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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Committee for Persons with Disabilities - 11/03/2021COMMITTEE FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES Summary of Minutes for Meeting on November 3, 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) 1. Call to order @ 3:03pm 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, Melanie Gomez, Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo, Christina Buttler, Huxley Smith, Jennifer Gracia, Dr. Jennifer Scott, Dirk Hillard ii. Committee Members Absent – Vanessa Nisbet 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 –Kristyn Dixon (CCPD Parking Control) b. Requests and approvals for Excused Absences – Vanessa Nisbet Motion – Melanie Gomez Second – Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo Action – Motion Passed 5. Minutes – Minutes approved Motion – Dr. Jennifer Scott Second – Christina Buttler Action – Motion Passed 6. Public Comments – Shirin Delsuse, a Corpus Christi resident, raised a concern regarding safe, protected bike paths for persons with disabilities who are not able to drive due to their disability but are able to ride a bicycle. Ms. Delsuse reported that the new bike paths do not follow the design guides from the Federal Highway Administration. She has brought up her concern to the City and Engineering Department but wanted to bring it to this committee’s attention as well. Ms. Delsuse has created a petition on ibikecc.com in an effort to advocate for better bike paths in Corpus Christi. 7. Presentations (Limited to 10 minutes): a. Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend – Imelda Trevino Imelda Trevino was unable to attend. Presentation will be rescheduled. b. Feonix Mobility Rising – John Doherty John Doherty presented information regarding Feonix Mobility Rising which is a non-profit organization providing transportation service to persons with disabilities. They also partner with local organizations such as the Coastal Bend Center for Independent Living (CBCIL) to assist individuals in the community who may struggle with transportation access. Feonix Mobility Rising is national but Mr. Doherty’s main focus is the twelve counties of the Coastal Bend. They are currently looking to establish a larger volunteer base. Mr. Doherty shared volunteer requirements and benefits to being a volunteer. Trips provided can be medical or non-medical. Adriana with the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History announced that they have partnered with Feonix Mobility Rising and are launching a kickoff party and volunteer drive to unite the community to do good. This event will be on November 20, 2021 at 10:00am. 8. Staff Reports for the period: a. Human Resources – Tracey Lawson reported a follow up on the recent concern brought to their attention by a B-Line rider regarding a safe loading and unloading zone at Wiggins Housing complex. The Fair Housing Coordinator has worked with a CCRTA supervisor to complete surveys from other riders to determine any other issues. No other riders reported issues with loading and unloading. Efforts are still underway to assist this individual and find alternative solutions. In assessing the area, it was determined that the sidewalk available to this resident was not ADA compliant so that will be reconstructed. A back alley is also being assessed as an alternate pick up/drop off location. Ms. Lawson also reported a complaint from a resident on Monette Drive regarding the sidewalks in horrible conditions. She will be working with the Street and Public Works Departments to see about getting that repaired. b. Development Services Dept. – No update. c. Engineering Services – Mai Bernal provided the committee with a spreadsheet of the schedule for all proposed bond program construction. d. Parks and Recreation Dept. – Lisa Oliver provided a Master Plan update. She reported that they are still obtaining information from the community through a survey targeting Bill Witt Park. The link to the survey will be shared with the committee. Residents within a 3-mile radius were randomly selected to participate in the survey. Ms. Oliver also reported improvements to Sherrill Veterans Memorial park. The shade structure is being expanded and should be completed by the end of the month. She also shared the Letters to Santa event on December 11, 2021. It will be a curbside distribution, open to all ages. It will be located at Salinas Park from 12pm to 1pm. Along with Visit Corpus Christi, the Parks and Recreation department is working to update materials, both video and print, regarding beach safety. The videos will include an ASL interpreter. Ms. Oliver thanked Dirk Hillard for the recommendation. Completion should be done by February for distribution in March. The aqua chair and all terrain chair videos will be updated as well and they will be looking for participants. e. CCPD Parking Control – Kristyn Dixon was unable to attend. Tracey Lawson reported that Kristyn will leaving her position and she will be replaced by Ricardo Rodriguez, Parking Enforcement Supervisor. 9. Subcommittee Reports: a. Engineering Subcommittee (ENG) – No updates. b. Public Service Announcement Subcommittee (PSA) – Melanie Gomez advised that the Parking PSA has been posted on the City’s YouTube channel and will be shared with the committee. No changes have been made to the committee’s Facebook page. New pictures are needed and the new logo, once approved, will be updated. c. Accessible Recreation Playgrounds Subcommittee (ARP) – Anthony Navarrette asked Lisa Oliver for an update on the West Guth Park accessible swing. Ms. Oliver advised that it had not been done. No other updates. d. Community Volunteer Involvement Subcommittee (CVI) – Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo gave information on the Catch A Special Thrill (C.A.S.T. for Kids) event. The committee was able to have a table set up at the event and a few committee members attended. There was not as much traffic as prior years but it was the first event since COVID. Anthony Navarrette reported that the Driscoll Children’s Hospital toy drive was a huge success. Almost 700 items were collected and donated. Dr. Z went over the volunteer events that we usually participate in that was distributed by Mr. Navarrette. Dr. Z will be attending the volunteer drive hosted by Feonix Mobility Rising at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. Dr. Jennifer Scott asked to include some events that she knows of. Mr. Navarrette reminded members that the list was a draft and events can be added throughout the year. 10. Chairperson’s Report: a. Round Table Discussion – Anthony Navarrette provided clarification on the subcommittee assignments and the roles that those subcommittees play, specifically the Engineering Subcommittee. Tracey Lawson explained why some processes have changed due to several changes in positions and departments. A presentation will be provided next month to provide additional information. There was discussion regarding our roles as committee members and how we advocate for the community. i. City Survey Project – Dr. Jennifer Scott reported that the survey is complete and ready to be distributed. The only item left to complete is a Memorandum of Understanding between TAMUCC and the committee to understand what the University will be providing and what the committee will be providing and what responsibilities each entity has. That document will be sent to Legal for signature. Once that is complete, the survey will be available through a link online as well as printed copies. Anthony Navarrette suggesting reaching out to Feonix Mobility Rising and The Rise School for distribution of surveys. ii. Closed Caption Project – Dirk Hillard thanks the committee for the support. He mentioned that all public places should have Closed Captioning on at all times. Many times, he’s had several problems when asking staff to turn on the Closed Captioning on televisions located in public places. He shared with the committee a PSA from Seattle, Washington, that passed a city ordinance that required that all Closed Captioning be on at all times in public facilities. Mr. Hillard asked if the documents he obtained could be shared with our city’s legal department so that we may create our own city ordinance. He asked for the committee’s advice on how to proceed. Anthony Navarrette suggested that a resolution be created first that can be shared with City Council. Tracey Lawson advised that Legal will look at the document first before going to City Council. She did recommend that we look at the top cities of Texas to see what ordinances they currently have in place or best practices to provide that supporting documentation. Mr. Navarrette suggested reaching out to the Governor’s Committee for Persons with Disabilities for additional help. Mr. Hillard will email any documents that he has available to assist. Christina Buttler advised that CBCIL has partnerships with the Governor’s Committee and will reach out to get information. iii. CFPWD Logo Update –Jennifer Gracia presented the committee with the proposed logos. The logos presented a few logos as if they were used on social media. There was discussion regarding the different options and some requested changes. Some changes requested were regarding the disability symbols. The symbol for blind and visually impaired was questioned. Committee members will reach out to the blind community to get feedback regarding what the universal symbol is. Dirk Hillard also suggested rotating the ASL hands vertically instead of horizontally. Another suggestion was using the committee’s full name versus the acronym. Motion to approve the proposed logo with requested changes Motion – Christina Buttler Second – Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo Action – Motion passed iv. 2022 Meeting Schedule – Anthony Navarrette send out a proposed meeting schedule for 2022. Committee members were given to an opportunity to review it and make any changes. A couple of committee members asked to include some events to the annual events list. Mr. Navarrette asked for those to be sent to him to include on the list. Mr. Navarrette also reminded members to send their intentions for meeting attendance in advance to determine if a quorum will be met. The minimum in person attendees must be five to have a quorum. Motion to approve the 2022 Meeting Schedule Motion – Dirk Hillard Second – Jennifer Gracia Action – Motion passed v. 2022 Committee Goals – Anthony Navarrette asked committee members to assist him by thinking of goals for 2022. He previously sent out an email with some goals he’d like for the committee to accomplish by the end of the year. The goals don’t have to be fully planned out but at least some ideas, goals and accomplishments. 11. Identify Items to be placed on next Agenda: a. Discuss progress on annual committee projects - continued b. Discuss and review committee logo changes – continued c. Discuss 2022 committee goals - continued d. Presentation from Workforce Solutions of the Coastal bend by Imelda Trevino 12. Motion to Adjourn @ 5:00pm Motion – Huxley Smith Second – Jennifer Gracia Action – Motion Passed