Council to make the grade — chambers getting retrofit

Erin Neff

Monday, March 20, 2000 | 11:34 a.m.

Workers waited only a few hours late Wednesday after the Las Vegas City Council adjourned before ripping into the floors, walls and ceilings of the chambers.

The public meeting room at City Hall is about to get spruced up for television. While workers are at it, they also will make the room easier to maneuver for those in wheelchairs.

The city's new television station, KCLV Cox cable Channel 2, is the driving force behind the renovations. Upgrades to accommodate live television broadcasts account for $511,000 of the $860,000 project.

"We are overhauling all of the electronics in the council chambers," Deputy City Manager Steve Houchens said.

When finished in about 90 days, the new lighting and refurbished control room will allow the city to replace the crews from UNLV that currently man the cameras.

Two cameras in the back of the room will capture the proceedings, while two cameras in the front will allow for front views of the people speaking at the lectern.

Three large screen displays will replace tiny television monitors facing the audience to give the crowd a better view of the maps, pictures and voting records.

Council members will get new 12-inch monitors at their spaces on the dais replacing the smaller 7-inch ones now in use.

"We're basically making it more conducive to the television process," Houchens said.

The second phase of the project involves installing a new ramp into the room and upgrading the rest rooms to make them more handicap-accessible.

Janet Myers, who handles Americans With Disabilities Act issues for the city, said nobody has ever complained to her about the accessibility of the council chambers. And even though ramps are in place at both entrances of the room, Myers said, they are not ADA compliant.

"The grade is too steep," she said. "Now that we're going in and retrofitting the room, we're going to get it up to code and standards."

The new ramp will cut into some space in the existing media room. That room will also be remodeled to include space for visiting media in addition to the two local daily newspapers with offices there.

Work will force all Planning Commission meetings in the next three months to be held outside City Hall. City Council meetings will still be held in the chambers.

The Planning Commission will meet March 23 and June 8 at the West Charleston Library. The commission's meetings on April 13, April 27, May 11 and May 25 will be held at the Charleston Heights Arts Center on Brush Avenue.