Selectmen Hold Public Hearing on ADA Transition Plan

It took the town 20 years, but Winchester finally had a public session regarding its American with Disabilities Act (ADA) transition plan.

The selectmen's meeting, held Wednesday night in Town Hall, saw members of the community and representatives of various local and state offices voice their support over the plan. The plan, which is scheduled to take 10 years to complete, will make Winchester more handicap accessible. Currently the town has more than 600 areas that need to be corrected, and the projected cost will be at least $3 million.

The Chair of the Disability Access Commission, Jean Batty, said while she was pleased the town is finally moving forward with the plan, did express concern that it took Winchester two decades to finally hold a public hearing.

"One of our commission's concerns is that the laws have been in place for 20 years and we're looking at a 10-year plan," Batty said. "And while 10 years is a very reasonable amount of time to get it done,  (the Americans with Disabilities Act) has been in place for 20 years. I just want to make that as a general statement. I don't think it is unreasonable, but we are behind."

The goal of Wednesday night's meeting was to give the public a chance to comment on the plan, and offer any further suggestions or changes that the plan needs. One of the more important ideas that was brought up was the need for a coordinator to lead and carry out the plan.

"There's a real need to designate an ADA coordinator to help coordinate this huge plan that's in place in front of you," said Jeff Dougan of the Massachusetts Office on Disability.  "It's a lot of effort, and someone can have an additional job with it, but it's very time-consuming to keep this document moving forward."

Dougan was in attendance to offer the state's support on Winchester's plan, but also to let the town know that the state can aid the town as it moves forward with the plan.

And even though this is only a draft, Batty, on behalf of the Disability Access Commission urged the board to look at this document as an ever-changing one. Items and other areas of need may need to be added to the plan as they move ahead.

"All of us should look at this document as a living, breathing document," Batty said. "We may, six months from now go, 'wow, we didn't think about this.'  And I think that's important, that it's always seen as a living, breathing document, and that it has somebody looking after it and tending it and keeping it up to date."

While much of the conversation focused on the positive of the plan, and how to make it successful as the town begins to implement it, there were still areas of concern some members of the community felt needed to be addressed.

John Suhrbier, chair of the Housing Partnership Board, told the board that currently, Winchester has no group homes for people with mental disabilities. He also mentioned that while the town has a successful first-time homebuyers program, it does not currently have any housing for people with disabilities.

Suhrbier also stressed the need to follow the ADA guidelines immediately, in order to lessen the costs for the town.

"It's critical that ADA needs are realized and recognized from the earliest phases of planning through its completion," Suhrbier said. "You don't want to go in and correct something afterwards, start at the beginning."

For most of the meeting the public offered its support of the plan and suggestions in order for it to have the most success. But it wasn't until Winchester resident Fred Pacilli, who, in being deaf, has had to suffer firsthand the prejudices people with disabilities face, did the town realize how far they still need to go to get up to code.

"I was assuming that because of the nature of this meeting, because of the ADA there might be some equipment here," said Pacilli who was looking for some hearing aid equipment.

The board did have equipment, but it was in the back of the room, and Pacilli questioned how he would know where the equipment was, since there are no signs posted. He also mentioned that there are no signs anywhere for people with disabilities.

"If you want something to happen, don't document it to death," Pacilli said. "It has to start at the top and work its way down to the bottom. We have to be sensitive. You should have been sensitive in this room right now in how available, on the doors somewhere, a list of things that are available to disabled people.

"Honestly, I don't know who to ask. And we are shy. We don't want to rock the boat. We get bashed on all the time. You can document us to death, and we always run across discrimination or people just don't think about it. But it has to come from the top, you have to be sensitive."

The Selectmen Chairman Jim Johnson did assure Pacilli that he will see to it that Town Hall is more accessible to the disabled.

As far as the plan goes, Johnson, along with the rest of the members of the Board of Selectmen realized the importance of getting the job done correctly.

"We need to remind people that this is a document that can be amended and adjusted," Johnson said. "We need your input to go forward. We need it when you see deficiencies that can be easily fixed. We are working with everybody to get this thing done and get it done right, and we ask you to work with us."