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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommission On Disability - Minutes - 01/24/1997COMMISSION ON DISABILITY MEETING MINUTES Council Liaison: Alan Apt January 24,1997 2:00 pm Staff Liaison: Nancy Stirling 11 Chairperson: Kathy Lassen Phone: (H) 204-0614 (W) 491-5930 Members Present: Mark Cummings Angela Byrne Kathy Lassen Amy Rosenberg Mark Kramer Initha Stuckey Frank Blakely Shirley Reichenbach (Conf. Phone) Members Absent: Jacqueline Hyatt Ray Sanderson Craig Wallerstein City Staff Present: Nancy L. Stirling, COD Staff Liaison Laurie Fonken-Joseph, Human Rights Officer John Fischbach, City Manager Bob Noe, Parking Services Guests: None. Chairperson Kathy Lassen began the meeting at 2:10 pm. I. Minutes Chairperson Kathy Lassen asked if anyone had any comments or changes for the November 1996 meeting minutes. There were none. Amy Rosenberg motioned to accept the minutes as they stood; Angela Byrne seconded. The vote to accept the minutes was unanimous. II. By -Laws A draft copy of the By-laws were mailed to Commission members (in December). The draft showed the changes recommended by Commission members. No other changes were recommended. A vote to accept the By-laws as they now stood was unanimous. Copies of the now revised By-laws will be mailed to Commission members with the minutes of this meeting. Page 1 III. City Manaeer, John Fischbach The City of Fort Collins City Manager, Mr. John Fischbach, attended the meeting. Mr. Fischbach wanted to visit with the COD and lend his support, both personally and as the City Manager, towards disability awareness. He is willing to "commit resources and support" to COD efforts and disability awareness activities. He asked the Commission if there was anything the City does or should be doing for disability awareness. Frank mentioned his involvement with the planning committee at HP of Fort Collins — the PIE committee that put together HP's Disability Awareness event last October. Frank will take Mr. Fischbach's words of support to the next PIE planning meeting. IV. Bob Noe, Parkine Services Reviewed the downtown parking situation with the Commission. He says several parking spaces have been added in public parking lots. On -street parking has not yet been revised. These may take more time and money — some areas require reconstruction and curb cuts. Question: (Frank) What about shopping center lots? Parking Services are not authorized to go in and ticket vehicles on private property. Police Officers and volunteer citizens can leave tickets, though. The parking lot at Steele's on Harmony: there are no handicapped parking spaces in front of the new stores there. Bob says he will look into it. Snow removal: there have been incidences during the recent snow storms where people clearing snow from the streets or the sidewalks are dumping snow piles at the curb cuts — very difficult to get around. Angela notified the Streets Department about this. Bob says that Rich Kopp at the Streets Department is the person who oversees snow removal and would be the appropriate person to address this. (Bob will find out who and what "mechanism" is in place for clearing curb cuts and accessible ramps.) John Fischbach explained the snow removal is very expensive; he does recognize the problem of snow being dumped at curb cuts and will look into it. Shirley mentioned that COD has in the past sent notices/reminders to snow removal companies about not blocking access routes. Maybe we need to do this again? V. Commission on Disability "Flyer" Nancy received a copy from the City Clerks Office of the Commission on Disability "Flyer" that is made available during application time. The Clerks Office asked the Staff Liaisons to review the flyer and make any changes needed. In reviewing the flyer, Nancy saw that the language used was outdated — it included terms like "disabled individuals", "handicapped," etc. Nancy returned the flyer to the City Clerks Office with changes such as "individuals with disabilities." The Clerks Office informed Nancy that the original statements come from the City's Code Book. In order to get the language officially changed the Commission would need to submit the changes and they would have to be approved by the City Council. Nancy provided copies of the flyer for the Commission at this meeting and asked them to review it and make any changes. The functions themselves could not be changed, but the language could be. The Commission made several changes to the document. Nancy will give the changes to the City Clerks Office who will then advise her on the next steps. Page 2 • VI. Other Business: A. Dial -a -Ride (Ray thru Kathy): are raising their rates as of the I" of January 1997. They have raised the rate as high as they are allowed. Customers feel this is unfair. Kathy will address the issue with a letter on behalf of the Commission and Nancy will send it. B. Entrance to Foothills Mall — near J C Penney (Angela): The button for the automatic accessible door near Penney's keeps getting stolen. Management has been approached about this but do not seem to take an interest in it. Kathy will send a letter to the management inviting them to attend a COD meeting so together a solution can be found. Note from Shirley: the Mall has been receptive to suggestions from the COD before so hopefully they will be now as well. C. Association for Community Living(ARC): Initha mentioned that the ARC is having trouble obtaining volunteers. If cannot get volunteers to help them they will have to stop their services. Initha brought a letter that is being circulated to obtain signatures of interested individuals (or their support). D. Orthopedic Center near Pulse: minors in the Ladie's Restrooms are not full-length. Kathy will send a letter to them. E. Su eestion: need to put some sort of process in place to follow-up on issues (i.e., the Mayor's letter to the Postmaster). It was discussed that perhaps the individuals who are interested in a particular issue could follow-up on them and report back to the Commission. VII. COD Timeline Nancy handed out copies of the "COD Timeline". Presently the only items on it are the Mayor's Awards in October, NewWest Fest in August, and administrative deadlines (i.e., 1998 Workplan and 1997 Annual Report). Due to lack of time, members of the Commission were asked to look over the current workplan, review items they have volunteered to work on, meet with fellow committee members and design a timeline for their project(s). At the next COD meeting, sub- committees will report their "timeline" for their project(s) which will be included on a Master Timeline. Things to consider: ■ Where is the sub -committee now in regard to their project(s)? ■ Who is responsible for what? ■ When does the project(s) need to begin? ■ How long will it take to complete the project(s)? ■ What steps are involved to complete the project(s) and what are their timelines? VIII. COD Video Discussion There was some discussion about the "Video" workplan item. Think it should be included as part of "presentation" and not as a separate item. Specifics of the video need to be determined — probably cannot determine until a presentation outline is formed. How much money does the COD have to make a video? Once the specifics of the video are determined (length, topic, style, etc.), Nancy can discuss it with Pete Dallow or Blair Leist of Administrative Services. Page 3 Pictures for a slide show: Mark C. will take pictures with his personal camera. Some suggestions from Commission members of what to take pictures of: COD accomplishments (Mayor's Awards, pier at City Park, etc.), snow removal, transportation, accessibility at employment, etc.). Video discussion will be continued at the next meeting. IX. Suggestion for Workplan: Break down the "barrier awareness" section/events into specific workplan items with assigned sub -committee members. Need to designate leads for the events. Frank volunteered to be the lead for the "City Disability Awareness" event. Meeting concluded at 4:30 pm. Page 4