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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommission On Disability - Minutes - 11/14/19831] C.IiY OF FORT COLLINS P.O. BOX 580 FORT COLLINS. COLORADO 80522 PHONE COMMISSION ON DISABILITY MINUTES COMMISSION ON DISABILITY November 14, 1983 The regular meeting of the Commission on Disability was called to order by Chairperson Bobbie Guye, at 6:39 p.m. on Monday, November 14, 1983, in the Old Firehouse Building, 232 Walnut Street, Fort Collins, Colorado 80524. Members Present: Eldon Decker, Bobbie Guye, Nancy Jackson, Rose Kreston, Betty Shuey, Dorothy Lasley, Tim Kientz, Betty Pidcock, and Rosalie Smith Members Absent:- Charlotte Kanode, Pat Crist City Staff: Diana Royval Guests: Ken Sylvester and Rita Davis of Transfort Jim Cox and Dave Hieronymus of "Architecture Plus"... working with the City on the remodeling of Old City Hall. Jack Gianoloa - City _Project Manager Tom Frazier - City General Services Director Barbara Schellenberger and Peggy Walker of the Adaptive Aquatics Committee - CITIZENS TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY BOARD Ken Sylvester reported that he had recently attended Regional, State, and National Transportation conferences and wanted to recommend the formation of a seven -member Advisory Board to Transfort to deal specifically with issues and concerns of the Handicapped and Senior communities of Fort Collins. He asked C.O.D. to designate four members to the Board and said he would be in contact with the Senior Board to request that they name three members. COD's original recommendation had been for a larger board to include representation from CSU and from the general public as well. Ken explained that CSU is on a contract basis with Transfort and input from CSU is handled at contract negotiations. He further stated that he felt a larger board was not appropriate for the present small size of the City transportation system and that Transfort wanted to start with only the Handicapped and Seniors represented. Consideration of expansion of the board to include the general public would be given at some future time after the system had grown and the C.O.D. Minutes • 0 November 14, 1983 Page 2 proposed board had functioned for awhile. Ken also stated that surveys will be made in the near future asking both the general public and CSU segments to evaluate the present system and give suggestions for improvements. COD is requested to designate four members at the December meeting, submit the names to Transfort, and Transfort will proceed with activation of an Advisory Board. REMODELING AT OLD CITY HALL Jim Cox and Dave Hieronymus reported that there are some problems with the revisions of signing at Old City Hall. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) code would not be met by signs which match those presently in use in New City Hall and one type of sign previously chosen would require prohibitive amounts of wall space. The architects presented three different sign types for evaluation. Factors to be considered in the selec- tion included: Legibility, Compliance with ANSI code, and Compatibility (and interchangeability) of signing between the two buildings involved. Tom Frazier and Jack Gianola gave further information and discussion and evaluation of the signs followed. COD designated one type as preferable and requested that it be used: 1) throughout Old City Hall, 2) where deficient signing has been found in New City Hall, and 3) elsewhere in New City Hall as changes are required and/or as funds become available. Dorothy Lasley made a motion that the routed lettering on the exterior directory and the raised lettering on the interior new signs should all meet ANSI code. The motion was seconded and passed. POSSIBLE MODIFICATIONS ON THE INDOOR SWIMMING POOL Barbara Schellenberger, Peggy Walker and Tom Frazier addressed the proposed modifications to the indoor swimming pool. Recommendations by the Adapted Aquatics Advisory Board were read and Tom Frazier responded with the following comments: 1. It is possible to go through City channels and get analysis of the proposals for feasibility and cost estimates. This would require a "little seed money". 2. If all the proposed changes were undertaken they would range upward to a total cost of $40-50,000. 3. The entire status of the pool is in question. The City at present is not putting funds into the pool, awaiting settlement of the City- C.O.D. Minutes • November 14, 198� Page 3 School District controversy regarding pool maintenance. Some City factions are saying that they will see the pool closed before they approve the City paying for renovation. Some resolution of this problem is predicted within the next year. Betty Pidcock mentioned several changes which could be done readily and with relatively small cost. The group consensus favored this type of thing as the only action for the present. The Adapted Aquatics Advisory Board re- commendations were turned over to Frazier to analyze for those readily attain- able goals which could be made quickly and inexpensively. Peggy Walker invited all present to an Adapted Aquatics Advisory Board Swim Party and Potluck on Sunday, November 20th from 4:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m., to be held at the Municipal Pool. Transportation can be arranged for those needing it. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Nancy Jackson corrected the minutes of October loth on page 1 to read "American Public Transit Association" rather than "American Public Trans- portation Association". Dorothy Lasley made a motion that the minutes be accepted as corrected. The motion was seconded and carried. LIAISON REPORTS Bobbie Guye reported that the four months pilot projectforalternative transportation has been dubbed "SAINT" (Senior Alternatives IN Transportation) and was to start up on November 14th. Gwen Gannon has been named Administrator. At present Seniorsonly will be served, with possible expansion after the four months trial period, to include handicapped. Phone contact is to be made through Gail Woods' office at City Hall, the Utility Property Tax Rebate Volunteer Desk or, at night, through the Transfort office. A charge of 50 cents one-way is requested from riders but not mandatory; drivers are volun- teers but paid 20 cents per mile for their vehicle. Representatives from both Transfort and Care -A -Van are on the board to help coordinate efforts and eliminate competition or redundency. The Mountain Bell Consumer panel will meet December 12th for a 12 noon luncheon meeting at the Lincoln Center. 504 LEGISLATIVE CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE Nancy Jackson and Bobbie Guye attended the American Public Transit Associ- ation.Conference in Denver on October 26th, supporting ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation) at their panel presentation. ADAPT gave a clear call for equal treatment in public transit. They used Mayor Pena's Proclamation regarding accessible public transportation as their concluding statement and resolution. APTA did not vote on the resolution. C.O.D. Minutes • • November 14, 1983 Page 4 Rose Kreston went to Denver on October 24th to join the ADAPT picket lines at the Convention hotel. She noted that about 20 states were represented in the picket lines. The Department of Transportation will take public comment on their 504 Re- gulations Revisions until December 8th. The trend in interpretation is toward local option rather than achieving uniform national standards. This is directly in opposition to ADAPT's goals and will strongly restrict input by the handicapped community in issues of public transportation. Rose Kreston has condensed a 12-page DREDF letter regarding 504 interpretation and sent it to the Department of Transportation. Copies of this letter will go out with November COD minutes so that members can increase the input to D.O.T. RESOURCE DIRECTORY Bobbie Guye reported that the Resource Directory is still in the process of final typing. It was suggested that Evelyn Huser might be able to help. There will be no charge for the directory to other agencies except for extra copies. STATUS OF ABRF Diana Royval reported the current status of ABRF to be: Administrative Funds: $ 553.97 Grant Funds: $35,856.75 Word has been received from the HUD office that TTD's, Ability Phones, etc., have been ok'd as legitimate expenses. However, a new contract will need to be developed by the City to establish an "equipment bank" and to make pro- vision for maintenance responsibility for this equipment. Diana will review Boulder's contract and discuss the situation with the Fort Collins City Attorney. A specific amount of money needs to be designated as a line item for "Public Service" equipment. This money will not. be transferrable back to ABRF. Eldon Decker made a motion that ,$10,000 be placed in the Public Service Fund, leaving $25,856.75 in ABRF. The motion was seconded and passed. Diana Royval will further check with the City Attorney regarding the status of such items as chairlifts and hydraulic lifts. If these items need to categorized as "Public Service" items, then the distribution of funds will be reconsidered. Current Application: Esther Lutz, whose PT and OT wrote on her behalf, has had a stroke and is confined to a wheelchair. Her only income is Retirement and Social Security. The request included a hydraulic bath lift, replacement of shag carpet, and removal of casing to widen door openings. C.O.D. Minutes • • November 14, 1983 Page 5 Follow-up on Dr. Baker's request: Diana Royval, Betty Shuey, Nancy Jackson and Rose Kreston have visited the office. It has been arranged for an architect to give Dr. Baker one consultation as well as one by Northern Medical personnel regarding possibilities for a chair lift. Rose Kreston has drafted a letter concerning Oakbrook I accessibility problems. This will be sent to Bill Butler, Manager of Oakbrook, with a copy to HUD. MISCELLANEOUS ANNOUNCEMENTS Dr. Benson, who donated the frames for the Mayor's Breakfast Award Certi- ficates, needs a receipt for the donation. Bobbie Guye will see to this. Todd Reed of the Jaycees contacted HID regarding a Thanksgiving turkey give-away. He has been given names of other agencies who will know specific persons. Eldon Decker has been contacted for names of needy persons for Christmas gifts and food, especially children. Diana Royval said she has some sug- gestions or HID can be contacted. HID has received 75 tickets for a November 30th concert by the Serendipity Singers in Lincoln Center. The concert is sponsored by the Exchange Club. About 25 tickets are still available. Betty Shuey reminded COD members that we need to contact possible members of the new Transfort Advisory Board so that we can finalize a list of four willing participants at the December meeting. Bobbie Guye announced that "Let's Ride" is having a Bake Sale at FFM on November 15th from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monies will be used to feed two newly donated horses @ $25 per month per horse. Rose Kreston announced that her office is working toward Handicapped Awareness Days on March 5 - 9. They are hopeful of having Ed Roberts, former Director of the California Division of Rehabilitation, as the featured speaker. HID has set the date of March 9A for their annual Wine Tasting. On October 25th Rose Kreston and Nancy Jackson attended the Parks and Recreation Board Meeting to participate in the Public Meeting item on their agenda. The Board received input and comments regarding the renovation and development of The Farm at Lee Martinez Park. The renovation project is designed to restore • C.O.D. Minutes • • November 14, 1983 Page 6 The Farm in order to preserve the farming heritage in this area, making it available as an educational opportunity for the urban family, especially children. Rose addressed the need to make The Farm entirely accessible to handicapped people, mentioning the Commission on Disability's Accessibility Team could offer recommendations when needed. Tom Smith, a CSU student, suggested The Farm include a passive solar green- house similar to the one in Cheyenne, Wyoming where elderly and handicapped people could grow and produce plants and flowers. Members of the Human Development Department's Community Garden Project and V.I.S.T.A. supported his proposal. Nancy also supported it, stressing the accessible features because of the interest in raised gardening shown by several physically handicapped people who use wheelchairs. h"I 111 tII7LIUMTH There being no further business, Eldon Decker made a motion that the meeting be adjourned at 9:25 p.m. The motion was seconded and carried. Respectfully Submitted, Rosalie Smith, Secretary