The Village of Stratford is committed to providing adequate
access by handicapped or visually impaired persons to public buildings
financed in part by federal revenue sharing. This chapter provides
for a grievance procedure providing for prompt and equitable resolutions
of complaints alleging any action prohibited by the Office of Revenue
Sharing's (ORS) regulations [31 CFR 51.55(d)(2)] implementing
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C.
§ 794). Section 504 states, in part, that "no otherwise
qualified handicapped individual...shall, solely by reason of his
handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits
of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity
receiving federal financial assistance."
The right of a person to a prompt and equitable resolution of
the complaint filed hereunder shall not be impaired by the person's
pursuit of other remedies such as the filing of a Section 504 complaint
with the Office of Revenue Sharing, U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Utilization of this grievance procedure is not a prerequisite to the
pursuit of other remedies. However, the Village believes that resolution
of the complaint will be more promptly achieved if the Village is
able to provide a remedy before the complaint is brought to an external
organization.
This chapter shall be construed to protect the substantive rights
of interested persons, to meet appropriate due process standards and
to assure that the Village complies with Section 504 and the ORS regulations.