August 6, 2018
Discussions on handicapped accessibility scheduled
City seeks feedback on how it serves disabled community
SACHSE (August 6, 2018) Every Sachse employee’s email signature block ends with a request for feedback, a link that asks people to rate the employee’s level of providing customer service. That same attitude of seeking constructive comment has prompted the City to host the inaugural People with Disabilities Community Round Table.
Set for Thursday, Aug. 23 at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers, 3815-B Sachse Road, the gathering is designed to bring together people with disabilities, or those who have an interest in that topic, with staff, area service providers and officials with the Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities, according to City Manager Gina Nash.
“Often times, government is structured and largely informational. We want to collaborate with our residents in an open and participatory process. We’re gathering as many people with these types of physical needs, or who are concerned about them, to basically ask them some questions about our level of accessibility,” she said. “We hope to find answers to questions like ‘how are we doing?’ and ‘how can we improve?’ in ensuring that they are able to fully participate in the life of the community.”
The collaborative format will be in the form of four discussion groups, each concentrating on a specific City department or service. Participants may cycle through several discussion groups during the evening’s sessions. The departments or services targeted include: Parks and Recreation; Public Library; Public Infrastructure; and Public Safety.
Parks and Recreation includes the Senior Center and activities related to sports and athletics as well as all special events including the Arbor Day Jubilee Clean-Up, the Pumpkin Prowl, the Christmas Parade and associated events, the Red, White and Blue Blast in July, and other community-based events and activities.
The Public Library hosts events for residents of all ages, but has an emphasis on pre-school aged children, students at all levels, and families. Services also include genealogy research, an active online lending collection, and several college-level databases for research.
Public Infrastructure covers areas such as streets, sidewalks, stormwater facilities, water mains and meters, and other public accommodations related to the provision of basic services. Natural gas, electricity, telephone and internet services are provided by third-party companies, and while this round table may take comments on those utility providers, they are not part of the municipal government structure.
Public Safety includes services related to the Fire and Police Departments. Fire services includes Emergency Medical Services, fire suppression, fire safety, disaster preparedness, and general community safety.
Police services include crime abatement and prevention, rapid response to criminal or illegal activity, public safety, traffic and crowd control, criminal investigations, and other critical emergency services.
In addition, area providers that actively serve people with disabilities will be in attendance to offer resources and information to participants. Among those confirming attendance are representatives from My Possibilities and REACH Plano.
“We’re looking for a fair assessment of where we stand with the disabled community in terms of accessibility, user-friendliness, approachability, and openness,” said Nash. “Getting the perspective from the people most affected by these limitations will make us more attuned to their needs, giving us the direction we need to remove obstacles where possible.”
The round tables are open to the public but will emphasize use of Sachse-specific services. Participants are requested to indicate their interest and reserve a seat by visiting www.cityofsachse.com/CommunityRoundTable or by calling the City of Sachse at 972-495-1212.
Accommodations such as sign-language interpretation and material in Braille can be provided, upon request up to 72-hours in advance of the event. In addition, the meeting will be streamed live over the City Hall website and saved in the video archive for later review.