Boulder’s City Council on Thursday night unanimously approved a $75,000 settlement agreement for a lawsuit brought by a disabled woman who alleged the city discriminated against her.
Joslynn Montoya, a deaf Boulder woman, alleged the city violated her rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide a sign language interpreter during an interaction with police that led to her two young children being taken from her. The Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, a statewide disability rights organization, is also a plaintiff in the suit.
In addition to the settlement payment, the city has agreed that the Boulder police will adopt policies for providing effective communication, including interpretation services, to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Police will receive training on these laws, and Boulder will also provide the CCDC with annual reports on its trainings and compliance with the settlement agreement.
According to a city memo, city staffers recommended the council approve the settlement agreement to free up city time and resources and spare the city from paying outside attorneys to represent it at trial.
The council approved the settlement without further discussion on its consent agenda on an 8-0 vote. Councilmember Mark Wallach was absent from the meeting.
In other news, several other approved consent agenda items involve the city make sure that permanently affordable housing and emergency services facilities are available to new owners. For example, the council members agreed to put 12 permanently affordable homes on the market at the Ponderosa mobile home park, 4475 Broadway. The city is building the homes on vacant lots in the mobile home park as part of the city’s redevelopment of the Ponderosa community.
These traditionally constructed home include a triplex, a duplex and seven smaller homes. They’re being built in addition to the modular homes that Boulder’s up-and-coming modular home factory will one day produce for the mobile home park. However, like the modular homes, the stick-built homes are primarily intended for Ponderosa mobile home park residents to purchase, according to Molly Tayer, a housing policy senior project manager for Boulder.
Additionally, council members approved transferring the ECHO House property, 925-933 Marine St., to the Emergency Family Assistance Association. ECHO House contains a house and two duplex apartment buildings that EFAA has been leasing and using as transitional housing since the 1980s.
