“What we're hoping to do by holding these town hall meetings is to get the input from the public as to what the needs are in the way of accessibility to city facilities, primarily streets and sidewalks, and later on we'll certainly be addressing our city buildings,” said Assistant City Manager Todd Darden. “If you know of a city facility you think needs accessibility addressed, bring that to our attention because it will be in the second phase of our transition study.”

According to City Manager Gary Fuqua, the input the committee has received during two similar town hall meetings during the past month has been helpful, but he and other city officials were hoping for more.

“It's been very helpful. We've been a little disappointed because we wanted more input (from the public) than we received,” said Fuqua. “We hope to take this information and work with our consultant and come up with a really good plan.

“I think it's going to be a continual thing. I don't think we have a (time) range set, and I feel like it's going to be an ongoing project for the foreseeable future. Like everything else, there's never enough money, so we'll just work it into the budget the best we can. I think the main thing is as we do projects we continue to implement the ADA requirements on those projects, and I think that's where we're really going to make the showing.”

Tempers flared during the meeting when discussions — which were aimed at identifying specific locations where curb cuts and ramps are needed, according to city officials — veered off track during comments and questions from local citizen Aubrey Weaver Jr., who decided to question officials on whether or not the city requires new businesses to install sidewalks.

“With all due respect, I think it's time to put that to bed and move on and talk about what we're trying to address here, which is accessibility and the ADA transition plan,” said committee member and Big Spring City Councilman Troy Tompkins. “The transition plan doesn't have anything to do with requiring a new business to have to put in a sidewalk. That has nothing to do with the transition plan and I'm just trying to stay on task here. What you're talking about is beyond the scope of what the transition plan is all about.”

Weaver's comments were joined by comments and questions from nearly a half-dozen other citizens, but failed to generate any specific locations in need of a curb cut or ramp, a fact Tompkins said is frustrating for him and other other members of the committee.

“My understanding of what we've been asked to do is to gather input from the community about where the areas of need are located,” said Tompkins. “Part of developing the transition plan is to prioritize the facilities and locations to determine which ones will receive attention first. It's difficult for the committee to make that happen without input from the citizens.

“My frustration is from the fact we hear a lot of ancillary comments — talk about where sidewalks are and are not required, where trees are and are not required — and that doesn't help us identify or prioritize the areas that need to be addressed based on citizen input. We're not getting the type of input that helps us do our job.”

Accessibility has become a major issue because the city is about to start work on a $9 million street renovation project in the central part of Big Spring.

“Texas law states that if you pursue major renovation to streets or buildings in a dollar value greater than $50,000, you must submit that proposal for ADA approval, then pass an accessibility inspection,” said PSC engineer Bill Noonan.

Darden said work on the street renovation is scheduled to begin in August and last a year. Aside from renovating the roadways, attention will be placed on accessibility features such as curb ramps and “curb cuts” — areas on street intersections specially graded to allow wheelchair access — he said.

And city officials are looking at addressing accessibility beyond the upcoming street project.

Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it