Architect hired to assess Lycoming County polling sites
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Now that Lycoming County has agreed to bring polling places into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) the commissioners have approved hiring Anthony H. Visco Jr. Architects to do the preliminary work.
"This agenda item is part of an ongoing county-side initiative to bring our polling places into compliance with accessibility requirements," said Forrest Lehman, director of Voter Services, at the commissioners' meeting this week.
"The first and most compelling reason why we're doing this is because the county is required to do so. It's part of a settlement agreement we've signed with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)," he said.
Although it's an "unfunded mandate," Lehman said, "We have to deal with that."
"This project is also entirely compatible and in fact consistent with the county's long history of investing in community institutions and infrastructures," he said.
Visco will be tasked with surveying the facilities where the polling places are situated and identifying the accessibility issues that need to be corrected.
Ultimately, Visco would draw up construction plans which would be biddable to actually do the work.
"It's a vital step in that process," Lehman said.
"I'm particularly pleased that it is going to be a design professional doing this because these surveys that we do and the plans that we draw up are going to underpin the much more expensive projects that will come later down the line in terms of construction," he said.
Work done by Visco will be on an hourly basis, and the costs will be determined by the type of work being done.
"He was cognizant and expressed respect for the fact that some parts are going to be traveling from site to site and he didn't believe it was fair to charge the same rate for being en route between locations as he might charge when they're on site applying their expertise directly to these issues. And then when you get down the line to drafting site plans, that would be a different hourly rate," Lehman said.
"It's hard to estimate things like that because we may be looking at facilities, some of which we may not choose to keep based on the assessment. We're not going to have him draft plans to correct facilities that might not stay in," he added.
Earlier this week, the Board of Elections voted to move three precincts' polling sites in order to find accessible locations for voters.
The polling place for residents of Cummings Township will now be at the Township Building, on Route 44. Voters in Clinton Township and Montgomery Borough will go to the Clinton Township Fire Hall, on Route 54, to cast their vote.
The actions this week are all part of a settlement with the Department of Justice which had visited polling places in the county and deemed them out of compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements.
Of the 81 county polling places, the DOJ had determined that 25 were seriously in need of being fixed immediately.