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for attendees requiring such aids and coordinated Report of the arrangements to insure adequate parking was available Americans with Disabilities for the disabled. Act Committee Handicapped parking continues to be a major focus of committee interest. Thanks mainly to the efforts of the Building Department, great progress has To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and the been made in upgrading the quantity and quality of Citizens of the Town of Mashpee: handicapped parking throughout Mashpee. The Building Department personnel routinely monitor The members of the Mashpee Americans with plans for handicapped parking during the Design Disabilities Act Committee are pleased to report sig- Review and follow through with inspections of the i nificant progress continued to be made in improving project during construction. Handicapped parking is access for the disabled citizens throughout Mashpee. also checked during routine visits to businesses and Many of our earlier initiatives continue to be fine- during the annual pre-licensing process. tuned and several new initiatives have been imple- mented. This aggressive inspection program has resulted in improved handicapped parking at many commercial i We continue to be very fortunate to have several establishments throughout Mashpee including, town officials as members of the committee. Mashpee Commons, KenMark Office Systems and the Additionally, we are very appreciative to have current new Community Health Center. Discussions are Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, Theresa Cook, ongoing with Southcape Village officials to improve as a very interested and active liaison from the BOS. the number, location and quality of handicapped park- This level of representation enables us to maintain ing spaces and crosswalks in that complex. Building direct contact with the regulatory and policy making Department coordination with Mashpee Commons departments on matters of committee interest. It also officials resulted in a number of temporary handi- insures our programs and activities are in compliance capped spaces being established for the Farmer's with town by-laws and policies. Also, members fre- Market. quently attend meetings of other Town boards and committees and various focus groups to assist in Coordination with Mashpee TRIAD resulted in addressing issues related to access for the disabled. considerable progress in developing data necessary to Attendance at the Planning and Construction implement measures designed to improve understand- Committee meetings and Plan Review and Design ing of and compliance with ADA requirements. Review meeting has been especially valuable. TRIAD continues to monitor the status of handicapped parking spaces and signage at local businesses and has We were sorry to lose the services of Ira Brown compiled a list of addresses of commercial facilities in June but are very fortunate to have Patricia Lugo, and the owners and/or managers thereof. This has the new Business Manager for the School Department, made it much easier to keep businesses advised of appointed as a full-time member in his stead. Mr. handicapped parking requirements. Brown and Ms Lugo have overseen a number of acces- sibility improvements in the schools. Of particular The introduction of civilian handicapped parking importance, Mr. Brown and Ms Lugo have been patrols beginning in March 2007 was a major step for- instrumental in seeing that automatic doors have been ward in improving parking enforcement. Thanks to installed at the main entrances to our three schools and the efforts of Mert Sapers and the support of Chief handicapped parking upgraded. Rodney Collins and the assistance of several members of the Mashpee Police Department,more than a dozen The administrative load on committee members members of Mashpee TRIAD and the Civilian Police was eased significantly when Mary Gelsthorpe Academy volunteered, received training. They were assumed the position of committee secretary in July. issued credentials authorizing them to issue citations ' to violators. Operating in two-person teams, the Thanks to the outstanding efforts of Kathleen patrols regularly monitor handicapped parking com- Moore, Administrative Assistant to the Town pliance at town and commercial facilities. Manager, Communications Access Realtime Translation (CART), a service that provides Town One issue of continuing concern is handicapped Meeting attendees arealtime text presentation of all parking at community events. Mashpee Commons has discussion during the meeting, was again provided at been very cooperative in making special parking the MaandTown Meetin s. dtionally, Kathleen pro ded ar umber of large-prntdlwarrants arrangements to accommodate the disabled at 101 I