ADA'S REQUIREMENTS COSTLY; UNIVERSITY WILL SPEND $1 MILLION

From doorknobs to bathrooms and ramps to elevators, meeting federal requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) will prove costly for Southeast Missouri State University.

Bill Moon, Southeast's physical plant director, said it's estimated it will cost $1,030,000 over a two-year period to make all the improvements needed for the school's academic buildings and academic-support facilities to meet federal requirements.

Currently there are 18 students at Southeast who have been identified by the university as being disabled. They include six who are visually impaired, seven who are hearing impaired and five with mobility problems. The latter category includes three students who are in wheelchairs.

On the basis of 18 students, the cost to the university will amount to more than $57,000 per handicapped student.

But Moon said that for disabled students, accessibility, not cost, is the issue. "You can't argue economics with someone in a wheelchair."

And he stressed that Southeast is committed to making its facilities accessible to disabled students.

"The president (Kala Stroup) has said that she wants us to do everything we possibly can in-house and through the appropriations process to enable us to make this campus as barrier free as we can," said Moon.

Over the past three or four years, Southeast has spent $600,000 to $700,000 on such efforts, Moon said. That doesn't include the state-funded elevator projects now under construction in three campus buildings.

Federal laws on handicapped accessibility are not new, Moon said. But the ADA, signed into law in July 1990, "makes it easier for people to force some of those accessibility issues," he said.

Southeast's $1-million-plus price tag includes $847,406 in actual construction and material costs. Administrative and design costs comprise the remainder of the budget figure submitted in January to the state's Office of Administration, Moon said.

The cost estimate doesn't include the university's residence halls. The ADA requirements apply to the residence halls, but the cost of upgrading those buildings rests entirely with Southeast, he said.

"None of the (state) funding is available in the residence life area," Moon pointed out.

The university conducted a three-month survey of its facilities last fall to calculate ADA costs.

Moon said costs involve everything from handrails to ramps, and making bathrooms and drinking fountains accessible to the disabled.

It includes $370,000 in requests for elevators and chairlifts. Moon said two buildings Dempster Hall and Parker both need elevators.

Parker has none and Dempster, a converted apartment building, currently has only an inadequate freight elevator, said Moon.

In some places on campus, there are different floor levels, separated by three or four steps. To meet ADA requirements, chairlifts would have to be installed in some cases, Moon said.

"We have two or three chairlifts installed now in different buildings," he said.

Southeast is already taking steps to install signs in Braille.

Gov. Mel Carnahan has recommended $38.6 million be spent to bring facilities of state agencies in compliance with ADA requirements. That includes $17.2 million for the state's public colleges and universities, Moon said.

But unlike other state agencies that would receive 100 percent funding for ADA projects, Missouri's public colleges and universities would receive only 50 percent funding from the state, Moon said. The other half would be paid by the individual schools.

For example, Carnahan has recommended $519,250 in ADA funding for Southeast or half of the estimated $1-million-plus cost.

At this point, however, the funding situation remains unsettled.

That's because higher education institutions have used differing approaches in determining their ADA budget estimates.

Some schools, said Moon, have requested funding to make their buildings entirely accessible to the handicapped while others like Southeast have submitted financial requests based on making programs accessible to the disabled.

The differing approaches are reflected in the cost estimates. Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, for example, has estimated it will cost more than $6.4 million to bring its facilities in compliance with ADA regulations. The governor has recommended $3.25 million in funding for Central.

The total budget figure submitted by Central is only slightly less than the $8.5 million cost envisioned for bringing the University of Missouri-Columbia campus into compliance with ADA requirements, state budget figures show. Carnahan has recommended total state funding over the next two fiscal years of $4.29 million for ADA projects on the Columbia campus.

Moon said the program approach is far more economical. He maintained it was originally envisioned by state officials.

"That whole approach was simply to try to keep the overall cost of the ADA within some manageable limits," said Moon.

For example, with a program approach, only two of 15 classrooms in a building might have to be made accessible to disabled students including lowering light switches so they will be in reach of those persons in wheelchairs, he pointed out.

Doors will have to have levers, not knobs, and be installed at a certain height to meet ADA requirements.

Then there's the question of meeting requirements concerning the opening of doors. "The ADA says it shouldn't take more than 8 pounds (pushing or pulling) to open a door," said Moon. That could be accomplished by adjusting the automatic door closers at a minimal cost. But then a breeze might hold open the doors, Moon said.

The ultimate solution might be to install electrically operated doors at a cost of $10,000 apiece, he said. At this point, he said, it's unclear which route would have to be taken to meet ADA requirements.

There's also a prohibition against gravel parking. But Moon said the question is, Do you pave a certain number of parking spots for disabled students or do you have to pave the entire lot?

"I believe if they went statewide and said, `Pave all your parking lots,' the cost would be prohibitive," said Moon.

But he conceded the massive federal regulations are "not very specific" in some cases and, as a result, there are differing interpretations of what actions must be taken to be in compliance.

Moon said a state legislative committee has been formed to look at the disparity in the funding requests of the various colleges and universities.

He acknowledged that some funding disparity should be expected because of the differences in size, the age of buildings and the topography of various campuses.

At this point, he said, it appears the total amount of state funding to be allocated for ADA funding of higher education will be in the $17 million range. What remains to be settled, said Moon, is how the money will be divided among the various schools.