Athens City Council approved construction of an ADA chair lift in the Athens City Building in effort to make it more accessible for residents with disabilities and a new $2.3 million bike path.
Athens City Council approved an ordinance Monday night that will make it easier for people with disabilities to access the City Building’s top two floors and also agreed to spend $2 million on a new bike path.
The city will authorize up to $60,000 to go toward the chair lift in hopes of making the building more compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, said councilman Kent Butler, D-1st Ward, who introduced the bill.
"We're mindful that we need to be disability friendly," he said.
The ordinance passed unanimously.
Council also approved an ordinance authorizing the construction of a bike path from Armitage Road to Columbus Road.
At the April 4 meeting, Michele Papai, D-3rd Ward, said the city is willing to spend up to $2.3 million toward the building of the new path.
Andrea Reany, Zero Waste Program Manager for Rural Action, also spoke to council members in favor of the proposed ordinance for the purchase of new 64-gallon recycling bins.
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Athens was recently selected to receive a grant of $80,000 from The Recycling Partnership to go toward the purchase of 3,500 larger recycling bins for residents.
Because Athens was one of the first cities in Ohio to implement a curbside recycling program, Reany said this purchase would have a great deal of value.
“I see this move as a way to carry on the rich legacy of recycling in this city in an innovative way,” she said.
Reany also said increasing the bin size would increase participation in recycling and will save the city money in the long run by reducing the total cost it pays to the landfill.
“A recycling program can only grow as much as your cart is big,” Reany said. “We at Rural Action are confident this will be an improvement."
Council also approved ordinances concerning a number of aging city vehicles that are in need of replacement.
One such measure authorized the disposal and replacement of a salt truck with a snow plow, which will cost the city up to $145,000. Another will be the disposal and replacement of two sewer trucks, which will cost $53,000.
Council also unanimously approved an ordinance authorizing Athens Mayor Steve Patterson to submit an application to the Ohio Development Services Agency for the 2016-18 Community Housing Impact and Preservation Program, or CHIP.
CHIP is a federally-funded program that provides money to city governments to go toward the improvement of affordable housing for low-and-moderate income residents.
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