Source: http://www.ada.gov/niagara/niagara_sa.htm
Timestamp: 2014-09-01 23:24:17
Document Index: 715554418

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 12131', 'art 35', '§ 794', 'art 42', '§ 35', '§ 101', '§ 12132', '§ 35']

Settlement Agreement between the United States and the City of Niagara Falls, New York SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE CITY OF NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK
DJ 204-53-92
SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION The United States Department of Justice (Department) initiated this matter as a compliance review of Niagara Falls, New York (City) under title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131-12134, and the Department's implementing regulation, 28 C.F.R. Part 35. Because the City receives financial assistance from the Department of Justice, the review 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 review was conducted by the Disability Rights Section of the Department's Civil Rights Division and focused on the City's compliance with the following title II requirements:
delivery of services, programs, or activities in alternate ways, including, for example, redesign of equipment, reassignment of services, assignment of aides, home visits, or other methods of compliance or, if these methods are not effective in making the programs accessible, physical changes to buildings (required to have been made by January 26, 1995), in accordance with the Department's title II regulation, 28 C.F.R. §§ 35.150 - 35.151, and the ADA Standards for Accessible Design (Standards), 28 C.F.R. pt. 36, App. A, or the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS), 41 C.F.R. § 101-19.6, App. A.
As part of its compliance review, the Department reviewed the following facilities, which – because construction or alterations commenced after January 26, 1992 – must comply with the ADA's new construction or alterations requirements: Sal Maglie Stadium; City Hall; and Hyde Park – Golf Course Clubhouse
95th Street Recreation Center
Earl W. Brydges Public Library
Hyde Park – Ballfields
Hyde Park – Bocci Greens
Hyde Park – Duck Island Senior Citizen Park
John Duke Senior Citizen Center
Hyde Park – Oasis Picnic Shelter
Hyde Park – Tennis Courts
Hyde Park – Wading Pool
Rainbow Ramp Parking Garage
RV Parking Lot – City Lot #4
Niagara Falls Arts and Cultural Center
Niagara Falls Police Substation
G.J. Mann Elementary School
Niagara Falls Boys' and Girls' Club
Plumbers and Steamfitters Training and Education Center
V.F.W. Post 917
The parties to this Agreement are the United States of America and the City of Niagara Falls, New York.
ACTIONS TAKEN BY CITY The City has a designated ADA Coordinator who coordinates requests for reasonable accommodations by Niagara Falls citizens.
The City has a written Grievance Procedure established to meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, and on yearly anniversaries of this Agreement until it 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. GENERAL EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION PROVISIONS
the City will take steps to ensure that all appropriate employees are trained and practiced in using the New York StateRelay Service to make and receive calls.9-1-1
Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will ensure that each 9-1-1 call station is equipped with a TTY or computer equivalent.
Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will develop procedures for answering 9-1-1 calls that include training all call takers to use a TTY to take 9-1-1 calls, to recognize a "silent" open line as a potential TTY call and respond by TTY, and to ensure that TTY calls are answered as quickly as other calls received.
The City will monitor its incoming 9-1-1 TTY calls to ensure they are answered as quickly and accurately as other calls received.
The City will incorporate correct TTY call-taking procedures into 9-1-1 call takers' performance evaluations and will amend its personnel policies to include written disciplinary procedures for call takers who fail to perform TTY call-taking consistent with the training and procedures. The City will implement and report to the Department its evaluation and procedures within three months of the effective date of this Agreement.LAW ENFORCEMENT AND EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will adapt for its own use and implement the Niagara Falls Police Department Policy Statement on Effective Communication with People Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (Attachment C) and distribute to all police officers the Guide for Law Enforcement Officers When in Contact with People Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (Attachment D).
Within three 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 police or make other appropriate arrangements (such as contracting directly with or hiring qualified interpreters).
Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will ensure that each police station or substation and each jail 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.EMPLOYMENT
will not ask a job applicant about the existence, nature, or severity of a disability. Applicants may be asked about their ability to perform specific job functions. Medical examinations or inquiries may be made, but only after a conditional offer of employment is made and only if required of all applicants for the position; will make reasonable accommodations for the known physical or mental limitations of a qualified applicant or employee with a disability upon request unless the accommodation would cause an undue hardship on the operation of the City's business. If an applicant or an employee requests a reasonable accommodation and the individual's disability and need for the accommodation are not readily apparent or otherwise known, the Citymay ask the individual for information necessary to determine if the individual has a disability-related need for the accommodation;
will maintain any employee's medical records separate from personnel files and keep them confidential; and
Some of the City's polling places may be owned or operated by other public entities subject to title II or by public accommodations subject to title III and, as such, would be subject to the obligation to provide program access or to remove barriers to accessibility under the ADA. This Agreement does not limit future enforcement action against the owners or operators of these polling places by any person or entity, including the Department.
Before designating any site as a new polling place, the City will survey the site using the survey instrument at Attachment F to determine whether the site contains barriers to access by people with disabilities in the parking, exterior route to the entrance, entrance, interior route to the voting area, or voting area. The City will not designate any such site as a polling place until all such barriers have been removed.
The Department surveyed certain of the City's polling places. Barriers to access at such polling places owned by the City and the dates by which the City will remove barriers are noted in Attachments I, J, and K. Barriers to access at the polling places not owned by the City which were surveyed by the Department are noted in Attachment E. Within one month of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will request in writing that each of the owners and operators of the polling places listed in Attachment E remove the noted barriers to access for persons with disabilities within one year of the effective date of this Agreement. The City will provide the Department's ADA Checklist for Polling Places (www.ada.gov/votingck.htm) with the written request. The City will simultaneously send a courtesy copy of the request to the Department.
Within 12 months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will survey all facilities listed in Attachment E to determine whether the barriers noted have been removed. If not, for each polling place that still contains inaccessible parking, exterior route to the entrance, entrance, interior route to the voting area, or voting area, the City will identify within 15 months of the effective date of this Agreement an alternate location where these elements are accessible. That identification will utilize the survey instrument that appears as Attachment F to this Agreement. The City will then take immediate steps to change its polling place to the new location. Under this provision of the Agreement, the City will ensure that barriers at each polling place identified in Attachment E are either removed or a substitute accessible polling place is in operation before the next election occurring more than 18months after the effective date of this Agreement.
Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, using the survey instrument at Attachment F, the City will survey all polling places not surveyed by the Department to identify barriers to access by people with disabilities in the parking, exterior route to the entrance, entrance, interior route to the voting area, and voting area. In order for all of the City's polling places to be accessible, within 15months of the effective date of this Agreement, for each such polling place, the City will then either (1) ensure that all barriers to access by people with disabilities have been removed or (2) identify an alternate polling place with no barriers to access by people with disabilities. That identification of accessible polling places will utilize the survey instrument that appears as Attachment F to this Agreement. The City will then take immediate steps to change each newly identified inaccessible polling place to a new accessible location. Under this provision of the Agreement, the City will ensure that barriers at each polling place the Department did not survey are either removed or a substitute accessible polling place is in operation before the next election occurring more than 18 months after the effective date of this Agreement.
Until all polling places in each precinct or voting district have accessible parking, exterior routes, entrances, interior routes to the voting area, and voting area, prior to each election, the City will identify and widely publicize to the public and to persons with disabilities and organizations serving them the most accessible polling place(s) for each precinct or voting district.
Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will provide opportunities for same-day balloting for voters with disabilities whose assigned polling place does not have accessible parking, exterior route to entrance, entrance, interior route to the voting area, and voting area. The method for providing these opportunities may include allowing the individual to vote at another nearby location that is accessible, allowing individuals with disabilities to vote by an absentee ballot that is accepted if postmarked on the day of the election (or picked up by election officials at the home of the voter on the same day as the election), providing curbside voting at the inaccessible polling place, or any other method that ensures that voters with disabilities have the same degree of information available to them when casting their ballots as others. If curbside assistance is provided and a polling place official is not stationed outside to provide assistance to people with disabilities in curbside voting, it must include a reliable, effective mechanism by which individuals with disabilities can summon election officials to provide curbside assistance without leaving their vehicles and ensure prompt response and assistance with curbside voting from polling officials.
Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will survey its voter registration locations for accessibility to persons with disabilities by using the form provided at Attachment F and will report the results of this survey to the Department. If barriers to access are identified, the City will implement and report to the Department its plan to provide program access, which may include allowing persons to register to vote through alternative means or at alternative locations.
Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will make all voter registration materials available in alternate formats, including Braille, large print, audio tape, and computer disk.
Within the month prior to the next election that utilizes the City's polling places, and at yearly anniversaries of the effective date of this Agreement until it expires, the City will train poll workers on the rights of people with disabilities and the practical aspects of assuring those rights. The training will cover, at minimum, the need to maintain the physical accessibility of polling locations; how to assist people with disabilities, as necessary; and how to operate any non-standard voting equipment or accessible features of standard equipment (particularly new, accessible equipment). EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES AND POLICIES
If the City contracts with another entity, such as the American Red Cross or another local government, to provide its emergency preparedness plans and emergency response services, the City will ensure that the other entity complies with the following provisions on its behalf.
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 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).
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 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.
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 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.
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 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).
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 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.
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.
Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement, using the survey instrument at Attachment G, the City will survey all of its emergency shelters (including those owned or operated by other entities) to identify barriers to access by people with disabilities in the parking; exterior route to the entrance; entrance; interior route to the emergency shelter area, including the route to the drinking fountains, eating areas, sleeping areas, toilet rooms, and shower/bathing rooms designated for those seeking shelter; and the emergency shelter area itself, including the drinking fountains, eating areas, sleeping areas, toilet rooms, and shower/bathing rooms designated for those seeking shelter. In order for all of the City's emergency shelters to be accessible, within 15months of the effective date of this Agreement, for each such emergency shelter, the City will then either (1) ensure that all barriers to access by people with disabilities have been removed or (2) identify an alternate emergency shelter with no barriers to access by people with disabilities. That identification of accessible emergency shelters will utilize the survey instrument that appears as Attachment G to this Agreement. Under this provision of the Agreement, the City will ensure that barriers at each of its emergency shelters are either removed or a substitute accessible emergency shelter is in operation no more than 15 months after the effective date of this Agreement. Within three months of the effective date of this Agreement and until all emergency shelters have accessible parking, exterior routes, entrances, interior routes to the shelter area, and toilet rooms serving the shelter area, the City will identify and widely publicize to the public and to persons with disabilities and the organizations that serve them the most accessible emergency shelters.
To the extent that the City provides opportunities for post-emergency temporary housing to its residents, within 3 months of the effective date of this Agreement, it will develop, implement, and report to the Department its plans for providing equivalent opportunities for accessible post-emergency temporary housing to persons with disabilities. Within one year of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will ensure that information it makes available regarding temporary housing includes information on 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.
Within 1 month of the effective date of this Agreement, and on subsequent anniversaries of the effective date of this Agreement, the City will distribute to all persons – employees and contractors – who design, develop, maintain, or otherwise have responsibility for content and format of its website(s) or third party websites used by the City (Internet Personnel) the technical assistance document, "Accessibility of State and Local Government Websites to People with Disabilities," which is Attachment H to this Agreement (it is also available at www.ada.gov/websites2.htm).
The elements or features of the City's facilities that do not comply with the Standards, including those listed in Attachments I, J, K, and L, prevent 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.
Newly Constructed Facilities: In order to ensure that the following spaces and elements in Cityfacilities, 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 I.
Altered Facilities: In order to ensure that the following spaces and elements in Cityfacilities, 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 J.
Program Access in City Existing Facilities: In order to ensure that each of the City's programs, services, and activities operating at a facility that is the subject of this Agreement, when viewed in its entirety, is readily accessible to and usable by persons with mobility impairments, the City will take the actions listed in Attachment K. PROGRAM MODIFICATIONS
Access to City Programs Housed in Others' Facilities: In order to ensure that the City'sprograms, services, and activities that are the subject of this Agreement and that are operated by the City at facilities owned or controlled by other entities, when viewed in its entirety, are readily accessible to and usable by persons with mobility impairments, the City will take the actions listed in Attachment L. PROGRAMS FOR VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND ABUSE
Enter into contracts or make other arrangements with qualified sign language and oral interpreters to ensure their availability when required for effective communication with persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. The type of aid that will be required for effective communication will depend on the individual's usual method of communication, and the nature, importance, and duration of the communication at issue. In many circumstances, oral communication supplemented by gestures and visual aids, an exchange of written notes, use of a computer or typewriter, or use of an assistive listening device may be effective. In other circumstances, qualified sign language or oral interpreters are needed to communicate effectively with persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. The more lengthy, complex, and important the communication, the more likely it is that a qualified interpreter will be required for effective communication with a person whose primary means of communication is sign language or speech reading. If the City's Domestic Violence Programs operate a hotline to take telephone calls of an emergency nature, the City shall ensure that it provides equivalent service for persons who use TTY's, including providing direct-connection service for TTY users with hotline operators, without requiring TTY users to call through a third party operator, such as through the state or local Telecommunication Relay Services. The City will obtain the necessary equipment, establish the written procedures, and provide the training necessary to ensure effective communication by Hotline staff with direct-connection callers using TTY's, as well as the training necessary to respond to callers who use the Telecommunication Relay Services. Survey facilities used as shelters or designated as potential shelters – or for counseling, job training, education, clothing or household provisioning, or other aspects of Domestic Violence Programs – to ensure that adequate arrangements are available for potential clients and family members with disabilities, including adults and children who have mobility impairments, who are blind or have low vision, and who are deaf or hard of hearing. Within one year of the effective date of this Agreement, modify each such facility to remove the barriers or, alternatively, procure another, fully accessible facility to ensure that potential clients and family members with disabilities have integrated options when participating in a sheltering or other Domestic Violence program. Nothing in this Agreement requires any modifications that would compromise the confidentiality of a shelter or counseling center. Until there is a sufficient stock of accessible housing and other facilities within the sheltering program, City will implement written procedures ensuring that it has identified temporary accessible housing (such as accessible hotel rooms within the community or in nearby communities) and other facilities that could be used if people with disabilities need sheltering or access to a Domestic Violence Program. The cost to potential clients of being housed or otherwise served in alternate accessible facilities shall not exceed any costs normally attributed to clients of City's Domestic Violence Programs.
Implement written procedures and modify, as appropriate, eligibility criteria, to ensure that no person with a disability is turned away from a shelter or otherwise denied the opportunity to benefit from the services of the City Domestic Violence Programs on the basis of disability. Implement written procedures to ensure that persons with disabilities who use service animals are not denied or discouraged from participating in Domestic Violence Programs, are able to be housed and served in an integrated environment, and are not separated from their service animals while participating in the City's Domestic Violence Programs even if pets are normally not permitted in the facilities where such programs are conducted. 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. If the City's Domestic Violence Programs require clients to make any payments for shelter or other services they provide, clients shall not be required to make additional payments because they or their family members use service animals.
Except as otherwise specified in this Agreement, at yearly anniversaries of the effective date of this Agreement until it expires, the City will submit written reports to the Department summarizing the actions the Cityhas taken pursuant to this Agreement. Reports will include detailed photographs showing measurements, architectural plans, work orders, notices published in the newspaper, copies of adopted policies, and proof of efforts to secure funding/assistance for structural renovations or equipment.
The Department may review compliance with this Agreement at any time. If the Department believes that the Cityhas failed to comply in a timely manner with any requirement of this Agreement without obtaining sufficient advance written agreement with the Department for a modification of the relevant terms, the Department will so notify the Cityin writing and it will attempt to resolve the issue or issues in good faith. If the Department is unable to reach a satisfactory resolution of the issue or issues raised within 30 days of the date it provides notice to the City, it may institute a civil action in federal district court to enforce the terms of this Agreement, or it may initiate appropriate steps to enforce title II and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. For purposes of the immediately preceding paragraph, it is a violation of this Agreement for the Cityto fail to comply in a timely manner with any of its requirements without obtaining sufficient advance written agreement with the Department for an extension of the relevant time frame imposed by the Agreement.
This Agreement is a public document. A copy of this document or any information contained in it will be made available to any person by the Cityor the Department on request.
This Agreement will remain in effect for three years. The person signing for the City represents that he or she is authorized to bind the City to this Agreement.
For the City of Niagara Falls:
SARAH E. ROQUE, Investigator
(202) 514-7829 (fax)
Date:___________________________ Date: July 30, 2009 Project Civic Access | ADA Home Page September 27 2010