OPINION: ADA push in Newberg – Consider becoming a member of the Concrete Crew

Want a hands-on job where you can help folks in your city get around? The city needs people who are very handy and know concrete, and this is why:

Since 2021, the city of Newberg has been focusing on its American with Disabilities Act plan in an effort to make the city’s facilities and streets accessible to all. Newberg has been engaged in developing an ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan.

Now as you may know, the ADA Plan demonstrates the city's commitment to providing equal access to its public programs, services, facilities and activities for residents with disabilities. This plan is focused on specific city facilities, including city buildings and pedestrian access routes within the right-of-way, which includes sidewalks, curb ramps, street crossing, and on-street parking.

This next step is critical for our focus on sidewalks, curbs, and ramps. As a part of this effort, in the last few years the city has developed a list of primary pedestrian routes that we want to see enhanced, to allow more mobility for all our residents.

Here is an interactive map of these primary routes: bit.ly/3yyV7b9

One of the biggest problems we have seen with fixing the relevant sidewalk sections is that many have small breaks in just a few sidewalk panels that effectively limit the value of an entire route. To make matters worse, these small sections are often so minor that the contractors the city often uses to do repairs do not want to bid on work that’s only a yard wide. That is a big problem caused by just a very small, damaged section of our sidewalk.

This was brought to my attention when I was very new on the job in 2022. I asked our staff what we could do to solve this problem. After looking at other solutions the idea emerged that we should hire our own three-person sidewalk crew in public works and direct them to fix the relevant damaged or missing sections.

The fiscal pressures of finishing a few very major roads projects have delayed this project, but we are now ready to hire this crew and target them at our worst or missing sidewalk sections along primary routes. This will also enable us to make our road repair dollars go further, by fixing the ramp and sidewalk sections ahead of repaving efforts. This saves money for the city in comparison to subcontracting everything.

If you are skilled with your hands, especially in the world of concrete, or know someone who is, please lean in and apply (or let them know). This is a noble cause, and we are a great place to work with second to none benefits. See the job listings from Concrete Finisher I, to Concrete Crew Chief at: www.governmentjobs.com/careers/newbergoregon