HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommission On Disability - Minutes - 04/25/2002COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
Regular Meeting Minutes
April 25, 2002
Council Information Center, City Hall West
Members present: Mark Beck, Rob and Romola Fritz, Jerry Patterson, Laura Burnett, All Lancaster, Paul
Ostrof, Joan Cook, Ruth Bell Skogerboe, Diane Dittus, Susan Williams
City staff. Tracy Ochsner, Rachel Palmer
Guests: Roger Van Lieshout
Mark called the meeting to order at 12:15 pm.
Minutes approved unanimously. Motion made by Laura and seconded by Diane.
Sub Committee/Project Reports
Heavy Doors — Rob distributed a copy of the proposed language for the "heavy doors" brochure. The
brochure's goal is to be simple, low key and non -threatening. Paul and Romola will both take a stab at
getting it into brochure format. Once printed, the desire is to get the press (Coloradoan, Northern Colorado
Business Report, The Form) to publicize the program and possibly do a feature story. Joan will join the
"heavy door" committee. The next step will be to find an avenue to distribute the brochures. The city
public information officer will need to approve the final copy before printing. And possibly even help in
the design phase.
Action: Tracy will talk to the appropriate city staff about helping with designing the brochure.
Accessible Technology — Jerry conducted an accessibility check on the Fort Collins Library Web Site and
found that it has improved a little bit. Jerry distributed a copy of the assessment for all to review. A few of
the problems noted were: on the city's home page links were separated by only white space and had no
audible separation; on the library site, navigation links came at the end instead of the beginning. Overall, it
would be very hard to access the library web site if you were sight impaired.
How do we get information to city/library regarding these concerns? Try to get on the agenda of the city
systems administrators meeting (web developers) to talk about these issues for all city web sites. Jerry and
Susan are willing to attend.
Action: Tracy will see about getting Jerry and Susan on the city systems administrators meeting agenda.
JimThatcher.com a site that walks you through checking your own web sites for accessibility.
City Staff Trainine: Program is still up in the air pending approval from the city. Frank Bruno (Assistant
City Manager) is the city ADA coordinator. The COD would like to invite Mr. Bruno to a future meeting.
Action: Tracy will invite Frank Bruno to a future meeting.
Practical Housing for All: Still working hard on many things and will have more to report at the next
meeting.
Art Show: No new information.
Mayor's Award/BLN Partnership: City is open to trying the COD/BLN "strategic alliance" for one year
and see how it goes.
Motion: For the year of 2002, the COD and the Business Leadership Network work together in producing
and conducting the Mayor's Awards. Motion made by Diane, seconded by Susan. Approved unanimously.
Keynote speaker idea - Tom Donohue, the president and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, other
options too. The BLN is planning a Career & Resource Fair for northern Colorado employers and job
seekers with disabilities and would like to "bundle" this event with the Mayor's Awards (same day,
immediately prior to awards.)
Motion: Combine the BLN Career Far and COD Mayor's Awards by having them on the same day, one
right after the other. Moved by Ruth and seconded by Rob. Approved unanimously.
Action: Steve Sutter should call a mayor's awards committee meeting and get the date set for the Mayor's
Awards ASAP and work on a time table for the awards. Susan, Joan, Diane, Laura, Jerry, Rachel are on
the subcommittee.
Action: Jill should get Roger an updated mailing list of COD members.
Other Business
Diane's new email address: auntvd-02 iiattbi.com
Tracy read a letter from the mayor and the city manager regarding signing vs. close captioning for city
council meetings. The city will continue with signing until a new close captioning program is initiated
which will take effect in approximately six weeks.
Meeting adjourned at 1:43 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jill Lancaster
COD Secretary