MONTESANO — The city administration has tentatively settled a human rights complaint with Montesano City Councilwoman Marisa Saalzer by agreeing to a formal training seminar to learn how to accomodate people’s disabilities better.
Salzer asked for the training session to be done in lieu of a potential expensive investigation into how the city has been accomodating her because she is deaf. Frankly, Salzer says, the city wasn’t doing a good enough job and needed training to learn how to be better.
Montesano Mayor Ken Estes has already apologized to Salzer, both in writing and on television after the incident was picked up by regional broadcast news reports last month.
Salzer said that Estes, City Administrator Kristy Powell and City Attorney Dan Glenn all needed to agree to attend a seminar.
Estes says he’s also decided to invite the public to the session, as well as council members.
“I think the seminar should be open for anyone to learn more about this important issue,” Estes said. “… Department heads will be required to attend for the purpose of gaining institutional knowledge of what is needed to be in compliance.”
The hour and a half seminar has been set for 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 9.
Salzer said she tentatively agreed to the settlement, but it had taken three weeks to get any kind of answer from the city. She said on Monday that she had not yet signed anything, but spoke to staff at the Human Rights Commission.
“I am an elected official, a council mamber, for the city of Montesano,” Salzer wrote in her complaint obtained by The Vidette. “I believe discriminatory acts occurred by the mayor, city administrator and city attorney.”
Salzer’s complaint notes that when she confronted city officials about her issues, she was told there were just “misunderstandings, forgetfulness and didn’t know” there was a problem.
“My disability has become my focus of who I am as a city council member, not what my own capability and intelligence that I can bring and have shown during council meeings as an elected official,” Salzer wrote in her official complaint. “My disability has been marginalized in comparison several times by Mayor Estes and city attorney Dan Glenn because they, too, apparently have hearing loss and wear hearing aids, as well. … This is not just an isolated incident, or even two. This is a repeated cycle that is wrong. In my letter to Mayor Estes and City Administrator Kristy Powell dated June 29, 2014, I clearly asked that they attend a workshop or training in how to provide ADA accommodations. With the response that I received from Dan Glenn, they ignored that request and continued to request that I modify my original accommodation request. I hve no choice but to file a discrimination complaint at this point because nothing else is working.”
In an Aug. 23 letter to Mayor Estes, Salzer says she still has a few more questions and concerns to discuss with officials at the Human Rights Comission before formally dropping her complaint. City Attorney Dan Glenn wrote a letter to Salzer on Aug. 18 committing to personally attending the seminar. Glenn’s letter also notes that city officials had reviewed Salzer’s complaint.
“After reviewing the matter and being an individual who, too, has a hearing loss, the mayor expressed to you his personal apologies for any midunderstandings which may have arisen in relation to the matter,” Glenn writes. “The review of the requirements of the act and the facilities which are and have been made available did not lead to a conclusion that the city’s management had not taken the necessary steps to make available reasonable accomoodations for your hearing disability.”
Salzer says she had issues with Glenn’s memorandum to her: “First question is, who conducted a ‘review of the requirements of the act and the facilities which are and have been made available’ … ‘did not lead to a conclusion that the city’s management had not taken the necessary steps to make available reasonable accommodations for your hearing disability?’ The double negative was not lost on me. I would like to see a copy of the review please.”
Mayor Estes directed Glenn to answer those questions. “We, too, have accepted a mutual agreement and fully intend on attending the training and make it the end of the issue,” Estes told her.
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