Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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AUGUST 21-27 2019 UCW 19 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM The town of Hope Mills is making sure that its facilities are acces- sible and comply with ADA regulations or that they will be that way in the future. Hope Mills News & Views NEWS Hope Mills makes push for ADA compliance by EARL VAUGHAN JR. One of the jobs of the North Carolina Department of Transportation is to monitor subrecipients of federal funding that fall under their watch for compli- ance with the Americans with Disabilites Act. That's why sometime last year the town of Hope Mills, as a municipality that receives federal money through DOT, got a letter from DOT checking in on the status of the town's compliance. Don Sisko, who heads the public works department for Hope Mills, indicated the town is taking an aggressive approach to making sure the process to assure facilities under town control are either already accessible or will be made that way as soon as possible. Sisko noted the town only has control over upgrading town-managed facilities and property. Private businesses and other town entities not under government control don't fall under the direct oversight of the town or Sisko's department. To help make sure nothing falls through the cracks, the town has secured the services of the engineering firm of Stewart, Inc. "They have begun their field survey so they can do a self-assessment,'' Sisko said. "It has to do with streets and sidewalks, facilities and programs.'' Sisko said he's already learned some things about ADA compliance that the casual observer likely wouldn't even think of. A great example is the official town website. Under ADA regulations, it must be made accessible to people who having hearing or vision problems that makes normal interaction with a website difficult. That's why it's good to have a company like Stewart helping with the evalua- tion. "They are subject matter experts on this,'' Sisko said. "The ADA law is itself is written in legalese. It's good to have a good subject matter expert on your side to make sure you get done what needs to be done.'' Toward the end of getting things done, the town has hired a specialist to help oversee the ADA compliance issue. Bruce Clark is the ADA coordinator for the town and has been in that position for about a month. "He's ramrodding this part of the project,'' Sisko said. In addition to the work that is being done by Stewart, the town will be solicit- ing public input through a variety of outlets . Sisko said it would be similar to the responses the town sought when the comprehensive recreation plan was being developed. "There are going to be public meetings advertised and surveys put out so we can actually get public input on it,'' he said. "That will all be col- lated to help us develop a priority listing.'' Sisko added that Chancer McLaughlin, administrator of development and planning for the town, will coordinate the public input effort. The work to complete making the town ADA compliant won't be completed in a short time. "We are realistically trying to get our plan set up to do everything within about 10 years,'' Sisko said. He added that the Board of Commissioners is on board and has money budgeted once the areas of need have been identified. They already began last year with upgrading the computer program for the town website. "This year we are starting to look at some of the physical things as well,'' Sisko said. "We are waiting until we get the report back from Stewart.'' But there is some work ongoing. The mill house that is being converted into a museum will require a wall to be removed so the bathroom can be modified to make it ADA compliant. Work was recently completed on the new bulkhead at Hope Mills Lake, which included the installment of a ramp leading to the kayak launch and swim areas. "That's the last project we had on the books that we've completed,'' Sisko said of the ramp at the bulkhead. "We are looking at pressing forward and going back to past practices and making the corrections on those, bringing that to compliance.'' Sisko noted that anyone with concerns about ADA compliance in the town should contact Clark. His phone number is 910-429-3387, and his email is bclark@townofhopemills.com. "We'll do our outright best to make sure whatever is brought to our attention either gets corrected or is programmed for correction,'' Sisko said. Clark said the town already developed a public awareness notice that can be seen at all facilities open to the public as well as on the town's website and all of its social media sites. "It's basically a position statement on where we stand in providing compli- ancy with ADA in our facilities and our programs,'' Clark said. "The 1,000-yard view of this program, of what we're trying to get established here, is equal access, basically, equal access for everybody to our programs, to our facilities.'' Meetings For details about all meetings and activities, including location where not listed, call Town Clerk Jane Starling at 910-426-4113. Most meetings take place at Town Hall or the Hope Mills Parks and Recreation Center. • Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 6:30 p.m., Parks and Recreation Center. • Appearance Commission, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 6:30 p.m., Parks and Recre- ation Center. • Board of Commissioners, Monday, Sept. 9, 7 p.m., Town Hall, Luther Board Room. • Festival Committee, Monday, Sept. 9, 6 p.m., Town Hall, Front Conference Room. • Historic Preservation Commission, Wednesday, Sept. 11, Parks and Rec- reation Center. Events • Hope Meals Food Truck Rodeo, ursday, Sept. 5, 5 p.m.-8 p.m., Municipal Complex. • Good 2 Grow Farmers Market, Saturday, Sept. 7, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., between Town Hall and Parks and Recreation Building. Activities Hope Mills Area Kiwanis Club at Sammio's, second Tuesdays at noon and fourth Tuesdays at 6 p.m. For details, call 910-237-1240. • Hope Mills Parks and Recreation Senior programs at Parks and Recreation Center. Senior programs are for those ages 55 and up who are residents of Cumberland County. Various activities, especially Zumba classes, are scheduled Monday through Sunday throughout the day. For details on times and days, check the schedule at townofhopemills.com. You can call the recreation center at 910-426-4109 or e-mail Kasey Ivey at kivey@townofhopemills.com. Promote yourself: Email hopemills@upandcomingweekly.com. CALENDAR EARL VAUGHAN JR., Senior Staff Writer. COMMENTS? EarlUCWS- ports@gmail.com. 910-364-6638.