ATHENS, Ohio — A week after the former chair of the Athens City Commission on Disabilities blasted the city’s failure to progress on a promised accessibility plan, Athens Mayor Steve Patterson told Athens City Council Monday night that accessibility has improved in his 10 years as mayor — and warned property owners to comply with city ordinances or face fines.
Patterson’s comments came during an Athens City Council Committee of the Whole agenda item called “Accessibility and ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] Briefing.”
City Code 9.12.20 requires owners or occupants of properties with sidewalks to keep the sidewalks “in repair and free from any nuisance.” Those who don’t comply can be fined up to $50 per day until the problem is fixed.
Patterson said he has spoken with Code Enforcement Director Tom Pyle about how to implement citations and fines. On first offense, the city will issue a warning and give the property owner time to fix problems — which could involve replacing sections of sidewalk. Offenders who drag their feet “will absolutely” be fined $50 every day until the problem is corrected, he said.
“I am now kind of laying this out there as fair warning to everyone in the City of Athens that if a sidewalk is impassable, meaning that your sidewalk has heaved up by more than a half an inch above what is ADA-approved, or acceptable — that includes, by and large, the Uptown historic overlay here in Athens — that we will be enforcing this,” Patterson said.
Council President Micah McCarey said it would be the first time the city has enforced such fines, should they begin.
“It’s my responsibility to uphold the codes of council,” Patterson said.
Patterson said the city has come far on ADA compliance during his 10 years as mayor and noted that one of the first things he did was have a lift installed in his office as well as numerous other improvements around town.
Athens resident Rob Delach noted that an 11-foot-wide shared use path for pedestrians is currently under construction on Columbus Road.
“These weren’t free,” Patterson said. “The city has made intentional investments to make our community more accessible.”
On June 1, former chair of the city Disabilities Commission Davey McNelly sent a letter to council and the administration criticizing the city and its consultant, Sunday Creek Horizons, for not moving fast enough on a plan to bring the city into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
At a minimum, an ADA transition plan must identify barriers to accessing public programs and services, detail how and when those barriers will be addressed, and identify an official who is responsible for implementing the plan.ion plans
The city has been working on an ADA transition plan since at least 2021, according to records requested by the Independent. At that time, the city aimed to complete its plan by April 2022.
In his letter, McNelly said many sidewalks and crosswalks — particularly the brick ones Uptown — are nearly impassable to people who use wheelchairs. Sunday Creek Horizons has no experience with writing ADA transition plans, he wrote, and the firm has not released an updated timeline for completion.
The city’s 2024 12-month contract with Sunday Creek Horizons tasked the firm with finalizing, publishing and releasing the plan. The city’s latest contract with the firm, adopted this year, states that the consulting firm “will continue to lead the completion of the ADA Transition Plan.”
“While considerable progress was achieved by the former staff members, it was determined in 2025 that the previously completed work may need to be reassessed due to time limits and circumstances outside the City’s control,” the contract states.
Council member Alan Swank, 4th Ward, said Sunday Creek Horizons should work with both the Athens City Commission on Disabilities and the Athens Pedestrian Accessibility and Bicycle Task Force to develop the city’s ADA transition plan.
All sides are now engaged in that process, Patterson said, and said that Sunday Creek Horizons President Zack Space has said that the plan is on track to be completed this year.
In a Wednesday email response to the Independent’s request for comment, Space said, “Work has focused on developing the data collection procedures and methodology for the plan, as well as evaluating public facilities. That work is ongoing, and we will continue working with the City as the plan elements are compiled, reviewed, refined, and prepared for consideration.”
Contacted for comment on Monday’s meeting, McNelly said he was unaware of progress on the plan.
“I haven’t seen an updated timeline but would be enthusiastic if it is completed and completed well this year,” he wrote in an email on Wednesday. “The city has known they are out of compliance with the ADA in not having a plan completed for over 10 years as stated in The comprehensive transportation plan.”
As for Patterson’s claims of progress on acessibility, McNelly wrote, “The city has done well in certain aspects but major issues remain, including Uptown crosswalks and sidewalks. … I appreciate the work arts and parks has done recently to put in accessible changing tables, for instance. I also welcome the city fining out of compliant sidewalks. That’s a great idea.”
Paving debt
At council’s June 1 meeting, Athens resident Mary Abel asked about the city’s plan for street repaving over the summer, noting that no schedule had been released. Acting council president Jessica Thomas, At-Large, said that the city had paused street repairs.
“They’re taking a year off with the constraints on the street fund and especially not knowing if the income tax would pass,” Thomas said.
When Abel pointed out that the city’s street repair levy remains in force through 2030, Thomas said the council would have answers at its next meeting.
Those answers came during the meeting of the Transportation Committee Monday night.
Committee chair Beth Clodfelter, At-Large, said that city administration officials had told her that the pause in street paving was due to “quite a bit of debt remaining from the big projects that happened on Stimson Avenue and the West Union Street construction project.”
“The city administration would like to have a year to just make more progress on those payments,” she said.
Patterson noted that money generated by the street repair levy includes paying debt on loans taken for street improvements.
The other factor in the street paving pause was the proposed income tax increase on the May ballot. Paving projects require “months and months” of planning, Clodfelter said, and the uncertain fate of the city income tax increase vote “really kind of cut into the planning time for paving.”
Although there will be no regular schedule of paving, Clodfelter said, some streets will have repairs as part of other projects.
“There are quite a few construction projects going on in city streets right now, and when necessary, each construction project that needs new paving is going to get new paving,” she said.
Patterson said that city streets have improved since he became mayor in 2016.
“I would contend that we’ve done a great job, at least under my tenure, to where we have attacked a lot of the lower-rated streets,” he said. “We completely rebuilt East State Street, yet again, during my administration.”
Council approves July 4 celebration funds
During a special session Monday, the council amended and unanimously approved Ordinance 58-26, which appropriates $30,000 for police-leased vehicles under professional services. That amount includes nearly $7,000 for an Uptown Independence Day party on July 4.
The monies will come from a special projects fund, Thomas said.
The event’s total budget is $14,548. The event is being planned by Visit Athens County, the Southeast Ohio History Center and Athens Tavern Association; the latter two are making significant contributions to the total, Swank said. A list of the day’s activities can be viewed at athensfourthofjuly.com.
The approved amount is slightly lower than the $7,500 request discussed at the council’s June 1 meeting. The city’s contribution will cover:
- Rental of a boxing ring for a boxing exhibition that also will serve as a stage for bands ($2,000).
- Local bands that will entertain during a community picnic on the Ohio University College Green ($1,500).
- Lighting and sound for main stage bands ($1,500).
- 250 commemorative water bottles ($652).
- 300 posters and 1,000 fliers ($375).
- A cake ($326).
- Chalk for a Sidewalk Chalk Art Patriotic Chalk Challenge ($300).
Council members John Staser, 2nd Ward, and Michael Wood, 3rd Ward, raised concerns that approving the expenditure could invite other organizations to ask the city for funds for their events.
The 250th Independence Day is a one-time event and should be treated as such, Patterson said, noting that the city already contributes $15,000 to annual July 4 fireworks.
During the June 1 meeting, Swank — who served on the event’s committee — said that planning for the event started just two months ago. Staser wondered why work hadn’t started earlier.
“I guess my comment would be, this isn’t something that snuck up on anyone,” Staser said. “It doesn’t take a lot to determine the number of years between 1776 and 2026, so why wasn’t this being planned out a year ago — and then if that would have happened, then this committee could have gone and gotten sponsorship.”
The event came together in a rush, he said, resulting in “poor planning” that made the event more expensive than it might have been.
Swank said all of Staser’s comments were “good points.” Swank said that he did not wish to criticize any other entities, but had found through his own examination that most Ohio communities have two or three organizations that plan similar events, such as chambers of commerce and visitors bureaus.
“Again, I’m not criticizing either one of them, but that didn’t happen here,” Swank said. He noted that the city formed a commission to plan celebrations for the country’s bicentennial in 1976.
Jessica Cyders, executive director of the Southeast Ohio History Center, told the Independent on Wednesday that the museum filled a vacuum in planning.
“Why didn’t anybody take the lead on it? I don’t know,” she said. “I feel like we did because nobody else stepped up.”
Visit Athens Ohio Executive Director Boone Troyer emailed the Independent with details of his involvement in the event planning and its promotion, including having Joel Prince, Visit Athens Ohio’s visual communications manager, create the athensfourthofjuly.com site.
The Independent emailed and left voicemail messages for Athens Area Chamber of Commerce President Kristin Miller on Tuesday and Wednesday. Miller was out of town without access to email or phone until Thursday. We will update this story if we receive comments.
In other action during the special session, the council:
- Adopted on third reading Ordinance 45-26, which designates Lasher Hall, at 43 W. Union St., as a local historic landmark.
- Adopted on third reading Ordinance 46-26, which expands the area and hours of operation for Athens’ Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area, which now includes some West side streets, as well as a related ordinance that re-authorized DORA after its five-year review.
- Adopted upon third reading Ordinance 49-26, which will appropriate $1.3 million for a new radio-signal controlled water meter reading system throughout the city, involving more than 5,000 water meters. The cost will be split evenly between the water and sewer funds.
- Adopted upon third reading Ordinance 54-26, which will authorize an increased expenditure of $222,300 for West Washington Street sidewalk and safety improvements. The sum of $132,000 will come from the Community Development Block Grant fund, with the remainder to come from the street fund.
- Suspended the rules and adopted Ordinance 59-26 on second reading, which authorizes the city to enter into a Local-Let Project agreement with Ohio Department of Transportation for major rehabilitation of a three-quarters of one mile section of State Route 682/U.S. 33 starting at the Richland Avenue roundabout and proceeding on U.S. 33-50, as part of a concrete repair project. The city’s contribution will be $498,764, or about 7% of the project total cost, estimated at $7.13 million.
- Heard second reading of Ordinance 60-26, which authorizes the city to advertise for bids and enter into a contract to construct West Side sidewalks. The city will appropriate $120,000 from the Community Development Block Grant fund for the work.
- Amended Ordinance 48-26 to authorize new pre-kindergarten playground equipment behind the Athens Community Center — and passing it upon third reading — by adding an additional $20,000 for a shade structure of some kind, likely of a “shade sail” design. The amendment, passed unanimously, brings the project total up to $125,000.
Athens City Council’s next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, June 15, at Athens City Hall, Council Chambers, third floor, 8 E. Washington St. Meetings are also streamed online. Regular sessions are on the first and third Mondays of the month; committee meetings are on the second and fourth Mondays.
Keri Johnson and Corinne Colbert contributed to this reporting.
This story was updated on Thursday, June 11, to include comments from Zack Space of Sunday Creek Horizons, Davey McNelly of the Southeastern Ohio Center for Independent Living, Boone Troyer of Visit Athens County and Jessica Cyders of the Southeast Ohio History Center.
