By Bill Short
The Millington Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously authorized a contract this week with a consulting firm for additional infrastructure improvements for individuals with disabilities.
Board members took the action Monday night during their regular monthly meeting on a motion offered by Alderman Thomas McGhee and seconded by Alderman Larry Dagen.
The city had previously issued Requests for Qualifications to professional consultants and received responses.
Its Consultant Selection Review Committee then recommended that the board employ the Kimley-Horn firm in Memphis to provide “construction engineering inspection services” for the project.
At its November 2020 meeting, the board unanimously accepted a grant awarded by the Tennessee Department of Transportation for improvements on Navy Road from Veterans Parkway to Bethuel Road that are required by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
The grant was accounted for in the city’s Capital Improvements Program Fund.
TDOT submitted a contract for this project that provides 80-percent state funding and requires a 20-percent local match.
The state requires every local government to have a plan in place that identifies its specific needs for ADA compliance and outlines when the city will fund those improvements.
At its January 2018 meeting, the board voted unanimously to accept a state grant to develop an ADA Transition Plan.
The city was awarded a $100,000 grant from TDOT that required $25,000 in local matching funds.
At its March 2018 meeting, the board unanimously adopted a resolution to award a $125,000 contract to Kimley-Horn to develop the plan.
In June 2018, the state notified Millington that an additional $9,188 in grant funds were available if the city provided the required match of $2,297.
The board voted to accept the additional grant funds. It also revised the contract with Kimley-Horn in an amount not to exceed $136,485 to assist the city in developing the Transition Plan.
At its December 2019 meeting, the board voted to approve the plan.
It had to be adopted before the end of 2019, or the city would have risked losing federal and state grant funding for completion of the public infrastructure improvements.
The plan provides an outline and schedule of “corrective actions” that the city will take to bring all “public right-of-way pedestrian facilities,” including city-owned buildings, parks and transportation facilities, into compliance with the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
As examples, City Finance Director John Trusty has cited curb cuts and any modifications of sidewalks. But he has also noted that the plan does not just involve “roads,” because there still are “a number of items” in city buildings that must be addressed.
