Title
Resolution to Accept, Approve and Appropriate a Grant from the Michigan Department of State for Voting Access for Individuals with Disabilities Program through Funding from the Help America Vote Act ($15,300.00) (8 Votes Required)
Memorandum
The City Clerk's Office has been notified by the Michigan Department of State, Bureau of Elections, that the City of Ann Arbor has been awarded three grants totaling $15,300.00 to improve the physical access to three school buildings in the Ann Arbor Public Schools system, which are used by the City as polling places, in order to bring these locations into compliance with the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act as it pertains to polling places.
Under the terms of the grant, the City of Ann Arbor will make accessibility improvements to three polling places (King Elementary School 2-7, Tappan Middle School 3-3, and Eberwhite Elementary School 5-6) and will be reimbursed by the State of Michigan after the work is completed. The grant award includes funding for such improvements as accessible ramps and automatic doors, parking lot striping, accessible signage and handrails. All polling place improvements must be completed by September 30, 2008. Funding for this grant is provided through federal assistance under the Help America Vote Act. No matching funds are required.
As part of the requirements of the Help America Vote Act, polling place accessibility surveys were completed on all buildings, public and private, that are used as polling places in the City of Ann Arbor. In 2006, using federal grant dollars to make improvements, all privately owned buildings used as polling places in the City, such as clubhouses and churches, were certified as fully compliant. However, the majority of the City's polling places are housed in public school buildings. This latest grant application period allowed the City Clerk's Office to concentrate applications on the school buildings most needing improvement. Systems Planning staff coordinated with AAPS staff to focus the applications on buildings and improvements that were not already scheduled by the AAPS in their own facility maintenance program.
The AAPS agree under the terms of the grant to continue to provide these three sites as polling places for a minimum of the next three even-year general elections (2008 - 2012).
The City Clerk's Office is requesting that City Council authorize the City Administrator and the City Clerk to accept the grant and appropriate the grant funds to the City Clerk's budget for the life of the grant without regard to fiscal year.
Staff
Prepared by: Jacqueline Beaudry, City Clerk
Approved by: Roger Fraser, City Administrator
Body
Whereas, The City of Ann Arbor seeks to improve access to voting through the removal of physical barriers to polling places;
Whereas, The Americans with Disabilities Act requires accessible polling places as identified in the provisions of the Act; and
Whereas, The City of Ann Arbor has been awarded federal funding by the Michigan Department of State under the Help America Vote Act to make accessibility improvements to three polling places, including King Elementary School (2-7), Tappan Middle School (3-3), and Eberwhite Elementary School (5-6);
RESOLVED, That City Council authorize the acceptance and approval of a grant in the amount of $15,300.00 from the Michigan Department of State for Voting Access for Individuals with Disabilities Program, and the appropriation of those funds to the City Clerk Services Unit for the life of the grant without regard to City Fiscal Year;
RESOLVED, That City Council authorize the City Clerk Services Unit to establish a separate grant account to account for funds awarded pursuant to this grant; and
RESOLVED, That the City Clerk be authorized to sign the grant agreement on behalf of the City of Ann Arbor after approval by the City Attorney and City Administrator.