Source: http://www.ada.gov/FontanaCApca06.htm
Timestamp: 2015-03-31 00:40:55
Document Index: 154427619

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 12131', 'art 35', '§ 794', 'art 42', '§ 35', '§ 35', '§ 12132', '§ 35', '§ 35']

SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE CITY OF FONTANA, CALIFORNIA
DJ 204-12C-324
This matter was initiated by a complaint filed under title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131-12134, with the United States Department of Justice (Department) against the City of Fontana, California. The complaint was received by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, under the authority of 28 C.F.R. Part 35, Subpart F. The complainant alleges that the City’s Civic Auditorium was not accessible to persons with mobility impairments.
Because the City receives financial assistance from the Department of Justice, the investigation was also conducted under the authority of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794, and the Department’s implementing regulation, 28 C.F.R. Part 42, Subpart G. The Department expanded the scope of the investigation to include the City’s compliance with the following title II requirements:
make modifications necessary to comply with the Department’s title II regulation, 28C.F.R. § 35.105;
and the City’s obligations under title II and the Department’s regulation, 28 C.F.R.
the City’s ADA responsibilities, 28 C.F.R. § 35.107(a);
McDermont Sports Complex
Heritage Pool Complex
Hunter’s Ridge Park
Rozena Park
East Annex - Engineering Department
Veteran’s Park West
Code Enforcement - Community Improvement
Josephine Knopf Senior Center
Dorothy Grant Headstart Center
Bill Martin Park (East)
The Department reviewed the City’s policies and procedures regarding emergency management and disaster prevention and sidewalk maintenance to evaluate whether persons with disabilities have an equal opportunity to utilize these programs.
4. The parties to this Agreement are the United States of America and the City of Fontana, California.
7. The City has a designated ADA Coordinator and a grievance procedure so that the City can address complaints and provide information to its citizens.
8. The City has been actively making accessibility improvements as identified by their ADA Transition Plan and document their progress through status reports.
9. The City has taken great efforts to make all the city owned playgrounds accessible with accessible playground equipment on accessible routes.
10. The City has authorized a study to determine the feasibility of making accessibility alterations to the current Civic Auditorium versus building a new, accessible structure on that site.
11. The City has a procedure in place whereby its residents can request repairs to sidewalks or have curb ramps installed. The City actively inspects and maintains City sidewalks, installing new sidewalks and replacing and repairing old sidewalks when necessary.
12. The City has paid careful attention to the design and creation of their website and have taken steps to insure that it is accessible to persons with disabilities.
13. Within two months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will adopt the attached Notice (Attachment A); distribute it to all agency heads; publish the Notice in a local newspaper of general circulation serving the City; post the Notice on its Internet Home Page; and post copies in conspicuous locations in its public buildings. It will refresh the posted copies, and update the contact information contained on the Notice, as necessary, for the life of this Agreement. Copies will also be provided to any person upon request.
14. Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, and on yearly anniversaries of that date until the Agreement expires, the City will implement and report to the Department its written procedures for providing information for interested persons with disabilities concerning the existence and location of the City’s accessible programs, services, and activities.
15. Within six months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will identify sources of qualified sign language and oral interpreters, real-time transcription services, and vendors that can put documents in Braille, and will implement and report to the Department its written procedures, with time frames, for fulfilling requests from the public for sign language or oral interpreters, real-time transcription services, and documents in alternate formats (Braille, large print, cassette tapes, etc.).
16. The City will take steps to ensure that all appropriate employees are trained and practiced in using the California Relay Service to make and receive calls.
17. Within six months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will adapt for its own use and implement the City of Fontana’s Police Department’s Policy Statement on Effective Communication with People Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing [Attachment C] and distribute to all officers the Guide for Law Enforcement Officers When in Contact with People Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing [Attachment D].
18. Within six months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will contract with one or more local qualified oral/sign language interpreter agencies to ensure that the interpreting services will be available on a priority basis, twenty-four hours per day, seven days a week, to its officers or make other appropriate arrangements (such as contracting directly with or hiring qualified interpreters).
19. Within six months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will ensure that each police station or substation and each jail or detention facility is equipped with a working TTY to enable persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, or who have speech impairments to make outgoing telephone calls. Where inmate telephone calls are time-limited, the City will adopt policies permitting inmates who use TTY’s a longer period of time to make those calls, due to the slower nature of TTY communications compared with voice communications.
21. Within six months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will implement and report to the Department its written procedures that ensure that it regularly solicits and incorporates input from persons with a variety of disabilities and those who serve them regarding all phases of its emergency management plan (preparation, notification, response, and clean up).
22. Within six months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will implement and report to the Department its written procedures that ensure that its community evacuation plans enable those who have mobility impairments, vision impairments, hearing impairments, cognitive disabilities, mental illness, or other disabilities to safely self-evacuate or be evacuated by others. Some communities are instituting voluntary, confidential registries of persons with disabilities who may need individualized evacuation assistance or notification. If the City adopts or maintains such a registry, its report to the Department will discuss its procedures for ensuring voluntariness, appropriate confidentiality controls, and how the registry will be kept updated, as well as its outreach plan to inform persons with disabilities of its availability. Whether or not a registry is used, the City plan should address accessible transportation needs for persons with disabilities.
23. Within six months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will implement and report to the Department its written procedures that ensure that if its emergency warning systems use sirens or other audible alerts, it will also provide ways to inform persons with hearing impairments of an impending disaster. The use of auto-dialed TTY messages to pre-registered individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, text messaging, e-mails, open-captioning on local TV stations and other innovative uses of technology may be incorporated into such procedures, as well as lower-tech options such as dispatching qualified sign language interpreters to assist with emergency TV broadcasts.
24. Within six months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will implement and report to the Department its written procedures that ensure that at least one emergency shelter has a back-up generator and a way to keep medications refrigerated (such as a refrigerator or a cooler with ice). Such shelter(s) will be made available to persons whose disabilities require access to electricity and refrigeration, for example, for using life-sustaining medical devices, providing power to motorized wheelchairs, and preserving certain medications, such as insulin, that require refrigeration. The written procedures will include a plan for notifying persons of the location of such shelter(s).
25. Within six months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will implement and report to the Department its written procedures that ensure that persons who use service animals are not separated from their service animals when sheltering during an emergency, even if pets are normally prohibited in shelters. The procedures will not unnecessarily segregate persons who use service animals from others but may take into account the potential presence of persons who, for safety or health reasons, should not be in contact with certain types of animals.
26. Some of the of the City’s emergency shelters may be owned or operated by other public entities subject to title II or by public accommodations subject to title III and, as such, are subject to the obligation to provide program access or remove barriers to accessibility under the ADA. This Agreement does not limit such future enforcement action against the owners or operators of these facilities by any person or entity, including the Department.
27. If the City provides temporary housing during or after an emergency, then, within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will implement and report to the Department its written procedures that ensure that it has identified temporary accessible housing (such as accessible hotel rooms within the community or in nearby communities) that could be used if people with disabilities cannot immediately return home after a disaster if, for instance, necessary accessible features such as ramps or electrical systems have been compromised.
28. The elements or features of the City’s facilities that do not comply with the Standards, including those listed in Attachments F, G, and H, prevent some persons with disabilities from fully and equally enjoying the City’s services, programs, or activities and constitute discrimination on the basis of disability within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 12132 and 28 C.F.R. §§ 35.149 and 35.150.
29. This Agreement shall not be contrued as an admission of liability or discrimintation.
31. Within six months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will install signage as necessary to comply with 28 C.F.R. § 35.163(b), after having surveyed all facilities that are the subject of this Agreement for the purpose of identifying those that have multiple entrances not all of which are accessible.
32. Newly Constructed Facilities: In order to ensure that the spaces and elements in City facilities for which construction was commenced after January 26, 1992, are readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities, the City will take the actions listed in Attachment F.
33. Altered Facilities: In order to ensure that the spaces and elements in City facilities for which alterations commenced after January 26, 1992, are readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities, the City will take the actions listed in Attachment G.
37. Within nine months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will develop or procure a two-hour training program on the requirements of the ADA and appropriate ways of serving persons with disabilities. The City will use the ADA technical assistance materials developed by the Department and will consult with interested persons, including individuals with disabilities, in developing or procuring the ADA training program.
38. Within eighteen months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will deliver its training program to all City employees who have direct contact with members of the public. At the end of that period, the City will submit a copy of its training curriculum and materials to the Department, along with a list of employees trained and the name, title, and address of the trainer.
45. This Agreement will remain in effect for three years.
46. The person signing for the City represents that he or she is authorized to bind the City to this Agreement.
For the City of Fontana:
KENNETH R. HUNT, City Manager
LINDA GARRETT, Accessibility Specialist
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