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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Committee For Persons With Disabilities - 03/02/2005 CITY OF CORPUS t ISTI—COMMITTEE FOR PERSONSITH DISABILITIES Summary Minutes for the Meeting of March 2, 2005 I. Meeting was called to order at 3:40 PM without quorum. Quorum at 3:45 PM A. Roll call. Present Committee Members: Ms. Linda Fallwell-Stover, Ms. Crystal Lyons, Ms. Mary Saenz, Mr. Eloy Soza, Mr. David Walker, Mr. Brian Watson, Mr. Robert Flores arrived at 3:50 pm, a quorum was established Present Staff Members: Mr. Leon Bazar, Ms. Wanese Butler, Ms. April Moffett, Mr. Joseph Hamey B. Excused Absences: The Committee excused Mr.Soza's absence of 2/2/05 by vote The Committee excused Ms. Saenz's absence of 2/2/05 by vote II. Approval of Minutes: MOTION: Upon review of the minutes, Mr. Soza motioned to approve the minutes with a Second by Ms. Saenz. Minutes were approved as presented. III. Presentation and Public Comments: Public Comments: none Presentation: There was one presentation. Habitat for Humanity — Dr. Lee W. Sloan I President Ms. Stover introduced Dr. Lee W. Sloan/President of the Habitat for Humanity Board. Habitat for Humanity has been in existence in this area since 1989. It is currently a working board with no paid staff. They are seeking a grant to hire a director. Candidates seeking a home must meet certain criteria. First, there must be a need; second, they must meet the income requirements. The third criteria participants must do is to be willing to partner with Habitat to get 300 to 500 hour of sweat equity and the fourth criteria is children contributing to their new home with their grades. The houses that Habitat sell are not at appraised at value but at that the cost that Q it cost Habitat to build. Monthly mortgages are about$250.00 to $280.00 at 0% interest for 15 years (+/-) term to pay. Habitat has a group that interviews the families to determine if they meet the criteria. If the family gets into trouble by failing to keep up with their payments, there is someone to help VQ them. Habitat also has a construction group. $42,000.00 sponsorships are CO given for each house and labor is donated. Habitat for Humanity has applied for a Shop Grant for the purpose of info structure improvements like visitability homes. Two or three will be built this year. In late April or May, the Shop Grant will be awarded. If the Shop Grant does not come through, the CFPWD 3/2/05 visitability houwill be built anyway. Shop grant is for land and info structure. When Habitat purchases lots, they get them for a reasonable price within a safe community and they partner with someone when ever possible when building a visitability house. The Habitat is like a mortgage company. They can and will foreclose on a home. Questions included "Why could not all the homes be visitability homes?" and "Are the homes homesteadabler IV. Chairperson's Report: (Discussion, with possible action) o One of the items on the Committee's agenda is Inclusive Recreation —After approval by the Human Relations Commission, the Inclusion statement will be presented to Parks and Recreation Department. o From the Governor's Office - Barbara Jordan Media Awards will be 4/21/05 in Bell County o Inclusive Recreation - Ms. Fallwell-Stover brought a flyer from Houston to share with committee for as ideas as to what to do relative to conducting community information sessions regarding inclusion of children with disabilities in recreation events. o Texas Families United flyer— Effort to bring families together in Austin before the legislature to talk about issues and unmet needs in our community. o Parks and Rec. - Ms. Saenz mentioned that the flyers are already made up from the Parks and Rec. Department and the committee did not have any input. Ms. Butler stated that they are in the process of doing a presentation schedule for presentations to the community. Ms. Gavlik is in another meeting and could not be here per Mr. Harney. V. Sub-Committee Reports: (Discussion, with possible action) A. Outreach/Awamess Sub-Committee-Accessibility Guide: Mr. E. Soza — No report B. Legislative Sub-Committee: No report VI. Staff Reports / Comments (Discussion, with possible action) Mr. Bazar— Director of Human Relation Department March 29th will be the next Quarterly Update to the City Council on the Non- Discrimination Ordinance and the ADA Transition Plan. Ms. Lyons stated that misinformation about the Committee's activities has been given out. Ms. Lyons stated that the Committee has not given Mr. Bazar anything to report. Mr. Bazar stated that he reports general information, not specifics. Mr. Bazar stated that the Commission has legal power the Committee has input only. None of the reports are public documents until they go before the City Council and are placed on their agenda. The report is not given to committee before it goes to city council. The transition plan was presented as a working document; however, the report was given in generals. Ms. Lyons did apologize. She mentioned that the self-evaluation report was a working document. She was mistaken. Mr. Bazar stated that 80 EEOC cases need to be done by May. Forty-eight have been so far. There were only seven done in January when he came on board. Mr. Bazar recommended that the Committee nominate a secretary to keep up with the agenda and standing CFPWD 3/2/05 2 • items. Mr. Br also gave the stats as to what has4n done by this Committee and ensured Committee that the staff is meeting the requirements set by the city. Mr. Walker asked how many of the complaints had to do with architecture. Nine of 27 cases had to do with architectural barriers. Mr. Walker stated that he may have some information that would be helpful to the staff. Judy Talge mentioned about HUD cases. Ms. Seanz asked about university and colleges. Mr. Bazar spoke to Mr. Solis. (The American Bank Arena) He requested that two or three people from this committee will go with him on Tuesday or Wednesday to meet with Mr. Solis at the arena. Mr. Bazar is to call Mr. Solis this Thursday to make the arrangements. Ms. Lyons and Mr. Flores mentioned interest in going. Ms. Lyons suggested that everyone e-mail Ms. Stover their list of questions. A. Non-Discrimination Ordinance: B. ADA Title I Employment comprehensive Self Evaluation — Human Resources: C. Other Items: 1. Follow-up on Curb Ramp Projects Funding: 2. Park and Recreation Outreach/Marketing Effort: 3. Accessible Polling Places: Ms. Butler is waiting on responses on who is going to doing them. She will be following up with individual facilities once she gets the list back. Ms. Saenz said that on March 30th, there will be training for the Election Chair and Co-Chair for the polling places. The Chair and Co-Chair will be responsible for training the clerks that work the polling places. Ms. Lyons said that the DOJ guidelines need to be reinforced. Adjustable tables have to be supplied for our senior citizens. Committee is requesting a check list to ensure that voting is available to everyone and we need to confirm that the DOJ is checking the polling places. VII. Old Business: A. Accessible Parking Brochure— Distribution Letter and Destinations: Ms. Butler said that Ms. Padilla had the list of recommended distribution points within the community. She is not present at this meeting. Ms. Lyons is working on a parking brochure. Ms. Stover said that the Chamber of Commerce would be a good place to leave the brochures so the Chamber of Commerce can hand them out. Mr. Bazar mentioned that the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Small Business Center is also a place that can hand out the brochures. B. CFPWD's Position Statement on Recreation Inclusion: This item will be presented to the Human Relation Commission on Thursday for their vote of approval and support. C. Veterans with Disabilities—Collaboration with Veteran Affairs: No report CFPWD 3/2/05 3 D. Arena Wing and Accessibility Issues: There will be a meeting with Marc Solis this coming week. E. Prioritization of Planning Retreat Items: Ms. Butler has set a time line for Employment awards. Ms. Padilla needs to be present. Employment conference is in August. Ms. Butler said that this would be a good time to present the awards. F. Public Outreach —Exploration of associate/advisory members: It was stated that the persons on this Committee are ambassadors and should bring people in. We man not be able to appoint or add new members since these are all City Council appointed committee members. Education and out reach is a big thing. The Committee wants to do this. VIII. New Business: A. Visitability Collaboration: Chairperson Ms. Fallwell-Stover requested legal guidance from City Attorney, Joseph Hamey regarding collaborating as a natural partner with ACi-CBCIL-Habitat for Humanity regarding visitability in Corpus Christi. Mr. Hamey responded by saying that the CFPWD can participate in outreach and projects as well as providing policy input. The CFPWD reserves the option to review each event before involvement to ensure compliance with the committee's intent/objective. A resolution of support was mentioned for this item as an agenda. MOTION: Ms. Fallwell-Stover made the motion For this Committee to join the coalition according to the committee's purpose with a Seconded by Ms. Saenz. The motion passed. Ms. Judy Teloe of ACi - CBCIL: She mentioned that there are three components to bring visitability to completion. They are education/outreach, policy change/implementation, and demonstration. There are funding opportunities for visitability in Texas. It is a three year grant with a potential for two years after that. The deadline is the 8th of April. The Committee requested that this item be placed on the agenda again as a Resolution of Support. B. Election of Committee Secretary: Mr. Bazar mentioned this recommendation during the Staff Reports. This Committee person will keep the Committee informed and on track with line items. [5:05 PM Joseph left] [5:07 PM Ms.Telge left] CFPWD 32/05 4 IX. Committekoncerns / Request for Agenda ems: 1. The Committee is requesting for the Engineering Department to be present at the meeting on next month regarding the Six Year Engineering Project and Prioritization. The Committee would like an update to this prioritization input by the Committee 2. Self Evaluation —Section 24—98 of the City's Non-Discrimination Ordinance calls for a self-evaluation. We need to investigate plans/processes for getting this done. 3. Progress on Parks and Rec. — Ms. Gavlik is requested to attend to share information on Park and Rec. marketing and outreach efforts. X. Announcements: 1. Mr. Bazar mentioned "TRAPS" a Parks and Rec. training seminar will be March 11, 2004. Mr. Bazar made the announcement about the seminar. Mr. Bazar said that the offer is given to the Committee for three people to attend Friday, March 11, 2005 from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM. 2. Mr. Bazar also announced that Ms. Butler will be going to Washington DC for HUD training. 3. Ms. Lyons announced that cyclist Michael Davenport will be at LeBonte Park in Sinton, TX at 12:00 4. Mr. Soza announced that the Transportation Policy Committee will meet at the NPO. 5. Ms. Saenz announced that the legislature wants to take money from the Rehab Department. She asked that everyone please contact their congressman. [Ms. Lyons left at 5:57 pm] NO Quorum Xl. Adjournment: MOTION: Due to no quorum, Mr. Soza motion to adjourn with a Second by Ms. Saenz. The meeting adjourned at approximately 6:00 PM. CFPWD 3/2/05 5