FACT SHEET

Settlement Agreement between the United States of America

and Pearl River County, Mississippi

On July 20, 2010, the Department of Justice entered into a settlement agreement with Pearl River County, Mississippi, under title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131-12134, and the Department's implementing regulation, 28 C.F.R. Part 35, as well as section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794, and the Department's implementing regulation, 28 C.F.R. Part 42, Subpart G. 

The Department of Justice initiated a compliance review of Pearl River County in July, 2008, in response to a complaint alleging that a number of the County's programs and facilities are inaccessible to individuals with mobility impairments.  This review was part of Project Civic Access, a Departmental initiative to ensure greater access for persons with disabilities to local government programs, services, activities, and facilities.  An on-site survey of the County's buildings, programs, and services was conducted in October, 2008. County staff worked cooperatively with the Department throughout the compliance review process in order to reach an agreement.

Facilities covered by the agreement include: Stone Plaza, Pearl River County Health Department, Nursing Home, Pearl River County Justice Center, Pearl River County Administration Building, E911 Office, and Motor Vehicle and Tax Collections Office.

In addition, the Department reviewed access for persons with disabilities to Pearl River's program, services, and activities operating in the following facilities: Courthouse, Mapping Office, Yellow Building, County Road Department, Mississippi Department of Corrections, Mississippi State Extension Office, Pearl River County Court Facilities, and Pearl River County Fairgrounds.

The Department also reviewed the County's polling places, sidewalks, and 9-1-1 emergency services.

Other County facilities are covered by the settlement agreement and will be surveyed and modified for compliance with ADA requirements by the County.

The text of the settlement agreement specifies the modifications Pearl River County will be making to its programs, services, and facilities.  Among other things, the County has agreed to:

• Make physical modifications to facilities surveyed by the Department so that parking, routes into the buildings, entrances, service areas and counters, restrooms, public telephones, and drinking fountains are accessible to people with disabilities;
• Post, publish, and distribute a notice to inform members of the public of the provisions of Title II and their applicability to the County's programs, services and activities;
• Adopt a grievance procedure to deal with complaints of disability discrimination relating to county programs and services;
• Officially recognize the Mississippi telephone relay service as a key means of communicating with individuals who are deaf, are hard-of-hearing, or have speech impairments and train staff in using the relay service for telephone communications;
• Continue to ensure that 9-1-1 emergency service calls placed by persons with disabilities who use text telephones (TTYs) are answered as quickly as other calls, that such calls are monitored for timing and accuracy, and that employees are trained and practiced in using a TTY to make and receive calls;
• Amend its employment policies, as necessary, to comply with the regulations of the U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission implementing title I of the ADA, codified at 29 C.F.R. Part 1630;
• Provide accessible polling places;
• Undertake the required planning and modifications to ensure equal, integrated access to emergency management for individuals with disabilities, including emergency preparedness, notification, evacuation, sheltering, response, clean up, and recovery;
• Maintain its database that tracks and assists the county in prioritizing repairs needed to eliminate barriers to accessibility in the county's sidewalks;
• Ensure that the County's official website is accessible to people with disabilities; and
• Install signs at any inaccessible entrance to a facility directing individuals with disabilities to an accessible entrance or to information about accessing programs and services at other accessible facilities.

The settlement agreement will remain in effect for 3 years from July 20, 2010, or until all required actions have been completed, whichever is later.

Pearl River County, located in southern Mississippi, is the fourth largest county in Mississippi.  The County saw a significant surge in population following Hurricane Katrina and was recognized by the Census Bureau as the seventh fastest growing county in the United States.  Pearl River County was formed in 1890, and the County seat is Poplarville.