A Helena woman has filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice against the city, the city commission and three city employees.

She claims the city and some officials have violated provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and have discriminated against her for failing to respond to her inquiries or concerns.

Maureen Garrity, a woman suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, filed a four-page complaint last week through a friend acting on her behalf.

In the document, Garrity notes three specific areas in which she believes the city is out of compliance with the ADA. She also specifically named City Manager Tim Burton, Community Development Director Sharon Haugen and ADA Coordinator Elroy Goleman, and said those officials had discriminated against her by not responding to complaints she had sent to the city via e-mail.

Burton and Goleman said they haven’t seen the document and directed questions to City Attorney David Nielsen. Haugen could not be reached for comment.

Nielsen said he couldn’t offer specific comments because he was unaware of the complaint. He said, though, the city is working to prioritize ADA-compliance issues in Helena and address those problems.

Garrity said she first began asking city officials to address her concerns nearly a year ago.

“I feel the city does not take the issue of accessibility seriously,” she said in an e-mail. Her illness has compromised her ability to speak. She filed the complaint with the Department of Justice because “I felt that it was the only way they would make the necessary changes.”

Garrity raised three specific issues with the city and the Department of Justice:

n The curb on the south side of the crosswalk at the intersection of Broadway and the Downtown Walking Mall is too steep for wheelchairs and electric scooters, she said. Garrity said she’s fallen out of her chair twice while attempting to negotiate the curb.

n Existing curb ramps on Broadway between Montana Avenue and downtown are crumbling and ill-maintained, she said. She believes some of these curb ramps are unsafe for use.

n Last Chance Gulch has only one parking spot for disabled users along its entire length, she said. The situation is made even more difficult for her, she said, because the parking spot’s location forces her to unload her wheelchair in the traffic lane and not on the sidewalk.

Burton, Haugen and Goleman have shown “utter disregard” for Garrity’s concerns by failing to acknowledge or respond to her correspondence, wrote David Filcher, a Billings man who filed the complaint on Garrity’s behalf.

Goleman once spoke with Garrity on the phone, but there was no other response to her concerns, the complaint alleges.

Goleman declined to discuss Garrity’s complaints, but offered some comments on the work of the ADA Compliance Committee, an advisory board that began meeting in February to work on accessibility issues in the city.

The group has been working to prioritize different projects in Helena, he said.

“It’s going to take a little more time than people anticipate,” he said.

The city’s Engineering Department is studying the curb at the Walking Mall crosswalk over Broadway, he added.

The documents Garrity filed also note a recent incident when she was blocked from using a curb ramp near the Lewis and Clark Library. A city truck was parked in front of the ramp, she said.

She said she’s worked with Helena Public Schools to address some issues she’s found at some of their facilities.

Garrity, who still works as a community development consultant, said she used to love to travel for her job. She still gets out on occasion, and said she’s found Missoula to be a much more accessible city to navigate. A former public servant, she served a stint on the Helena Housing Authority board and with a statewide small-business-lending organization.

She’s confident she did the right thing and she thinks the Department of Justice will force the city to make some changes.

“I hope some of the changes occur before I die,” Garrity wrote. “Yet, even if they don’t I still feel I made right decision by filing the complaint.”

Reporter Larry Kline: 447-4075 or larry.kline@helenair.com