County updates building access

WAPAKONETA — The Auglaize County commissioners met with Board of Elections Director Michelle Wilcox last week to review the Americans with Disabilities Act needs for the administration building. The board of elections is trying to spend ADA compliance and security grant funds before a Jan. 11 deadline and still have $30,800 available.

After reviewing needs from an earlier ADA study and touring the building, commissioners are interested in pursuing an ADA compliant button for opening a door to a service elevator. They also plan to relocate an AED box or place another cabinet underneath the box so that visually impaired people would be able to detect it with a walking stick. Wilcox said the board of elections has placed cones in affected areas in the past as a temporary measure.

Outside the building, Wilcox said wheelchair ramp hand rails could be extended another foot, based on an ADA inspection from 2016. That inspection also took issue with the grading and slope of the west parking lot at the administration building. Commissioners felt changing the slope would be beyond the limits of the grant budget.

County officials are

also looking for a new location for a mailroom. They considered using the current administration building break room as well as an open area adjacent to the west staircase in the basement. Commissioners were in favor of the area next to the staircase and would use ADA compliance and security grant funding to install a security camera in that mail room.