By Alexandra Brothers
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
July 28, 2023 Edition
Visitors to Mount Pearl City Hall may be surprised to find the council chambers look a bit different.
The chambers have been renovated over the past two weeks to make them more accessible to people with mobility challenges.
“We’ve spaced things so anyone with a mobility aid can move freely around, and we’ve made changes to our washroom in the lobby,” said chief administrative officer, Dana Spurrell at Tuesday’s council meeting. “We had two weeks between public meetings to do this, so the scramble was on, but the team did a great job and put a lot of focus into it.”
Mayor Dave Aker said council had been looking forward to the changes for a while. “I think the chamber is just as functional as it’s ever been,” he allowed.
The City paired with InclusionNL for the renovations. “They came in and did a little bit of an audit for us,” Spurrell explained. “We have a great working relationship with them. InclusionNL tells us that we have really grand scores for accessibility, but we’re always looking for ways that we can improve.”
The changes to City Hall are not the only accessibility improvements in the works. Aker said more are coming.
“We wanted to focus on (City Hall),” said Spurrell, “particularly since we receive so many guests and members of the public here in our chambers. But we’re looking across the city (…) to do a larger audit, city-wide, to ensure that our facilities and our city events are more accessible.”
Spurrell said the City hopes to find room in its budget do another audit soon, “so we can continue to improve across the city.”
