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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Committee for Persons with Disabilities - 07/07/2021COMMITTEE FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES Summary of Minutes for Meeting on July 7, 2021 Via WebEx CHAIRPERSON COMMITTEE MEMBERS ADMINISTRATIVE 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, Melanie Gomez, Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo, Huxley Smith, Jennifer Gracia, Dr. Jennifer Scott ii. Committee Members Absent – Christina Buttler, Dirk Hillard iii. Staff Members Present – Tracey Lawson (Human Resources), Mai Bernal (Engineering Services), Kristyn Dixon (CCPD Parking Control) iv. Staff Members Absent –Lisa Aguilar (Legal), Lisa Oliver (Parks and Recreation), Michael Dice (Development Services) b. Requests and approvals for Excused Absences – Christina Buttler, Dirk Hillard Motion – Melanie Gomez Second – Vanessa Nisbet Action – Motion Passed 5. Minutes – Minutes approved Motion – Vanessa Nisbet Second – Huxley Smith Action – Motion Passed 6. Public Comments – None 7. Presentations (Limited to 10 minutes): a. Functional Needs Support Team – Judy Telge Judy Telge was unable to attend. Presentation will be rescheduled. b. Coastal Bend Center for Independent Living (CBCIL) – Karyn Salazar Vega Karyn Salazar Vega provided information about services and programs offered by CBCIL. CBCIL is non-profit agency that is designed and operated within a local community by individuals with disabilities. Their mission is to assist individuals with disabilities to achieve their goals. Their five core services are advocacy, independent living skills assistance, peer counseling, information and referral and transition. Karyn provided information on CBCIL’s Mobility Options Project (MOP). MOP is designed to assist individuals with disabilities and seniors, age 65 and older, with transportation services. Another service that is offered is the Relocation Program to assist individuals transitioning from a nursing facility. Karyn shared i nformation on the Independent Living Purchased Services Program which helps provide funding for equipment or services to maintain independence. Karyn invited members to attend the City Council meeting on July 20th, to witness a Proclamation in observance of the 31st Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). She also invited members to a virtual celebration hosted by CBCIL on July 23rd. Brief discussion was held regarding temporary and permanent ramps and the ramp fee waiver. c. Je’Sani Smith Foundation – Lucy Kernan Lucy Kernan is the Director of Marketing for the Je’Sani Smith Foundation. Lucy shared Je’Sani’s story and how the foundation was created to save lives by providing beach safety and rip current awareness to educate of natural conditions that pose threats at our beaches. Their website has plenty of educational material for beach safety. The Foundation offers education, awareness, and training to the public regarding rip currents and beach safety. Lucy shared that a scholarship is awarded every year to a student from King High School. Educational information is posted at the Texas Surf Museum of Corpus Christi. Lucy invited members plan a visit. She informed the committee that April has been announced as Beach Safety Awareness month across Texas and that House Bill 3807, the Je’Sani Smith Act, was passed in June, declaring that the use of lifeguards and informational signs be provided to improve safety awareness on beaches. The Foundation can benefit from volunteers, donations, sharing information and speaking to local representatives and city leaders. Anthony Navarrette expressed the need for sharing information to the deaf community. Huxley Smith expressed the need for lifeguards at North Beach. 8. Staff Reports for the period: a. Human Resources – Tracey Lawson reported that a recent department update caused a communication gap with the Citizen Accessibility Grievance Form. Fortunately, only two forms had been submitted since the update. Tracey is currently working with both individuals regarding their concerns about residential sidewalk accessibility. Tracey also reported a concern from a citizen who was recently issued a parking citation for blocking the architect. She was concerned that there aren’t enough accessible parking spots available at this location, McCaughan Park, and making sure the area is being patrolled and citizens are advised to not park in the striped areas. Tracey also advised that she’s working on city surveys to see how other city departments are structured to handle ADA concerns. b. Development Services Dept. – Michael Dice was unable to attend the meeting. Anthony Navarrette shared the news about the Proclamation that was received in June for the accessible ramp permit fee waiver. They are looking to partner with contractors or non-profit organizations to spread the word and get more ramps installed. Anthony asked members to share the word that the ramp permit fee is being waived but that inspections are still being done. c. Engineering Services – No update. Anthony Navarrette mentioned sharing the information received from the two concerned citizens and accessible sidewalks to Mai Bernal in an effort to see if repairs are scheduled for those areas or if anything can be done to assist those citizens. d. Parks and Recreation Dept. – Lisa Oliver was unable to attend the meeting. e. CCPD Parking Control – Kristyn Dixon provided the number of citations issued for the month of June. Citations included 26 for disabled parking violations, 3 blocking the architectural design and 31 blocking the sidewalks. Kristyn reported that three potential officers are in the process of getting hired. 9. Subcommittee Reports: a. Engineering Subcommittee (ENG) – No updates. b. Public Service Announcement Subcommittee (PSA) – Melanie Gomez provide an update on the ADA Parking PSA video with the committee. Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo assisted with recording the audio on the current video. The subcommittee is waiting for the final video to be released and shared with the community. Tracey Lawson will follow up to check the status. Melanie also provided an update on the committee’s Facebook page. Administrative rights have been given to some other committee members so that changes can be made to the page. Updating the picture with new committee members was suggested before advertising the page. Anthony Navarrette agreed to having everything updated then having a launch of the page. c. Accessible Recreation Playgrounds Subcommittee (ARP) – No updates. The subcommittee members will try and coordinate a meeting with Lisa Oliver. d. Community Volunteer Involvement Subcommittee (CVI) – Anthony Navarrette provided an updated regarding the Driscoll Children’s Hospital toy drive. For the month of August, committee members have been asked to try and get as many donations as possible. The drive is not limited to any agency or organization participating. Anthony will send out the latest list of preferred items requested by Driscoll Children’s Hospital. Dr. Jennifer Scott offered her facility as a drop off location if need be. Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo provided an update for Catch A Special Thrill (C.A.S.T. for Kids) will be coming up on August 21st. Dr. Zoccolillo advised that the committee will be tabling this event and needs volunteers. He asked that members provide their availability at the next meeting. Dr. Zoccolillo also had discussion regarding promotional materials and that the committee no longer had any materials. Anthony suggested getting copies made of the ramp fee waiver trifold to distribute. Dr. Zoccolillo asked committee members to come up with ideas on other items to distribute. Tracey Lawson offered to provide printing of any handouts. Tracey will search old files for any old that we may be able to update and utilize. 10. Chairperson’s Report: a. Round Table Discussion – i. City Survey – Dr. Jennifer Scott provided an update on the city survey project. The purpose of this survey is to determine any needs that the city has not met for people with disabilities. She has met with her contact at TAMU-CC and asked committee members to determine what questions want to be on the survey. Some examples were accessibility at city events, city services, buildings and facilities or accessibility. Dr. Scott provided an example survey to help with determining what areas we want to target. A few committee members suggested accessibility being one of the targeted areas. Dr. Scott suggested that under the accessibility umbrella, other subsections could be included such as parking, parks, buildings and sidewalks. She also mentioned that multiple surveys can be distributed. A due date and how the survey will be distributed needs to be determined. Dr. Scott reminded the committee that this survey needs to be confidential. If surveys are distributed at events, the completed survey must be returned confidentially. Anthony asked Tracey to try and get approval to share the survey on the city’s website. Tracey suggested other options as well, such as a mass email distribution. ii. Beach Day – Dirk Hillard was unable to attend the meeting so no update was provided. iii. CFPWD Logo Review – Anthony Navarrette showed the committee a couple of designs presented by Jennifer Gracia. Some of the icons were updated based on feedback provided by the committee at the last meeting. Jennifer reminded members that any part of the draft can be modified. The committee agreed to move forward with the draft logo that Jennifer provided and make changes as necessary. iv. ADA 31st Anniversary – Christina Buttler was unable to attend the meeting but a representative from CBCIL provided information regarding the celebration and proclamation. 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 12. Motion to Adjourn @ 4:55pm Motion – Huxley Smith Second – Melanie Gomez Action – Motion Passed