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Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

NOTICE UNDER THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA)

In accordance with the requirements of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the City of Helena will not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities on the basis of disability in its services, programs, or activities. Employment: The City of Helena does not discriminate on the basis of disability in its hiring or employment practices and complies with all regulations promulgated by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) under Title I of the ADA.

Effective Communication: The City of Helena will generally, upon request, provide appropriate aids and services for effective communication for qualified persons with disabilities so they can participate equally in the City of Helena's programs, services, and activities, including qualified sign language interpreters, documents in Braille, and other ways of making information and communications accessible to people who have speech, hearing, or vision impairments.

Modifications to Policies and Procedures: The City of Helena will make all reasonable modifications to policies and programs to ensure that people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to enjoy all of its programs, services, and activities. For example, individuals with service animals are welcomed in City of Helena offices, even where pets are generally prohibited. Anyone who requires an auxiliary aid or service for effective communication, or a modification of policies or procedures to participate in a program, service, or activity of the City of Helena, should contact ADA Coordinator/Central Services Director, as soon as possible but no later than 48 hours before the scheduled event.

The ADA does not require the City of Helena to take any action that would fundamentally alter the nature of its programs or services, or impose an undue financial or administrative burden. Complaints that a program, service, or activity of the City of Helena is not accessible to persons with disabilities should be directed to: Ellie Ray, ADA Coordinator, City of Helena, 316 North Park Avenue, Helena, MT 59623; (406)447-8490; citycommunitydevelopment@helenamt.gov

The City of Helena will not place a surcharge on a particular individual with a disability or any group of individuals with disabilities to cover the cost of providing auxiliary aids/services or reasonable modifications of policy, such as retrieving items from locations that are open to the public but are not accessible to persons who use wheelchairs.

Grievance and Complaint Procedures

Any person or persons wishing to submit a complaint regarding access or alleged discrimination relating to Title I and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 may submit a grievance or complaint report to the city’s ADA Coordinator, Ellie Ray, for prompt and equitable resolution. Complaints should be addressed to the ADA Coordinator, 316 N. Park Avenue, Helena, MT 59623 or sent via e-mail to eray@helenamt.gov.

A complaint must be filed within 30 days after the complainant knows or should have known of the alleged violation. An investigation will follow the filing of the complaint, with the investigation being conducted by the ADA Coordinator, and will afford all interested parties and their representatives, if any, an opportunity to submit evidence relevant to the complaint. The ADA Coordinator will issue a written determination as to the validity of the complaint and resolution of the complaint, if any. A copy will be forwarded to the complainant no later than 30 days after the City’s receipt of the complaint. Files on each complaint will be maintained relating to complaints filed.

If a complainant wishes to have a case reconsidered due to dissatisfaction with the resolution, a request for reconsideration must be made in writing within thirty (30) days of issuance of the original determination to the ADA Compliance Committee, in care of the ADA Coordinator.

The right of a person to a prompt and equitable resolution of a complaint filed hereunder shall not be impaired by the person’s pursuit of other remedies such as filing of an ADA complaint with the responsible federal department or agency. Utilization of this grievance procedure is not a prerequisite to the pursuit of other remedies.

Online Complaint Form

2017 ADA Transition Plan

The 2017 Transition Plan provides the framework for achieving equal access to the City of Helena's programs, services and activities within a reasonable time frame and includes the individual transition plan modules with recommended modifications to improve accessibility for City owned facilities, Parks and Public Transportation. This Transition Plan was approved by the City Commission on July 10, 2017.

Complete Transition Plan Documents

In 2023, city staff conducted an annual comprehensive review of the 2017 Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan. This review incorporated evaluations completed in 2020 on the 404/406 Fuller (the Municipal Court and Law & Justice Center Buildings) as well as city-owned parking facilities. In total, all assessed city facilities and parklands have nearly 2,300 individual items that speak to deficiencies or areas of recommended improvement. City staff assessed each item’s level of completion and, where applicable, identified a budget cycle year for completion in a matrix available to review below.

Other information provided by staff denotes any items known or suspected of being either historically or technically infeasible to rectify or other clarifying/supporting information. This document will be reviewed on a routine basis, no less than annually, and used to help guide budgetary decisions on prospective facility and parks improvements.

Maps

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Compliance Committee

The ADA Compliance Committee serves as an advisory committee to the Helena City Commission to determine reasonable accommodations as stated in the Americans for Disabilities Act. The committee is comprised of the following members: one City Commissioner, two individuals representing the disabled community, one business owner, one person with expertise in the field of architecture or construction, one person in the health/medical field, and one member from the community at large. The committee typically meets in odd-numbered months on the third Tuesday.

The city of Helena's ADA Coordinator, Ellie Ray, provides staff assistance to the ADA Committee and can be contacted for further information at 316 North Park Avenue, Room 445, Helena, MT 59623, or by phone at (406) 447-8490, or by email at citycommunitydevelopment@helena.gov. Minutes are available upon request using the above contact information.

Roadway Code Enforcement

The Roadway Code Enforcement Division employs staff to respond to citizen requests related to:

To report a complaint related to one of the above issues, please use the My Helena App. For additional information and requests to address barriers to accessibility in city rights-of-way, please visit the Roadway Code Enforcement Division page here.

Additional Links & Information

Resources

ADA Compliance Committee