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Years after federal law required handicapped-accessible buildings, the Westmoreland County Courthouse is still unfriendly to wheelchairs.
Gayle Harding sits in her wheelchair at the steps leading to the entrance of the Westmoreland County Courthouse, |
Circuit Judge George Mason III's new $140,000 office on the second floor of Westmoreland County's old courthouse will have almost everything when he moves in a few weeks from now.
For security, the office has $7,000 worth of bullet-resistant glass in its 10 windows, a closed-circuit television system and a 350-pound, electrically operated, bullet-proof door.
Inside, there are cable-television hookups and elegant cherry doors, chair railings and crown moldings. Mason has selected "white chocolate" as the paint color for the walls.
When the paint dries, 940 square feet of carpet with the "highest commercial performance rating" will be installed along with 1,560 square feet of new tile on nearby areas. The floor coverings will cost $8,863.
Then a Richmond company will deliver new furniture costing $19,537. Mason will sit at a $2,300 walnut desk beside a $2,079 credenza. Visitors will sit on three $419 Presidential Guest Chairs or, perhaps, on a $375 mahogany loveseat.
But one thing Mason's new second-floor office in Montross will not have is access for the handicapped.
It is 20 steps up from the old courthouse's first floor, where the offices and records of Circuit Court Clerk Gwynne Chatham are located.
The clerk's office is also inaccessible to handicapped residents.
Years after the enactment of federal and state laws guaranteeing handicapped access to public buildings, Westmoreland County has yet to build a ramp for citizens in wheelchairs. They are stopped by three steps at one door of the old courthouse and four steps at another.
The courthouse also lacks parking, pathways and other modifications required under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
"I've had to go out to people's cars to issue marriage licenses," Deputy Clerk Anne B. Battaile said.
Across Polk Street, a handicapped parking sign sits in front of a county-owned museum. But the space is unstriped, the curb uncut for wheelchairs, the 12 steps unramped from the sidewalk to the museum's front door and its bathrooms inaccessible to the handicapped.
"Instead of spending $140,000 on that judge's office, Westmoreland County should have used that money to provide handicapped accessibility to the government buildings they already have," said Gayle Harding of Coles Point.
"This is another blatant display of arrogant big fish in a little pond who don't really care about social justice," she said.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 23 percent of Westmoreland's 16,718 residents were disabled in some way. Of these 3,805 disabled residents, 1,716 had physical disabilities.
An automobile accident paralyzed Harding in 1974 when she was 19. At that time, the county's circuit courtroom was up the same steps that now lead to Mason's new office. The old courtroom was partitioned last year to create the judge's office.
"I had to be hauled up those steps for my civil court case in 1975. Going up wasn't so bad, but coming down was very scary. It took three deputies to do it," Harding said.
"I can remember thinking that if I was going to be faced with barriers like that for the rest of my life, I may as well stay home or raise hell. I don't stay home much," she said.
Now 50, Harding served as Westmoreland's representative on the Northern Neck Disability Services Board, from which she retired last year as chairwoman.
Over the years, she has often complained about handicapped accessibility at public buildings, including Westmoreland County's headquarters in Montross.
The county built its George D. English Sr. Memorial Office Building in 1976. It burned in 1990 and reopened in 1992 with a new circuit courtroom to replace the one upstairs in the old courthouse 200 yards away.
The English Building courtroom contains judge's chambers, but they are now often used by judges other than Mason.
State law requires counties to provide private offices for judges residing within their boundaries, Westmoreland County Administrator Norm Risavi said.
Policies adopted in 1996 said, "The County is committed to creating an environment in which facilities for public meetings and general public use are accessible.
"It is the intent of the County to guarantee disabled persons equal opportunity to participate in or enjoy the benefits of County services, programs, or activities."
In 2000, Harding complained to the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy that the English Building lacked handicapped parking spaces, accessible restrooms and other features required by ADA.
Three years later, the county finally agreed to fix some the problems.
In a 2003 letter to Harding, VOPA managing attorney Jonathan G. Martinis wrote, "It has been a long road to this point, filled with promises that were not fulfilled."
Martinis enclosed a copy of a consent agreement that VOPA reached with the county April 3, 2003. In it, the county agreed to install parking spaces, pathways and lavatories for handicapped residents. VOPA agreed not to sue Westmoreland for ADA violations if the county corrected them.
"If they do not do what the agreement says, we will be able to file suit, not only for violation of the ADA (from which they might be able to claim immunity), but for breach of contract (from which they cannot be immune)," Martinis said in his letter.
Three years after the agreement was signed, the county seems to have met its parking obligations at the English Building. However, the county has apparently not fulfilled its promise to remodel two bathrooms to meet handicapped standards.
In its agreement with VOPA, the county promised to complete renovations to the bathrooms by Oct. 30, 2003.
Martinis and VOPA Executive Director Colleen Miller declined to comment on Westmoreland's compliance with the consent agreement. Miller has said that VOPA considers its investigations confidential.
Administrator Risavi explained the county's six-year delay this way:
"In the men's restroom, all we've got to do is remove one panel and put in a new one. I'm not sure what we have to do in the ladies' room. I've never been in there.
"But there seems to be some confusion between the building code and what ADA requires. We're willing to do whatever it is we have to do if somebody is willing to tell us what to do.
"We're a small jurisdiction. We respond very well to requests. Are we perfect? Probably not."
Mason was the county's attorney when the consent agreement was reached. According to minutes of meetings of the Board of Supervisors in the four months before the agreement, the supervisors met with Mason in several closed sessions for "consultation with legal counsel concerning probable litigation."
Mason said he did not recollect working on the agreement with VOPA. He said his new office is "really a private office as opposed to a public space."
A Supreme Court of Virginia publication says a judge's private office is for "legal research, preparation of opinions or judgments, preparation for upcoming hearings and trials, review and study of case files and records, and meetings with attorneys and court personnel."
When asked about accessibility problems of his new office, Mason said, "I would be ready, willing, able and pleased to meet with anyone who wants to see me at an accessible place."
Mason said last week that he continues radiation treatments for a brain tumor. He said his health remains stable.
What if he became disabled and could not climb the steps?
"I would make some sort of accommodation if it needs to be made," he said.
Risavi said Harding is the only person who has complained about handicapped access to the county's public buildings.
Harding said she is tired of complaining to the county.
"The next complaint I'm going to make is to the U.S. Department of Justice," she said. "If DOJ investigated the county on handicapped access, they'd be slapped with fines all over the place."
To reach FRANK DELANO:
Email: fpdelano2@verizon.net
