Florence City Council hears ADA update
Del Leeds, Americans with Disabilities Act officer for the City of Florence, reviewed the June 22 community meeting with Florence City Council members at the July 5 meeting.
Leeds said he was pleased with the turnout and the interest in compliance issues by people in attendance. City clerk Darla Gore added she has had good feedback at the city office.
Leeds told council members a list of Florence citizens with handicaps and special needs has been compiled and sent to Larry Scriven, city disaster coordinator.
"It is logical for the disaster plan group to have the list," said Leeds. "They will be the ones who take care of special needs issues in case of a problem in Florence."
He noted a letter citing transfer of the list had been filed with the city's ADA plan. Leeds said the list will be updated on a regular basis.
Councilman Randy Mills asked if new budget figures were available. "Now is the time to get us a list of things to be done," he said. "It would help us if we knew the highest priority items."
Leeds said his report on city property was 90 percent complete.
"Eventually we will need to hire an out-of-town expert for more detailed information," he said. "We will need funding because some things will have to be done.
"Council will need to budget and decide on priorities."
He agreed to have a list of money needs to the council by the last meeting in July.
Council members, Leeds, and members of the audience went outside to view a proposed van accessible/handicap parking area in front of the city building. No action was taken.
In other business the council:
— heard Kansas Concrete Cutters had not given a bid on water tower repairs. A bid was received from Cunningham. A decision on repairs was tabled until next meeting.
— heard that because Larry Scriven works part-time he will not have the points necessary to attend water school in August as the city had hoped. Terry Riegle who is acting water plant operator expressed an interest in attending the classes. Council gave unanimous approval.
— after considerable discussion about enforcing building codes and easements, council tabled until next meeting a request to install a metal building on a residential property. Council will contact GeoTech for more complete survey information.
— planned to hold a budget work meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the city building.
— heard from councilman Bryan Harper that he received complaints about people driving at a high rate of speed on Eighth Street. Audience members agreed and added concerns about Sixth and Marion streets. Police will be alerted to pay extra attention to those areas.
— heard that Florence Historical Society had a successful fish fry July 2, making about $1,100.
— went into executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel and returned to open meeting, taking no action.
— heard sewer pipes at the intersection of Fifth and Main streets were cleaned out which revealed the system had collapsed and needs to be replaced.
— heard from acting police chief Erik King that Florence had a quiet Fourth of July, his department has generated no interest in the radios it is trying to sell, it needs to replace the Breath-alyzer machine, and consider the purchase of a digital camera.
