GREENFIELD — Just minutes before an accident involving a woman in a wheelchair that required the call of 911 placed a temporary halt to the City Council meeting at Greenfield Community Television, she made an impassioned speech for why her councilors needed to support the building of a new public library on the grounds of accessibility.
“Only use the routes that are handicap accessible,” Joanna Whitney said. “What message does that send community members like me who are limited by this route? Will they still feel welcomed and valued in Greenfield?”
Whitney received applause for her speech, which implored the council to support a new library that would be handicap accessible, during the meeting earlier this week that packed nearly 50 people into the GCTV studio to advocate for the project that could cost $10 million of borrowing to the taxpayers — first payment on the bond would not be paid until 2024. Residents are expected to come out in droves for the public hearing on the library on Dec. 13.
“My presence is routinely challenged or relegated to a shabby back entrance,” Whitney said, noting the steep stairs and lack of ramp to the front entrance of the current Greenfield Public Library.
Shortly after, patrons of the library left as the marathon meeting began to dive into the top policy items of the night. That’s when Whitney fell out of her wheelchair when going down a steep, but short, decline from the studio. Health professionals and just about everyone in the room rushed to support, eventually contacting 911 for assistance. About half an hour later, the council meeting resumed.
City Council President Karen “Rudy” Renaud announced there was an accident and the council needed to take a break to tend to it. She said is the second time she has seen something of this nature happen in the studio.
“We are going to do everything we can to make sure not another town council meeting happens here,” Renaud said.
The council’s meetings typically have been held at Greenfield High School, which is accessible.
This meeting, which was held on Tuesday, instead of the typical Wednesday, because of Thanksgiving, was moved too late to request the high school or John Zon Community Center, city officials said.
“We were left without options,” Renaud said. “I apologize.”
Hours later, at the tail end of the meeting, the council voted to approve to move its meetings to the John Zon Community Center. This was already on the agenda for the night, but was a rallying moment for some councilors to ensure accessibility for all to their meetings.
“What does it take for us to make sure our meetings are at one of the two buildings fully accessible to Greenfield?” Councilor Brickett Allis said. “Somebody could’ve been killed tonight. That’s the reality.”
Councilor Verne Sund said this is something that could always happen again if they don’t officially move their meetings to more accessible spots.
Council Vice-president Penny Ricketts said “tonight was unfortunate,” although acknowledged the work of GCTV and the years of no mishaps in the studio space.
While there were about 50 library supporters there — and a total of close to 70 people in the studio altogether it was not over capacity, which is 81 people, something the people running the meeting were aware of.
Greenfield building inspection records don’t indicate one way or the other whether the older studio is up to ADA code, but it does have a certificate of occupancy. Documents from 2008 to 2009 state there were issues with exits and exit ways in the studio, but the file on GCTV does not have any more current records to update whether those issues had been adequately addressed.
Mark Snow, the building inspector, wrote in a 2008 letter: “The means of egress is a life safety issue that must be addressed.” It appeared from the letter that this was not necessarily in reference to the sloping exit to get out of the studio, but to a back exit.
Founder and member of Greenfield’s Commission on Disability Access Cynthia Dodge said GCTV is not up to ADA code, but does not believe she has any official documentation explaining this.
“There should be no town meetings held there,” Dodge said. “In fact, GCTV should move out of that building.”
Dodge said the doors headed into the building, the elevator leading to the third floor studio, and the too steep ramp into the studio are all not in compliance with accessibility standards. She said she has had this conversation with the mayor and other city officials before.
“They’re saying it’s grandfathered in,” Dodge said. “When you take a building like that and you have public access and public meetings there, you still have to have it complaint, and that’s the bottom line.”
You can reach Joshua Solomon at:
jsolomon@recorder.com
413-772-0261, ext. 264