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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Committee for Persons with Disabilities - 04/06/2022COMMITTEE FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES Summary of Minutes for Meeting on April 6, 2022 CHAIRPERSON COMMITTEE MEMBERS ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Dr. Jennifer Scott (CVI) Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo (CVI¹) Nora Vargas – Neighborhood Serv. VICE CHAIRPERSON Christina Buttler (ARP¹, PSA) Lisa Oliver – Parks and Recreation Melanie Gomez (PSA¹, CVI) Olivia Allan (ARP², ENG²) Mai Bernal – Engineering Services SECRETARY Imelda Trevino (PSA²) Michael Dice – Development Serv. Jennifer Gracia(ENG¹) Jennifer Mirabal (PSA) Ricardo Rodriguez – CCPD Dirk Hillard (CVI²) 1. Call to order: 3:03 pm 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 – Dr. Jennifer Scott, Melanie Gomez, Jennifer Gracia, Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo, Christina Buttler, Olivia Allan, Imelda Trevino, Jennifer Mirabal, Dirk Hillard ii. Committee Members Absent – None iii. Staff Members Present – Nora Vargas, Mai Bernal, Michael Dice, Ricardo Rodriguez iv. Staff Members Absent – Lisa Oliver b. Requests and approvals for Excused Absences – None 5. Minutes – Minutes approved Motion – Christina Buttler Second – Imelda Trevino Action – Motion passed 6. Public Comments – None 7. Presentations (Limited to 10 minutes): a. Disability Book Week (DBW) – Mary Mecham – Ms. Mecham reminded members that Disability Book Week is April 23-29. She explained that this is an opportunity to promote disability representation in literature, bring awareness to the disabled community and showcase disabled authors. Christina Buttler advised that a proclamation will be read at the City Council meeting on April 19th. b. Joyce Lopez – Texas Workforce Commission – Ms. Lopez was unable to attend. Presentation will be scheduled for next month. 8. Staff Reports for the period: a. Neighborhood Services – No update. b. Development Services Dept. – No update. c. Engineering Services – No update. d. Parks and Recreation Dept. – No update. Dirk Hillard mentioned that at the Oso Bay Wetlands Park, there is a link to a video but that the video does not have captioning nor an ASL interpreter and asked that someone look into that. e. CCPD Parking Control – Ricardo Rodriguez provided the number of citations issued for the month of March. Citations included 230 citations for disabled parking violations, 10 citations for blocking the architectural design, and 61 citations for blocking the sidewalk. 9. Subcommittee Reports: a. Engineering Subcommittee (ENG) – No update. b. Public Service Announcement Subcommittee (PSA) – Melanie Gomez reported that the subcommittee will be setting up a meeting with a representative from the League of Women Voters to begin working on a Voting PSA. Ms. Gomez thanked members for contributing to the social media page. c. Accessible Recreation Playgrounds Subcommittee (ARP) –No update. d. Community Volunteer Involvement Subcommittee (CVI) – Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo mentioned a couple of events that the committee missed due to changes in those events. Dr. Zoccolillo asked members to provide him with any upcoming events for May. He also reminded committee members that this is his last term and asked for members to consider a replacement. Christina Buttler offered to be the initial point of contact for CVI when Dr. Zoccolillo is no longer a member. Dr. Jennifer Scott mentioned the Texas State Aquarium does have Sensory Sundays once a month and should be added to the event calendar. 10. Chairperson’s Report: a. Round Table Discussion – i. City Survey Project – Nora Vargas provided a brief update regarding the survey. The City’s Legal Department has a couple of concerns with the project such as intent, content and potential risk of liability. Dr. Jennifer Scott asked for specific concerns so that they can be addressed with Texas A&M University. Ms. Vargas will forward the information to Dr. Scott. ii. Closed Caption Project– Dirk Hillard and Jennifer Gracia did try and speak to someone with the City’s Legal Department but had some difficulty. They want to begin with a resolution but are having trouble determining where to start or how to go about it. Since the intent is to have public, local businesses to have closed captioning on all televisions, Dr. Scott and Christina Buttler suggested reaching out to local businesses first and raising awareness. Mr. Hillard mentioned wanting to create a Facebook page dedicated to open captioning but could use it for both open and closed captioning. Mr. Hillard explained the difference between the two. Imelda Trevino suggested a logo or sticker to use at businesses do indicate that they are supporting the closed captioning movement. Next steps would be creating a Facebook page and meeting with City Council Members and State Representatives. Ms. Buttler also suggested creating a letter of support to provide to individuals. iii. 2022 Committee Goals – Dirk Hillard brought up concerns with minor emergency clinics not providing ASL interpreters or video relay to assist deaf patients with communication. Dr. Jennifer Scott suggested another committee goal could be educating the community by providing educational seminars for our community relating to the needs of persons with disabilities. Mr. Hillard suggested having workshops too. Christina Buttler mentioned a workshop that the CBCIL used to host and will look into bringing that workshop back. Imelda Trevino mentioned an upcoming event that will be geared towards community partners that hire persons with disabilities and the disabled community. Olivia Allan mentioned concerns with safe crossing at busy intersections. Mai Bernal explained the process for installing crosswalks and will be sending the Bond Projects 2020 list for new members. iv. Updating Photo – The committee agreed to meet right before the next month’s meeting. Individual pictures and a group picture will be taken. v. Subcommittee Assignments – Dr. Jennifer Scott provided an explanation of the subcommittees. Committee members discussed their interests in subcommittees and selected which subcommittees they would like to participate in. Dr. Scott will share the final list with members via email. vi. Communication with other City Departments – Dr. Jennifer Scott advised members that the process for communicating with other city departments regarding a concern, complaint or idea would be for the Chair to provide a written statement with all of the pertinent information to the City Secretary’s office and that will be forwarded to the appropriate departments. Dr. Scott asked Dirk Hillard to get all the pertinent information regarding the deaf individual who had an incident with CCPD so that it can be forwarded to the City Secretary’s office. Since the incident took place a couple of years ago, Dr. Scott that any future incidents be reported to her immediately so that it can be addressed. There was discussion regarding identifying individuals with disabilities that may have a specific need when communicating with first responders. 11. Identify Items to be placed on next Agenda – Nora Vargas would like for Neighborhood Services to provide a presentation to be made regarding a grant that the City received by the Home ARP for the homeless and at risk of homeless individuals. 12. Motion to Adjourn @ 4:23pm Motion – Imelda Trevino Second – Dr. Anthony Zoccolillo Action – Motion passed