Columbus repeals scooter regulations w/ copies of letters exchanged between attorneys

By Roger McKinney

rmckinney@joplinglobe.com

COLUMBUS, Kan. — The Columbus City Council this week repealed an ordinance it adopted last month regulating what is essentially a type of motorized wheelchair after an attorney representing an agency that advocates for people with disabilities threatened legal action.

City Clerk Janice Blancett said the council took the action Monday night after a 15-minute, closed-door meeting with City Attorney Barbara Wright to discuss privileged attorney-client information.

The ordinance regulating “electric personal assistive mobility devices,” commonly called scooters, required owners to register them with the Police Department, place a registration decal on them and attach a brightly colored flag to the devices. It also required that reflective tape be applied by police personnel.

Wichita attorney David Calvert, representing the Southeast Kansas Independent Living Resource Center, had written a letter dated July 27 to Mayor Harley McDaniel, threatening legal action. Calvert wrote that the scooter regulations violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the state and federal constitutions.

The center previously had sued the city in federal court, alleging ADA violations in city buildings and parks. A settlement reached last year required the city to establish an accessibility coordinating committee, appoint an ADA coordinator and develop a transition plan including a schedule for eliminating barriers.

Calvert’s July 27 letter included a draft of a petition for a temporary injunction against the scooter regulations.

“While I have been authorized to file suit asking the court to declare the ordinance void, my clients have authorized me to take what I consider to be an unusual step by giving the City Council an opportunity to repeal ordinance No. 1215 at its meeting on Aug. 6, 2007,” Calvert wrote. “In the event it is not repealed, suit will be filed.”

Though the council conceded, Wright, the city attorney, responded with her own strongly worded letter.

“Your documented, written threat to pursue another lawsuit or injunction against the city on behalf of SKIL puts undue burden and unnecessary strain on both parties, and materially restricts the city’s abilities to move forward with substantive projects designed to improve its services to individuals with disabilities,” Wright wrote in a letter dated Aug. 6. “This extremely inconsistent communications and conduct of SKIL representatives toward the city is counterproductive at best.”

Wright wrote that the regulations had been developed as a result of an appeal by Ed Reynolds, a member of the SKIL board of directors and a member of the city’s accessibility advisory committee. She wrote that several residents, including police Chief Chuck Sharp, had raised safety concerns about operation of the vehicles because of misuse of the scooters by a few individuals.

Wright wrote that Sharp presented a draft of the regulations to the staff at the local resource center office three weeks before the ordinance was adopted. She wrote that a change was made based on a recommendation by a staff member.

Sharp said Tuesday that the regulations were developed for the safety of the people operating the scooters. He said he wasn’t sure what would happen with the repeal of the ordinance.

Attendance, next meeting: McDaniel, and council members Dana Allison, Connie Bennett, Steve Dunlap, Doug Hosier, Marie Nepple, John Paradee, Dewey Smith, Gary Smith and Grant Spieth were present. Jerri Burton was absent. The next meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 20.