Accessibility improvements get underway at Dennison Village Hall
DENNISON (WJER) (March 4, 2024) – Work is beginning to make the village’s downtown headquarters more accessible.
Mayor Greg DiDonato says they’re adding a ramp leading into the building and chairlift that people with mobility issues can take to the Community Room upstairs, where the restrooms will also undergo renovations to make them ADA-compliant.
“We’ll be using a local company, Wayne Door. We put new doors in a couple of years ago but they’ll put in where you push it and the door opens and all that automation on the door system. And then we also have Wood Electric currently down there as we speak putting all of the electric in where we need it to run the chair rail system.”
The village is paying for the improvements upfront and getting around $95,000 back from the state. Lawmakers included the project in Ohio’s 2022 budget but it hasn’t started moving forward until now because of heating system issues in the more 100-year-old building.
“We had that initial price. The problem was we started this project 2, 2-and-a-half years ago. Everything has gone up on us. The initial estimate was a $110,000 project, and probably it’s going to shake out around $120,000 but we’re just excited we’ve got it going.”
The village is spending around the same amount to replace the heating system but the contractor needs to bring the boiler in through the side entrance, which DiDonato says will be more difficult once the lift is installed. He expects that part of the project to wrap up by the end of April and the restroom renovations in July or August.