Sunday, April 14, 2019

Carver county violates the ADA...AGAIN

Title II of the ADA states that "no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity"

 I have been a Carver county resident for nearly 20 years and I have found that the County is woefully noncompliant with Federal law and regulations in regards to both Architectural barriers and the way it conducts its programming and they  don't have any specific person to address concerns about ADA compliance.

They tell people to go fill out a greivance form on thier website, which coincidentally also doesn't meet accessibility standards and the link to the form is broken, so even in the event I wanted to take the extra  time to fill out the form so they can pat me on the head, say there, there, there and and go on and do nothing about it, I couldn't.

Why can  Carver county address discrimination against the East African community by Scream Town in under 24 hours but discrimmination against people with Disabilities is somehow more palatable and hasn't even gotten a nod in over 2 decades?

Why is there  nobody there to coordinate and provide accommodations and support  to individuals protected under the  ADA?  Who is not doing their job? Is it the County Board, public works or someone else?.

I called Carver County last week and asked for the ADA coordinator or person responsible for compliance with the American with Disabilities Act to make a point. I was sent to Human Services, Taxpayer services, The assessor, the County Attorney, the Sheriff, public works, employment relations, etc. I recorded the entire ordeal and seeing as Minnesota is a one party state. I forwarded it to one of my many Attourneys.

The County needs an ADA coordinator. Furthermore, they are legally obligated to have one pursuant to CFR  35.107 (a) which states:

"a) Designation of responsible employee. A public entity that employs 50 or more persons shall designate at least one employee to coordinate its efforts to comply with and carry out its responsibilities under this part, including any investigation of any complaint communicated to it alleging its noncompliance with this part or alleging any actions that would be prohibited by this part. The public entity shall make available to all interested individuals the name, office address, and telephone number of the employee or employees designated pursuant to this paragraph."

I called the County Attorneys office and was informed they have over 30 employees, the Carver County Sheriff employee 150 plus people.  Meaning they have over 50 employees and should have an ADA coordinator.

You would really think that all these folks working for Metz would know things like this. They're supposed to be Attorneys aren't they?...idk what law school they went to but if I were them I'd be calling and asking for a refund because clearly they aren't very good at it.

Also, if the Countys resident doddering old fool, or should I say Mr. Ivy wants to come after me for the above statement. I say bring it on because he will be violating Title V which prohibits retaliation against those who assert thier rights under the ADA which is just more change in my pocket. Please do.

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