The Federal Highway Administration has found that the city of Helena isn't in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act in several areas, after a resident filed a complaint.

Maureen Garrity, a woman suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease, filed a complaint in October through a friend acting on her behalf.

In an Aug. 7 letter, an FHA official said the city had violated the ADA in four specific areas:

• The curb ramp leading to the Walking Mall on the south side of Broadway is too steep for standards.

• The city failed to maintain accessible curb ramps along Broadway leading downtown.

• Officials didn't properly self-evaluate the city's compliance with the ADA.

• The city failed to implement grievance procedures to respond to Garrity's initial complaints.

The agency also recommended that the city remove a marked ADA-accessible parking spot on Last Chance Gulch. Garrity had complained that the orientation of the parking space forced her to unload her wheelchair into vehicular traffic rather than the sidewalk.

City officials also must develop a summary or map of accessible routes and parking areas.

The city must respond within 90 days with its plans to address the issues, although that timeline is uncertain. The federal agency didn't send a notice to the city, and officials were unaware of the decision until they were given a copy by the Independent Record.

Garrity's illness has compromised her ability to speak. David Filcher, a friend from Billings who filed the complaint on her behalf, said she was satisfied with the outcome.

";(We're) pretty pleased with the outcome, that it went in her favor and that the city will finally address those things," Filcher said.

Acting City Manager Dave Nielsen said the city will work to address the issues raised in the complaint.

";I don't view it as a win-loss for anybody, but a win-win," he said. ";We want to do the right thing with the ADA. We don't want to fight it."

He said the agency's findings were the result of a meeting with city officials in which federal and city representatives visited the sites named in the complaint.

The city has removed the parking space on Last Chance Gulch, he said, and officials will try to identify funding to address the curb cut on the Walking Mall. In e-mails last year, Garrity had said the steep slope of the ramp had caused her to fall while trying to negotiate it in her wheelchair.

Broadway is maintained by the Montana Department of Transportation, so the state will have the responsibility to fix the crumbling old ramps along it, Nielsen said.

He said the city and the Parking Commission will begin developing a map of accessible routes and parking spaces.

Nielsen said the city was in the process of reviving its ADA compliance committee when Garrity first began e-mailing city officials with her complaints. He said the grievance process hadn't been used any time in recent memory, and blamed both that and the nature of Garrity's e-mails for the city's relative lack of response.

";The e-mails didn't give us a lot of focus ... and I don't say that as a disparity to Maureen Garrity," he said. ";But unfortunately it was nonspecific, so it was not recognized as a specific complaint. It was a general complaint.

";We did respond, but we didn't take the initiative to say: can you tell us which block you're talking about," Nielsen added.

But the city should have asked for specific information, he said, and officials have since responded to other complaints with specific questions.

";From now on we'll try to treat those as a complaint moving forward," he said. ";It was an experience we learned from."

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