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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Committee for Persons with Disabilities - 08/04/2021COMMITTEE FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES Summary of Minutes for Meeting on August 4, 2021 Via WebEx CHAIRPERSON COMMITTEE MEMBERS ADMINSTRATRIVE STAFF Anthony Navarrette (ARP²) Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo (CVI¹) Tracey Lawson – Human Resources VICE CHAIRPERSON Christina Buttler (ARP¹) Lisa Oliver – Parks and Recreation Vanessa Nisbet (PSA¹) Huxley Smith (ENG¹) Mai Bernal – Engineering Services SECRETARY Jennifer Gracia (ENG²) Michael Dice – Development Serv. Melanie Gomez (PSA²) Dr. Jennifer Scott (CVI²) Kristyn Dixon - CCPD Dirk Hillard (CVI²) Lisa Aguilar - Legal 1. Call to order @ 3:01pm 2. Moment of Reflection – Conducted 3. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flags of the United States and Texas (waived due to WebEx) 4. Roll Call: a. Roll Call: i. Committee Members Present Anthony Navarrette, Vanessa Nisbet, Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo, Christina Buttler, Huxley Smith, Jennifer Gracia, Dr. Jennifer Scott, Dirk Hillard ii. Committee Members Absent – Melanie Gomez iii. Staff Members Present – Tracey Lawson (Human Resources), Lisa Oliver (Parks and Recreation), Mai Bernal (Engineering Services), Luke Fry (Development Services) iv. Staff Members Absent –Lisa Aguilar (Legal), Kristyn Dixon (CCPD Parking Control) b. Requests and approvals for Excused Absences – Melanie Gomez Motion – Vanessa Nisbet Second – Christina Buttler Action – Motion Passed 5. Minutes – Minutes approved Motion – Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo Second – Huxley Smith Action – Motion Passed 6. Public Comments – Imelda Trevino, the Student HireAbility Navigator for Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend introduced herself to the committee. The position was previously held by Jennifer Ledford. 7. Presentations (Limited to 10 minutes): a. Functional Needs Support Team – Judy Telge Judy Telge was unable to attend. Presentation will be rescheduled. b. Access for Activism and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Center – Dirk Hillard Dirk Hillard asked to postpone the presentation to the next meeting. c. Choice Living Community – Dr. Jennifer Scott Dr. Jennifer Scott, the CEO and Founder of Choice Living Community, explained that their mission is to provide a day habilitation center that continues to deliver innovative and individualized programs to advance the achievement and knowledge for adults with disabilities in the areas of vocational, life, and social skills. Dr. Scott introduced the members of the organization, including the Vice President, Secretary and Marketing Assistant. Choice Living Community provides a quality facility for adults with disabilities to attend during the day. They encourage their clients to be active in the community. Client assistance is personalized and individualized based on needs. Clients are also encouraged to volunteer and/or work. Choice Living Community helps with vocational training, social skills training, life skills training and several other skills to assist clients with becoming more independent. Dr. Scott advised that they are currently accepting full and part time clients. She asked members to share and spread the word about the center. 8. Staff Reports for the period: a. Human Resources – Tracey Lawson reported that a recent concern was brought to their attention by a B-Line rider regarding a safe loading and unloading zone at Wiggins Housing complex. Melanie Gomez was working on this initially and now Neighborhood Services, Public Works, and Fair Housing departments are involved to try and provide a designated loading zone for buses and a curb ramp. Other riders in the area will be surveyed to obtain additional information and determine utilization and other needs. Ms. Lawson will provide an update once the process is complete. b. Development Services Dept. – No update. c. Engineering Services – No update. d. Parks and Recreation Dept. – Lisa Oliver shared a story about witnessing a visitor from San Antonio using one of the City’s aqua chairs at McGee beach and wanted to remind everyone that those wheelchairs and the all-terrain wheelchairs are available for rental at local beaches. The Parks and Recreation Department is seeking community input on the Parks and Recreation Master Plan, by completing the Community Interest and Opinion Survey. On August 10th, an interactive map and virtual meeting room will be announced to engage others as well. The department is trying to determine what type of amenities the community would like to see within the local park system. Ms. Oliver provided an update of The Rotary Club project of installing an ADA swing at West Guth Park. The project will be taken to City Council for approval. She also reported that there will be several town hall meetings available for community feedback. Ms. Oliver mentioned that the Beach Flag Warning PSA will be updated to include an ASL interpreter. Dirk Hillard asked to review the video once that has been done to ensure accuracy. Mr. Hillard also brought up a concern regarding speeding drivers around and near the Bill Witt Park and asked if anything could be done about that. Ms. Oliver reported that as part of the Bill Witt Master Plan, traffic controls will be addressed. Tracey Lawson can share the information with Traffic and Parking Control for assistance in the meantime. e. CCPD Parking Control – Kristyn Dixon was unable to attend. 9. Subcommittee Reports: a. Engineering Subcommittee (ENG) – No updates. b. Public Service Announcement Subcommittee (PSA) – Tracey Lawson reported that the revised ADA Parking PSA video had been uploaded to the City’s YouTube page, CCTV. She also reported that the Communications Department has a new Multimedia Manager who has offered to help recreate the whole video. Melanie Gomez is in contact with the Manager to try and move forward with that but the video’s audio has been updated and is posted. c. Accessible Recreation Playgrounds Subcommittee (ARP) – No updates. Anthony Navarrette just asked members to spread the word about the Parks and Recreation Master Plan survey. d. Community Volunteer Involvement Subcommittee (CVI) – Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo reminded members about the Catch A Special Thrill (C.A.S.T. for Kids) event on Saturday, August 21 at Packery Channel from 8:30am to 1:00pm. The committee will have a table set up at the event and Dr. Zoccolillo asked for members to volunteer with him to provide information about our committee to attendees. Jennifer Gracia and Huxley Smith agreed to attend and join Dr. Zoccolillo. Mai Bernal also agreed to volunteer. Anthony Navarrete provided an updated regarding the Driscoll Children’s Hospital wish list drive. The wish list was shared with the committee prior to the meeting. Anthony set a goal of 500 donation items and asked committee members to spread the word to try and reach that goal. He received a suggestion of setting up an Amazon wish list but has not had an opportunity to explore that option. Dr. Jennifer Scott offered her facility as a drop off location, if need be. 10. Chairperson’s Report: a. Round Table Discussion – Anthony Navarrette reminded committee members that beginning next month, at least five members must attend in person at City Hall for the meeting quorum to be met but that the meetings will still have the virtual option as well. i. City Survey – Dr. Jennifer Scott and her associate with TAMUCC have created the survey and will be sharing it with the committee for feedback. The survey will be available online and printed copies will also be available. Anyone who completes the survey will remain anonymous. ii. Beach Day – Dirk Hillard advised that the event had to be canceled since he was unable to coordinate with staff from Parks and Recreation to move forward with the event. Anthony Navarrette suggested we move forward with the Closed Captioning project that was discussed earlier in the year. Mr. Hillard’s hopes were to potentially pass an ordinance or policy that would require Closed Captioning to be on 24/7 at public places where there are announcements or video feeds available so that the deaf community has access to this information as well. Mr. Hillard took the opportunity to inform Lisa Oliver that he knows several deaf natives that might be able to provide the ASL interpretation for the Beach Flag Warning PSA. Mr. Hillard also expressed his concern with some businesses that are not in compliance of the ADA with providing an ASL interpreter and asked where he could go to address his concerns. Tracey Lawson advised that she would provide him and the committee with some resource information. iii. CFPWD Logo Review – The committee has agreed to move forward with Jennifer Gracia’s logos and just add, change or remove items as necessary. Ms. Gracia reported that she and Bernice Gonzalez had made some changes to the original logo due to feedback received from the committee. She emailed the logo with Anthony Navarrette and he will share it with the committee for additional feedback. 11. Identify Items to be placed on next Agenda: a. Discuss progress on annual committee projects - continued b. Discuss and modify the proposed logo – continued c. Presentation from the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Center by Dirk Hillard. Deaf awareness week information. d. Presentation from the Functional Needs Support Team by Judy Telge. e. Presentation from Workforce Solutions of the Coastal bend by Imelda Trevino. f. Presentation from Cris’ Hope for a Better Tomorrow. 12. Motion to Adjourn @ 4:38pm Motion – Huxley Smith Second – Dr. Jennifer Scott Action – Motion Passed