UNIVERSITY'S ADA COMPLIANCE CARRIES A COST OF $2.5 MILLION

The Southeast Missouri State University campus will be made more accessible to handicapped persons through construction projects over the next two years, costing an estimated $2.5 million.

The improvements -- involving everything from restrooms to elevators -- are needed in order to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), university officials said.

The projects involve facilities on the Cape Girardeau campus and also at the Bootheel Education Center in Malden.

Ken Dobbins, Southeast's executive vice president, said half the cost will be borne by the state. The other half -- involving both in-kind labor on the part of the university's physical plant personnel as well as actual cash outlays -- will be paid for by Southeast.

"We have to come up with $1.25 million," Southeast President Kala Stroup told the school's regents last week.

She said the university has set aside some money for ADA projects, but the rest will have to come out of "salary shrinkage and operating savings."

Regent Mark Pelts of Kennett said, "I'm all for ADA. But anytime you create rights, you are taking rights from someone else. Just so people understand, nothing is free."

The state is paying 100 percent of the cost of meeting ADA requirements for all state facilities, except higher education, said Dobbins. Missouri's public colleges and universities have to pay half the cost associated with ADA projects on their campuses.

The projects are supposed to be completed by June 30, 1995.

"Where we are right now is laying out the plan for implementing the projects," said Al Stoverink, Southeast's physical plant director.

He said Friday that his department is concentrating on meeting the timetable.

Some projects, such as establishing handicapped parking spaces as part of the paving of campus lots, have already been done. Such work counts toward the university's portion of ADA costs.

"As I understand it, we are ahead of the pack as far as the campuses around the state," Stoverink said.

"Some of the things we are going to be doing in-house, we probably will start working on right away," said Dobbins.

"I think that this (next) summer, you will see a lot of action on these projects," he added. "Some of them are outside so it would be difficult to do during the winter season."

Dobbins said the legislature set up an oversight committee to look at all of the improvements needed to bring state buildings in compliance with ADA requirements.

The oversight committee assigned a two-member team from the state's Design and Construction division to review all the requests and take a first-hand look at all the facilities.

The inspection team visited Southeast on June 22 and 23. The team then made recommendations to the oversight committee, which approved ADA projects statewide in October.

Dobbins said he's pleased with the way the state of Missouri has chosen to meet ADA requirements. Such a system allows for a consistent interpretation of ADA requirements statewide, he pointed out.

"We can use some of our own workforce to do some of the projects and we will be able to use fair market value of their work, their labor, to match other projects," said Dobbins.

But he estimated that more than half of the work will probably involve private contractors. Southeast will have to seek bids for such work, he said.

The ADA projects involve only academic and support-services facilities at Southeast and other college campuses. That's because the state is only paying part of the cost involving buildings that come under a school's general operations budget.

Campus residence halls, which are auxiliary enterprises that are operated with student fees, are not included in these projects, Dobbins said.

Southeast and Missouri's other public colleges and universities must meet federal ADA requirements for those buildings, but without any financial aid from the state, he explained. Some of that work is already being done at Southeast as part of the Towers renovation project.

Elevator projects costing an estimated $936,000 comprise a large chunk of the state-approved projects at Southeast, Dobbins said.

Plans call for installation of elevators in Parker, Houck Field House, Memorial Hall and the Dempster Hall of Business. In Magill Hall of Science, the freight car will be converted into a passenger elevator, he said.

The list of projects includes more handicapped parking spaces, signage, and ramps. In the Show Me Center, for example, plans call for installation of Braille signs for the elevators.

Another project involves construction of a rear entrance to Kent Library, paving of a lot behind the building and establishment of handicapped parking spaces to serve the building, Dobbins said.

"A lot of the work will be done in the restrooms," he said. Everything from doors to sinks must be made accessible to disabled persons.

Power-assist devices will be installed on outside doors of campus buildings in order to make it easier for handicapped persons to open them. Also a number of handles, generally on interior doors, will be replaced with levers.

"Then we have dollars in there for alarm systems and drinking fountains," he said. Fire alarm systems must be modified to include lights and not just bells.

About 15 to 20 drinking fountains will have to be replaced or modified so they are accessible to handicapped persons, he said.