Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury Looks at ADA Compliance
Yesterday, we started posting the 2018-2019 Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury reports. They are easy to read and informative. Yesterday’s report was on housing the homeless.
The below report is their look at the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) compliance by the county of Humboldt:
This is the second report from the 2018-2019 Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury. The report examines Humboldt County’s compliance with a Consent Decree resulting from the Department of Justice’s litigation against the County for ADA violations, and is titled:
Here We Go Again
In 2008 Humboldt County entered into a settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) which required the County to bring identified facilities, programs, and services into compliance with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) within three years. This settlement agreement resolved litigation filed by the DOJ claiming over fifty County facilities were noncompliant with the ADA.
The County failed to meet all the deadlines in the 2008 settlement agreement. In 2016, the DOJ again filed suit, alleging “[i]n the eleven years since the ADA violations were specifically identified to the County, including and following the three-year term of the settlement agreement, Humboldt County has failed to take remedial actions required for it to comply with the ADA.” Litigation ended when the County entered another settlement agreement, the Consent Decree, on September 7, 2016. The Consent Decree requires the County to remediate over 50 barriers for people with disabilities, including facilities and curb ramps. The DOJ’s press release stated that the US had entered over 220 settlement agreements with localities to ensure compliance with the ADA; of these, Humboldt County was “one of the rare public entities that did not take the remedial actions required by a PCA agreement to comply with the ADA.”
In light of the DOJ’s focus on Humboldt County’s non-compliance with the 2008 settlement agreement, the Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury elected to investigate the progress of the County’s efforts to meet the terms of the Consent Decree. As the County approaches the final deadline in the Consent Decree to remediate the remaining facilities and curb ramps, it seems unlikely that work will be completed on time. Many earlier deadlines have been missed and a number of projects are still out for bid.
Earlier report: Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury Looks at Housing First Approach to Homelessness
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what is their excuse?
with all that extra z monies they couldnt offer a better deal to a contractor to get the work done? hey but at least they raised double what they thought they would and we now have more shiny solar powered speed limit signs and the same shitty roads
20.000 dollars a day fines till they fix this
ALL on the taxpayer’s dime, as well!!!! Holy Crap as well as WHOLLY Crap!!!
??Good morning Oliver Fortuna is starting to look like it’s trying but there’s spots in town that are 20yrs out of date ,the tie down cables that hold most of the poles in Humboldt don’t have the proper sleeve on them. Lawsuit waiting to happen!!!
Nice to see you put down the pipe Willie.
Estelle and the county rented an office in Redway instead of fixing the county-owned buildings. I’m sure the rent is appreciated by the local landlord, county residents paying for this building that is only open 3 hrs a week not so much.
Our LIBRARY, next to her crumbling office, WILL BE CLOSED FOR 6 MONTHS while being brought into compliance.
We will get the bookmobile..ONCE A WEEK as a fill in.
Where will all the folks who use the library as shelter go? Where will homeless get internet?
This is extremely fucked up.
Get work. Rent a place. We all do it. If not, move on to where the ambulance chasing ADA attorneys are more effective. Try communist Portlandia. Bye bye
Wait! It’s part of a process. They are going to replace the county buildings. She had to get out of her office for the process to begin.
And this building was the only one in the area thats ada compliant. And available.
Reader,
~i’m sorry to hear this.
Southern humboldt hasn’t had a Planning and building dept. office for over 30 years. Everybody down here has had to travel 70 miles to eureka to get anything done regarding building. Supervisor Fennell has been working to get this service down here for over two years but there have been no ADA compliant office spaces available until this space became available in Redway.
You’re also misinformed about hours of service , planning and building services are available in Redway ,Monday & Wednesday from 9am- 3:30.pm And Friday mornings for Supervisor Fennel’s office hours. 9am- noon . County residents seem to love this new service in SoHum, because there’s always a line out the door on those days.
~sorry to hear this too.
Estelle “GETTY” doesn’t care about money, as long as it’s NOT hers!!!!
Curb cuts in Denver, Colorado only happened because a group of wheelchair users went out with sledgehammers and smashed some street corners so the city would have to come fix them and install curb cuts at the same time. I would suggest that here, but repairs would never happen.
I’m actually glad they haven’t made any progress with curb ramps… because every time they make a ramp, a beneficial, useful thing, they insist on installing truncated domes (the yellow bump pads), an expensive, harmful thing. I have personally watched two people fall because of them, one of whom had to be hospitalized for an apparent head injury after he couldn’t tell first responders where he was. Unfortunately, every time a fall victim sues whomever installed the obvious safety hazard, courts answer with some version of “you can’t sue someone for doing what the law requires them to do”, and no one has the resources and motivation to try to get the laws fixed.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, or something like that… Helping totally blind people navigate is a good idea. But causing thousands of falls and serious injuries in the process is not a good idea. Good intentions, or good lobbying by detectable warning manufacturers?….
The county needs to be fined ten thousand dollars a day for every violation for 90 days. The corruption of Estelle and Rex bon is disgusting . The favoritism with family and friends is horrendous and out in full view to people who contract to do work for permitted grows. The stories would burn your ears off. They think they won’t get caught they better think again……It,s only a matter of time!
Remember in November 2020 throw ALL the TRASH out!!!! Especially Estelle “Getty” & “Racist Rex”!!!!
Grand jury report ! Significant threat of fraud!
https://www.scribd.com/document/417557736/The-Mis-Fortunes-of-Humboldt-County
There are currently no written cash handling procedures for the County. We learned of a difficult relationship between the County Treasurer and the previous Auditor-Controller that seemed to have hindered this process. A current process of reconciliation of cash handling procedures is being developed by the current Auditor-Controller and the Treasurer. Several interviewees expressed concern that the risk for fraud and theft is significant for the County.16.
Consultant’s Findings:
Government Code Section 26905 – states that not later than the last day of each month, the auditor shall reconcile the cash and investment accounts as stated on the auditor’s books with the cash and investment accounts as stated on the treasurer’s books as of the close of business of the preceding month to determine the books of the treasurer and the books of the auditor are in agreement.
CG Recommendation:
The Auditor-Controller bring the reconciliations current.
CAO Staff Follow-up Response:
Staff has been assigned this task and trained and reconciliations of Treasurer’s cash are current.
Grand Jury Discussion:
We learned that the Auditor’s books and the Treasurer’s books are not being reconciled at the end of each month as required by Government Code.
We learned that the Auditor’s books and the Treasurer’s books are not being reconciled at the end of each month as required by Government Code.
~the end of each month?
They aren’t reconciled at the end of a fiscal year!
Pretty funny how our own planning department in eureka can throw out fines, like candy at a parade but have to unlock the back door at request to let wheelchairs in the building. The steps at the front entrance aren’t up to code also.