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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommission On Disability - Minutes - 07/14/2005Attendance: Peggy Graff Steve Rierson Susan Williams Mark Beck Jerry Patterson Melinda Suits Laura Burnett Paul Ostmf Joan Cook Commission On Disability Minutes 2005 July Regular Meeting Council Information Center, City Hall Building, 300 LaPorte Ave. July 14, 2005 Approved in September 2005 Regular Meeting City Staff Liaisons: Steve White Annie Houston Mayor Doug Hutchinson Call to order,12:25 P.M., Susan Williams, Chairperson Guests: Lisa Schell — First Call 211 Dawn S. Inspiration Playground: Jane Kramer Brownie McGraw Channel27: Michael Gitter Jeff Koska Steve White added Mike Gitter from Channel 27 to the Agenda. Steve White noted that Annie Houston would be taking Rachael Palmer's place as City liaison and that she would be attending the meeting. Motion: to approve the June 2005 Regular Meeting Minutes by: Laura, Second Steve R One correction to the minutes was noted. Susan Williams stated the person from Rocky Mountain ADA was "Pat Going" and not "Mark Going". Motion approved as amended by voice vote Inspiration Playground Susan Williams introduced Brownie McGraw and Janie Cramer from the Inspiration Playground Board. Janie Cramer made a presentation on the planned playground. Some discussion followed. Susan Williams suggested a letter be written to the Coloradoan Soapbox in support of the playground and asked Jerry Patterson to write it. Motion: to write a Soapbox for the Coloradans for the Commission in support of Inspiration Playground By: Susan, second: Jerry Motion approved by voice vote Action: Jerry to write a soapbox for the Colorsdoan per motion Mayor Hutchinson Susan introduced Mayor Hutchinson and introductions were made around the table. May Hutchinson, a long time resident of Ft. Collins, reported he had asked the City Council to appoint him as liaison to the Commission on Disability. Fat Collins Watch www.fortwatch.org The Mayor had attended every city council meeting since 2001 He ran because he felt that we had lost our balance in Ft. Collins He believes that good policy is hinged on three things: environment, infrastructure (park, streets, schools, etc), and economy He felt the piece we were ignoring was the economy We can have a robust economy without tearing down the environment Fat Collins has been a great city and the Mayor believes that Fort Collins can continue to be a great city in the future The Maya does not subscribe to the idea that all growth is bad — it does need to be balanced, smart growth. The slogan for his campaign was "Together we can" Even though the local environmental groups were one of his strongest opponents, he met with environmental group within 48 hours of his election as Maya He has waked to get the City Council to work together. Nobody benefits if we just fight. We need to focus on the good of the City. [the City Government is] here to serve the citizens, not to act as social engineers to our own idealogical end. He emphasized to the Council that sitting on Council is a solemn responsibility. I'm not to impose my views but serve the citizens The current issue of occupancy limits is a good example of where we need to be careful to look toward the best interests of our community, not our individual agendas. We need to understand that decisions like this will effect many people. The Mayor believes that the Council Liaison should be attend the Commission meetings between every 3 to 6 months. He noted that he will make himself accessible to the Commission. He needs to know what our concerns are. He doesn't want to be intrusive, but he does want to be involved. Laura: What do you know about disabilities? Mayor. I wanted to be liaison because I didn't feel that I knew enough. Fort Collins is doing a great job as a city to make it a great place for people with disabilities to live. I want to ensure that we continue to put money toward moving to compliance with ADA. The COD has interests and desires. The Council needs us to help them understand what those are so they can help us achieve these. The biggest help for the Council will be to give the Council a solid rational basis that has been worked out by the Commission and members of the community for things we want to see done. Mark: City departments and city council have always been very cooperative with the COD Mayor: I have to believe that will continue. Susan: There is a rumor that Dial -A -Ride (DAR) will only send one bus out to save money come fall. My fear is they will also take evening DAR completely away in the fall and people with disabilities will be shut in after 6 PM. Would a petition help ensure that this doesn't happen? Mayor: Nobody knows what will happen yet. The City Manager currently has the entire city budget plan in his office, and it has not been prioritized yet_ The Council will later see the prioritized budget. The initial draft of the budget will be delivered to the Council the first Tuesday in September After that, there will be several chances for the public to comment. Don't believe any rumor that you've heard. We simply don't have the budget recommendation yet. The Council will work to adopt the new budget in November. Action: Mayor to send detailed schedule for the budget to Susan. A petition would definitely carry some weight with the council. Any discussion, c-mail, telephone calls, letters to the editor, etc. are the most powerful when there's something with facts not just emotion. Lisa Schell: I get a lot of client calls frustrated by trying to get around town. Does DAR supply its ridership numbers? Mayor: I can have that information put together by the City staff. Lisa: The increase in need for transportation is certainly happening here. It would be possible for First Call to put together the number of calls we get from people needing transportation. Mayor: That is excellent information to have. Having facts when the Council is making decisions, that have major impacts is so important. There's a lot of compromising that we've already done to keep some things alive. Susan: You may only be one in seven, but you carry a lot of weight. Are you willing to go to bat for us? Mayor: Yes. I don't know all the issues around disabilities but [my wife and I] experienced this with my parents, my dad had macular degeneration and we looked into using DAR Susan: I asked you that realizing, of course, that we still need to do our part. Melinda: Were applying for a grant from the National Organization on Disabilities (NOD), do we have people in the city employed that have disabilities? Susan: How can we fond out? Action: The Mayor will find out if there are and report it to the Commission Melinda The NOD grant is a national award for most accessible city. The award is $25,000 It is due in October. One thing that is required is a letter from the mayor. Channel 27 (Soon to be Channel 14) Michael Gitter - mgitter@fcgov.com 221-6882 Jeff Koska - jkoska@fcgov.com Channel 27 received an e-mail from Wes Pixler. He had been on the trails or in a natural area. Suggested that we do a program on the accessibility of the trails and natural areas here in Fat Collins. Edith Felkley - suggested servaal people. Suggested a master naturalist. One of the master naturalists is wheelchair bound (Michelle). We are planning to do a workup on the accessibility of our trails and natural areas as part of"Showcase Fort Collins". This would air in the September/October time frame. Susan: Where are the accessible natural areas? Michael: Edith sent Cathy From Prarie, River Bend Ponds, Gustaf Swenson Natural area (Gustaf was confined to a wheel chair). We also need to understand the barriers that still exist. Dawn: What department in the city has a list? Jeff: Thafs information we should address in the video Mayor: John Stokes is head of the natural areas 221-6263 jstokcs@fcgov.com Susan: After my surgery, I couldn't even tails about hiking because its so hard for me. Dawn: I moved to Fart Collins 8 years ago. I grew up with a brother with mental and physical handicaps. He's been out here now for two years. This past week I heard of a lady with a disability that is moving here because of the support in this community. Mayor. How big is the disability population in Ft Collins? Melinda: (2002 Census) about 12,000 or 10% Steve K: Is there transportation available to the natural areas via DAR or Transfort? Michael: We are interested in any feedback you have. I don't know how much time we have. I don't know if we'll be able to use everyone you send our way. Call John Stokes if you wanted to organize an outing. We want to Get in touch with some of the people that use the trails. The whole trail system. We plan to get started with production of this piece within next week. Senior Center The Senior Center asked Susan if the Commission would be willing to support the proposed art center for the Senior Center. Mark: We need more information Dawn: Is it for a place where the displayed art would be for sale? Susan: The art has contact information attached, but is not explicitly for sale. Mayor: Is that part of the concept that they are asking for parking improvement, pottery center, expanded facilities totaling $8,000,000. Here is an example of where we've tried to keep this alive through compromise. They have agreed to drop the pottery studio and we've been able to work the request down to $4,000,000. Susan: I will have more information for next meeting. Handicapped Parking How-to Flyer Mark handed out copies of the flyer Kim Guzman from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) used Mark's form that he proposed to create a form to instruct individuals on how to use handicapped placards and parking spots. They will hand them out with the placards. Action: The COD will commend Kim Guzman. Contact information: P.O. Box 1280, Fort Collins. 80522 Subcommittee reports Art Show The banner for the show is completed (the banner was on display at the meeting) Posters advertising the show went up June 11' A soapbox was also written. Only 5 artists this year. The application deadline was extended until the 214 of July. Volunteers are needed from 8:30 am - 9:45 am to help the artists setup by 10. Saturday 308n Practical Housing for All We were invited back to the Sensible Housing Summit that took place in June We have a presentation coming up for the Housing Now conference October 18, at Beaver Run in Breckenridge We would like to put together a 10 minute video for that presentation. Laura: Get a student from CSU to design a model house. Dawn: The Center for Community Participation (CCP) at CSU has students in occupational therapy that could work with construction management. Peggy: What can we do to help? Mark: If you know somebody that we could approach for funding that would be most helpful. Mark: I am also the liaison to the Affordable Housing Board. They are looking at Affordable and Livable housing. The key is to have features built-in to homes. How do you get a no barrier entry where there are engineering requirements that limit possibilities for built-in no -barrier access? We still have no answers. Susan: We still want [Mark] to do a soap box for PHA. Mark: We now have a PHA home on parade of homes. Jay Stoner is the builder. Out off of hwy 14 East of 125. It is a $400,000 home. Working with an organization in Denver as well. It was the Senior Housing Council. They came to our meeting and adopted what we've done here and changed to be the Active Living Homes Council. Mayor's Awards Mayor's awards is a recognition of people that have impacted the lives of people with disabilities here in Fort Collins. There is information on the Fort Collins Government website. NOD Award Application Action: Make sure that the COD gets specific points to Melinda Public Outreach Next month we will have the brochures at the meeting. Everyone needs to take some and put them in different places. Budget Action: Jerry to e-mail out approved budget Motion: to adjourn by: Laura, second Melinda Approved by voice vote Adjourned, 2:50 P.M.