FACT SHEET

Settlement Agreement between the United States of America

and Smyth County, Virginia

On May 2010, the Department of Justice entered into a settlement agreement with Smyth County, Virginia, under title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).

The Department of Justice initiated a compliance review of Smyth County in February, 2008, as part of Project Civic Access, a Department initiative to ensure greater access for persons with disabilities to state and 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 and programs surveyed by the Department and covered by the agreement include: Animal Shelter, Solid Waste Transfer Facility, County Office Building, County Courthouse, County Jail & Sheriff's Office, Riverside Community Center, Konnarock Community Center, County Health Department, and Smyth Bland Regional Library. 

The Department also reviewed the County's polling places, emergency management procedures, employment policies, 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 Smyth County will be making to its programs, services, and facilities.  Among other things, the County has agreed to:

• Make physical modifications to its facilities so that parking, routes into the buildings, entrances, public telephones, restrooms, service counters, and drinking fountains are accessible to people with disabilities. The agreement specifies which modifications will be made at each facility.
• 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.
• Officially recognize Virginia's telephone relay service as a means of communicating with individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have speech impairments, and train staff in using the relay service for telephone communications.
• Develop policies and procedures and perform necessary planning to ensure that individuals with disabilities are afforded equal, integrated access to emergency management programs, including emergency preparedness, notification, evacuation, sheltering, response, clean up, and recovery.
• Develop a method for providing information for interested persons with disabilities concerning the existence and location of the County's accessible services, activities, and programs.
• 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.
• 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.

The agreement also recognizes that Smyth County has independently taken actions to increase access to its programs, services, and facilities.  These actions include:

• Conducting a self-evaluation and developing a transition plan for the County's Courthouse.
• Relocating three polling places in order to provide more accessible facilities for persons with disabilities, and renovating a number of other polling places in order to make them more accessible.

The settlement agreement will remain in effect for three years from June 9, 2010.  The Department will actively monitor compliance with the agreement, which will remain in effect until the Department has confirmed that all required actions have been completed.

Project Civic Access | archive.ADA.gov Home Page

June 14, 2010