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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJuly 22, 2020 Minutes Harry Kim William H. Farr Mayor Executive on Aging County of Hawai‘i OFFICE OF AGING Mayor’s Committee on People with Disabilities Minutes July 22, 2020 Aging and Disability Resource Center, 1055 Kino‘ole Street, Suite 101, Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720-3872 Phone (808) 961-8600  Fax (808) 961-8603  Email: hcoa@hawaiiantel.net West Hawai‘i Civic Center, 74-5044 Ane Keohokālole Highway, Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi 96740 Phone (808) 323-4390  Fax (808) 323-4398 Call to Order: (Interim Chair) Linda Gonzales called the meeting to start at 10:00 am. Members Present: Linda Gonzales (Interim Chair), Susan Shirachi (Secretary/Treasurer), Pamela Punihaole, Michelle Hiraishi, Byron Yogi Members Excused: Penny Alcoran County Staff: William H. Farr (Executive on Aging), Angelica Malia Hall (Corporation Council), Christina Raine (Office of Aging Administrative Assistant), Charline Blanco (Office of Aging) Members Absent: Penny Alcoran (Excused) Guests Present: Sam Nagasawa Topic/Agenda Item Discussion Action Interim Chair Gonzales asked The Committee members acknowledged their 1. Welcome and everyone to introduce presence. Introductions themselves. Approval of the February 19, Correction to the name of member Punihaole’s 2. Approval of the 2020 Meeting Minutes (as name. Meeting minutes unanimously approved February 19, 2020 amended). as amended. Meeting Minutes No Public Testimony 3. Public Testimony on Agenda Items. Page 1 of 6 Hawai`i County is an equal opportunity provider and employer. An Area Agency on Aging A.Procedure for our advisory Member Gonzales expressed her frustration of 4. Old Business letters to the Mayor the past practice of the committee not providing regular communication to the Mayor, nor produced documents that included suggestions about County issues with Committee recommendations. Having committee awareness for the Mayor was determined to be important to this committee. Members Hiraishi and Gonzales felt that accountability to the Mayor of the Committee’s actions to fulfill the charge of the committee. Committee members asked to receive the past annual report. Christina Raine will facilitate the location of the report and distribute to the members. Members agreed that the letter to the Mayor would be drafted at the meeting on matters of their noted community concerns that have impacted community members of persons with disabilities (e.g., parking tickets, and volunteer ticketing agents). The letter should be addressed to the Mayor via Rose Bautista (Executive Assistant). There were conversations about the issue of parking tickets and income generation from ticketing going to the County (ticketing funds if a State of Hawaii matters). Interim Chair Gonzales volunteered to draft the initial letter to the Mayor about the issue of lack of enforcement for parking violations for illegal use of reserved parking stalls for persons with disabilities. The letter would be drafted during this meeting. Member Hiraishi will contact Disability Communication Access Board for the community policing parking violation notices. She will share them with committee members once obtained. Member Gonzales nominated Michelle Hiraishi and Member Punihaole seconded. All members Page 2 of 6 Hawai`i County is an equal opportunity provider and employer. An Area Agency on Aging unanimously sustained Member Hiraishi to be the new Chair. Member Gonzales nominated Pamela Punihaole and Member Yogi seconded. All members unanimously sustained Member Punihaole to be the new Vice Chair. Secretary/Treasurer Shirachi is to do a training with the two new members of the Executive Committee before the next meeting. Christina Raine mentioned the past history of why the multiple sites were not acceptable, but B.Nominations for new Corporate Counsel Hall indicated that mixed Officers - Chair and Vice sites would be permitted as long as the public is Chair able to connect to the add-in with their public input. The possibility of multiple call in participation will be explored by Corporate Counsel Hall. Zoom is not being considered as an option for video conferencing platforms. The Office of Aging does not have an IT specialist to assist with the issue of technology support, with the exception of teleconferencing. Video conferencing will need to be done through a third party vendor that the Office of Aging would need to pay for using Committee funds. Due to logistic coordination the only way for video conferencing for island wide coverage is that the meeting will need to be done at the County Council chambers or at the ADRC Center. The issue of having meetings in a more C. Follow up on possibility of accessible site that is closer to where the public Videoconferencing for MCPD is able to attend without incurring additional meetings County costs. This also includes where the committee minutes are archived on the County of Hawaii website. Committee Chair to add in the item of the use of social media to expand outreach to the community as an issue that the committee is concerned about. Page 3 of 6 Hawai`i County is an equal opportunity provider and employer. An Area Agency on Aging The former ADA Recreational Specialist Parks and Recreation is no longer in the position. The new ADA Coordinator of the County of Hawaii, Tasha Hoggatt, will be asked to attend one of the future meetings. Executive meeting to remain as being held after the meetings. A discussion was held to clarify about the frequency of the committee meeting for the rest of the calendar year. The treasurer’s report was shared. Current year has a budget of $2912.00. No expenses recorded up to this date. At this time, there is sufficient amount in the committee budget to pay for travel for bi-monthly meetings. If the meetings were increased to monthly meetings, then the budget would not be able to cover those costs. Membership did not feel that Quarterly meetings would be for the best interest of the community of persons with disabilities. Refer to the above videoconferencing discussion that relates to this item. Island wide representation is important to the committee’s purpose. The next meeting of August 19 will keep the D. Proposals for Tentative meeting dates on track (as per the February 19, future Guest speakers 2020 minutes). End of Mayor Kim ends on December 7, 2020. There will be no meetings on September 16, 2020, November 18, 2020 and December, 2020. The two remaining meeting dates are August 19, 2020 and October 28, 2020. At the last meeting, the committee should be devoted to write a summary letter to the Mayor E. Executive Meeting to Page 4 of 6 Hawai`i County is an equal opportunity provider and employer. An Area Agency on Aging Follow Each Monthly Meeting for the purpose of providing transitional information to the present or prior members. 6. New Business If there are no committee discussion items, a recommendation to the Chair was to have the A. Budget Report Executive Committee meet to discuss any emergency issues. Reminder to the Committee members about the County COVID 19 procedures for the safety of the members. B. Discussion on holding meetings in Quarterly due to budget and travel constraints C. Review upcoming Meeting dates for meeting rooms to be reserved. Page 5 of 6 Hawai`i County is an equal opportunity provider and employer. An Area Agency on Aging D. Provide new procedures in place for COVID-19 protection No Announcements. 7. Announcements Pending Chair Hiraishi will be bringing the 8. Vox Populi topic of by-laws revision for discussion. She (Voice of the also mentioned the annual report that needs to People) be created and submitted with the financial/budget report to the Mayor’s Office. Christina will send the last annual report to the members. The last annual report was submitted in September, 2019. Committee Member Punihaole will be submitting an article to the Silver Bulletin for public awareness of the Committee meeting (either August or October.) August 19, 2020 10:00 A.M. Next Meeting West Hawaii Civic Center Hale G Building Committee Member Pamela The meeting adjourned at 11:25 am. Punihaole made a motion to Adjournment adjourn. Committee Member Michelle Hiraishi seconded the motion. All were in favor. Page 6 of 6 Hawai`i County is an equal opportunity provider and employer. An Area Agency on Aging