HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommission On Disability - Minutes - 01/14/2010COMMISSION ON DISABILITY
Fort Collins City Hall: Council Information Center: 12:15 p.m.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Present: Sam Cavallaro, Jeffrey Coon, Mare Franklin-Gaumer, Hettie Huber, Kalin Logan,
Michelle Miller, Karen Perry, Terry Schlicting.
Absent: Carrie Sue Rogers
City: Mayor Doug Hutchinson City Council Liaison, Ethan Cozzens, Rosanne McDonnell.
Guests: Kent Bryans HR Commission, Bruce Byrne CoFC, Cheryl Distaso CJPE, Felix Lee
Utilities, Gary Schroeder Utilities, Jenna Stieben formerly CoFC.
Call To Order: 12:27pm by Terry Schlicting
1. Introductions (10 minutes)
2. Approval of Minutes
December (15 minutes)
Approved.
3. Open Discussion General Public (20 minutes)
Kent Bryans is a member of the Human Relations Commission. He wanted to announce
that the HRC presents the annual Human Relations Award to recognize those citizens
who have advanced the cause of human rights through their volunteer efforts. There is a
call for nominations beginning in March. Nominations can be made on-line at
www.fcgov.com or you may e-mail your nominations to kentdbryans@hotmail.com.
Karen Perry shared her personal struggles with mobility with the COD. After the
snowstorms Ft Collins she has been experiencing, the streets are plowed, but this creates
large drifts on the sides of the roads and the curb cut outs. For those with mobility
barriers, this can make navigation and bus usage difficult, or even impossible. Ethan will
contact Larry Schneider and invite him to the next meeting to discuss this. Transfort
contracts snow removal for over 500 bus stops with Nextmedia. If they have missed a
stop, who should be contacted? For now, Terry suggested calling (970) 416-2200 (the
Nuisance Hotline) for specific areas where snow is a problem.
4. New Business (1 hour)
1. Mayor Hutchinson (EPIC and Council work session)
Terry had wondered if it was possible to take this on-going EPIC bus stop dilemma to a
City Council work session. Mayor Hutchinson explained that work sessions are just that.
The work session format and time constraint cannot support bringing new issues to the
attention of City Council. There are other ways to dialogue with the council. Foremost is
that the mayor, our liaison, can bring issues or concerns directly to them. If the COD
feels strongly that they need to meet with the council, the mayor can request an audience
with 3 council members, but actually City Council meetings are held for this purpose.
The council strongly supports citizen input.
Two more suggestions were made regarding the difficulty of individuals with disabilities
accessing EPIC. One was made by Kent Bryans who suggested that the Colorado Civil
Rights Office be contacted as this could possibly constitute an infringement on the rights
of certain individuals to access EPIC. The other is to more thoroughly explore
Logisticare’s rules and regulations to see if there is any way to waive the Dial-A-Ride
fee. Also, explore other programs or subsidies that might be in place and may have been
overlooked. The COD should e-mail the mayor with these findings.
2. Felix Lee (Green building project)
Felix lee is the Green Building Code Project Manager. He and Gary Schroeder are part
of a 4 member team effort to jump start the city’s Green Building Plan. At a November
2009 retreat approximately 25 city staff members from different departments came
together to come up with a Green Building Road Map. The results of this retreat were
presented to City Council. Ideas presented were plans to work together as a community
to develop a foundation that could sustain us for the next 20 years. The plan is to achieve
a triple bottom line; Economy, Environment and Social Sustainability. They are looking
at a new model of building codes, featuring structures/buildings with built in features that
would last a lifetime. This model is known as Cradle to Cradle, as it is meant to
withstand more than one lifetime. Practical Housing for All (PHA) has a point based
system that takes into consideration energy efficiency, based on things like lot design,
water, resource and environmental conservation. These points could possibly have
incentives such as tax breaks, etc.
Terry was wondering how the COD could create an awareness of this information.
Ethan, who is a project Manager, will attend meetings and report back to the COD. The
COD can put a list of questions together and Felix or Jeffrey Coon can answer them. The
Commission might put this on the agenda for next month to see how they would like to
follow the progress.
5. Old Business
1. Trimble court update
Cheryl reported that she visited the Trimble Court alleyway with approximately 10
people with varied mobility issues. These individuals experienced difficulties due to the
width between the bricks and the divots that occurred from powerwashing. She will
suggest that Aspen Construction continue to use the same type of brick, but lay them
closer together. She will also suggest they use a polymer sand to prevent the divots.
2. Sub-Committee Reports
Same as above
6. Community News and Updates
Mike and Cheryl have continued their accessibility measure of downtown businesses and
public places. Their quest is not to alter the look of old town or cost business owners
money. They are hoping to increase revenue and awareness by creating better
accessibility. The DBA may be willing to buy temporary ramps that could be used as
needed. Possibly doorbells could be used to alert employees when assistance is needed.
Another thought was to provide business owners with a universal sticker for their
establishment promoting accessibility.
Bruce Byrne and Jenna Stieben were awarded plaques for their service as City of Fort
Collins support to the COD. Thank you both for all your hard work.
7. Adjourn 2:10pm