Opelika, Alabama

OPEL I KA , ALABAMA system, itself, also invests in career tech programs for its students: “They have everything from EMT, to nursing, to horticulture, 3D printing, engineering – all of these tracks that the kids can determine in ninth grade that they have an interest in, and then follow through to see if it’s something they really want to do for their career path when they go to college. The school is instrumental in helping the kids find their way, early, because it’s such a competitive environment now. We are extremely fortunate.” Joey Motley is Opelika’s City Administrator. He reports on the city’s recent initiative regarding its adherence to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, the federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. “The city has done a self-evaluation of our ADA,” he begins. “We’ve gone through every building, we’ve walked every sidewalk, looked at every road intersection, all our parks, everything that we have control over, and we have determined what needs to be fixed and we assigned a dollar value to it. It’s probably in the $5 million range, once we get through. But we’re fixing all the things I mentioned and making everything fully- compliant. There are some things that we could do to get by, but we’re trying to fix it right and forever, because it’s the right thing to do. “So, we’re repairing and replacing sidewalks; we’re replacing intersections downtown; we’re fixing bathrooms. One great example: we have a SportsPlex building that’s state-of-the-art and only ten years old. But, when we did the assessment, because of some of the law changes and things that were overlooked, we’re having to go in make some adjustments in the bathrooms there. Again, we don’t have to do some of these things, but we want to be right on everything we do according to the letter of the law. So, we feel real good about that project. We hope to have it completed within a three-to four-year period, and we think we’re on track to do that.” “The other thing that I’d like to talk about is our Opelika Neighborhood Mobile Health