More information about how the city’s buildings can be more accessible is being reviewed.
During the Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee (MAAC) meeting on Feb. 22, members got an idea of the information coming out of Timmins' parks and recreation department’s building condition assessment.
That information can be used to plan projects that increase accessibility for people with disabilities in the city, said MAAC chair Dan McKay.
The department is in the process of reviewing the information and Lynne Grenon, the city's manager of facilities and recreation, said it is going to be a lengthy process.
“We got 33 reports of over 80 pages each,” said Grenon. “We just got the last of them last week, so to give a definite answer on the state of all the buildings, I can’t do that right now.”
McKay said he hopes to have that information before the application date enabling accessibility fund through the federal government.
The enabling accessibility fund is federal funding for projects to bring down access barriers in Canadian communities. There are two funding levels: the small project component has grants up to $100,000, and the medium project component includes grants up to $3 million.
“For us and the city, we have to be project-ready by the time it rolls out,” said McKay. “If we get that notice in September, we wouldn’t have enough time if we don’t have the project ready.”
To shore up any proposals for that kind of funding, MAAC representatives will have to review the request and see the barriers in the buildings firsthand.
“That's our game plan, to give us a better chance to be accepted,” said McKay.
Once the reports have been reviewed, there will be more answers for the MAAC committee, said Grenon.
“There's a lot of bedtime reading,” she said.
