the case.

Aldermen approved a motion to call a general election for the positions of mayor and two aldermen on May 6, 2017. Britton Hall at that time had filed to run for alderman, and Mayor Sandy Skelton and Alderman Nathan Floyd announced their intentions to seek re-election.

In his administrator’s report, Dockery said that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had notified the city of additional testing that will be required of the city’s water supply. Dockery said the notice came about because water wells were brought online by Greenbelt Water Authority during a drought declaration. With the lifting of that declaration, certain requirements that were previously exempted must now be met and therefore additional tests are required.