Fixing North Dakota Capitol's accessibility flaws would cost $750K

BISMARCK — North Dakota officials and lawmakers are looking to scrape together enough money in the state budget to bring the Capitol building in Bismarck up to the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act three decades after the federal civil rights law passed.

State lawmakers on the interim Government Administration Committee unanimously approved on Tuesday, Aug. 11, a bill draft that would carve out $750,000 for the Office of Management and Budget to fix the nearly 90-year-old building's accessibility deficiencies. OMB Director Joe Morrissette said his agency will also ask for the funds through its own appropriation during next year's legislative session.

Bismarck architect James Devine identified dozens of ADA issues in a report presented to the committee this year . The Capitol should have Braille signage for blind residents, automatic swing doors or wider doorways, assisted listening devices inside meeting rooms and better wheelchair accessibility in the House and Senate chambers, according to the report. The many doorknobs found around the building should also be replaced with door handles and a wheelchair lift in a popular meeting room must be changed out.

OMB workers have already made some small adjustments to the Capitol like sticking handicap signs on the outside of bathroom stalls, but a tab of anticipated costs notes that there still remains work to be done on bathrooms throughout the building.

Fixing most of the ADA issues in the Capitol and the adjoining Judicial Wing would cost about $461,000 by Devine's calculations. It would cost an estimated $172,000 to add benches on all floors, construct a family restroom on the first floor and put seating in meeting rooms that accommodates obese people. Facilities Management Director John Boyle said OMB would also want breathing room of more than $100,000 in its appropriation for the projects in case extra expenses popped up during renovations.

Lawmakers from both parties, including committee chairman Sen. Randy Burckhard, R-Minot, agreed that straightening out the accessibility issues is long overdue and should be a high priority when the legislative session starts in January.