Jeannette considers work at entry to improve access to city hall

Jeannette is trying to make an accessible entrance to city hall easier to navigate for those who use it.

But cost is a factor. Solicitor Tim Witt said officials are looking into grant funding to enhance a back entryway and navigation throughout the 100-year-old structure for people who have physical handicaps.

“We’d like to improve accessibility at the building,” he said.

Officials have been mulling over the situation after a resident brought up issues with a first-floor entrance from an accessible ramp. The door is locked and requires someone to open it from inside council chambers.

The ground floor is accessible from North Second Street and houses the tax office and other city services. There are 17 interior and 19 exterior steps to the first floor, where offices and council chambers are located. The police department is up five steps from the first floor and 21 more steps lead the second floor where there’s a community room. An accessible entrance to the second floor connects with an alley behind city hall.

There is not an elevator.

Resident Donald Leone said if he wants to get to the first floor, he has to knock on the door at the ramp and hope someone hears him. He’s been complaining about the issue to city council for about a year.

“A lot of people don’t know what a handicapped person has to go through because they’re not handicapped … and it’s not easy,” he said.

He uses a cane and a prosthetic leg. In April 2024, Leone said he tried to walk up the interior steps from the ground to the first floor and fell. Leone said he visits city hall to do business sometimes a couple days a week.

“I am trying to give the city an opportunity to do something here,” he said. “I don’t know how many handicapped people use that building. We have to jump through hoops and that shouldn’t be that way in this day and age.”

Witt said a video doorbell at the first-floor accessible entrance is an option that would provide notification when someone needs let inside. The door remains locked as a safety precaution. Leone said he doesn’t like the doorbell because it leaves room for the person at the door to be ignored.

Irwin is paying $1.1 million to renovate its 114-year-old borough building, a project that will, in part, make it accessible. Irwin’s current administrative offices and the police department are about two dozen steps above street level.