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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-08-04 Committee on People with Disabilities Minutes COMMITTEE ON PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES Friday, August 4, 2006, 10:30 a.m. Kona Mayors Office Conference Room PRESENT: Lawrence Scadden, Chair; Michael Gleason, James Souza, Julia Staten, Laura Tobosa EXCUSED: Ted Yamanaka, Vice-Chair; Betsy Whitney, Secretary; Denise Cowdrey, Jack Matsui GUESTS: Malina Dravis-Tucker, Interpreter; Susan Golden, Troy Kindred, Civil Defense Administrator; Jim Sabuda, Christian Syeerson CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 10:30 a.m. An introduction of committee members, staff, and guests wasmade. APPROVAL OF MINUTES M. Gleason made a motion to accept the minutes of June 2, 2006. J. Souza seconded the motion. The motion was passed. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ISSUES None. TREASURERS REPORT The treasurers report was reviewed. M. Gleason made a motion to accept the treasurers report as submitted. L. Tobosa seconded the motion. The motion was passed. CORRESPONDENCE A. Copy of a letter from Galen Kuba, Engineering Division Chief to John Hartman regarding Kuakini Highway Improvements, Palani Road to Hualalai Road B. Letter from Dwayne Yoshina, Office of Elections Chief Election Officer, to MCPD regarding accessibility to voting services and a voter informational packet C. Email from J. Souza to MCPD regarding misuse of a child of a deaf adult being used in the court of law as an interpreter L.Scaddenstatedthathedoesnotknowwhatactionwouldberequestedandasked J. Souza if the committee shoulddo anything about it. J. Souza said if it happens in thefuture,thenthecountyneedstodosomething.Twoweeksafterhereceivedthe email, J. Souza received a letter from the mother who requested that she wanted her daughterastheinterpreterratherthanhaveacourtappointedinterpreter.J.Souza said he has mixed feelings because many deaf people are afraid of interpreters Hawaii County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer because they dont understand an interpreter. Also, some interpreters dont really understand deaf cultures. He questionedthe honesty of the daughter being the interpreter. Some states like Maryland, for example, allow a deaf person to have an intermediary interpreter. M. Dravis-Tucker said she does not know Hawaii state law regarding using a member of the family as an interpreter. TEAM REPORTS A. EDUCATION/PUBLIC AWARENESS TEAM € M. GLEASON No report. B. RECREATIONTEAM €L. SCADDEN No report. C.TRANSPORTATION TEAM €B. WHITNEY No report. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. VOLUNTEER PARKING VIOLATION ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE € SGT. D. VERIATO Sergeant D. Veriato submitted program statistics for the Volunteer Disabled Parking Enforcement Program for April to June 2006 which was distributed to MCPD members. B. UPDATE FROM DCAB € C. FLEMING/N. OLESEN/K. SHAW The July and August report from K. Shaw, DCAB was distributed to MCPD members. L. Scadden reported that K. Shaw will be leaving DCAB and going to law school. Therefore, MCPD will have a new contact person from DCAB. C. ADA COORDINATORS REPORT € T. SPINOLA-CAMPBELL No report. D.PARKSAND RECREATION REPORT € A. MITCHENER No report. E. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS € L. SCADDEN No report. NEW BUSINESS A.EMERGENCYPREPAREDNESSFORPEOPLEWITHDISABILITIES€TROY KINDRED, CIVIL DEFENSE ADMINISTRATOR T.Kindredreportedthattodayisanopportunitytoreintegratehimselfwiththisgroup of people to try and see what can be done. He reviewed the state plan and there is alottobedesiredatthelocalleveltotryandintegratethemintothestateplan. 2 T. Kindred stated that they have purchased a device called reverse 911 which ties into the phone system. It provides information data based on your phone number where exactly you live on the ground. He can call from home or the car to enable the system and it will call all the department heads for him in the event of a major disaster. It will call their home phone, pager, and work phone. The system is also smart enough to know if an answering machine answered or someone else answered and it will give him a report when he arrives at work of who has been contacted and who has not. It relieves the Fire Department during a tsunami event because each fire station had a long list of people within that community group they had to call. In the past, he and his staff each had 12 people to call in addition to managing the emergency. Furthermore, this device will also enable them to develop an alternative call list that they can identify such as people with special needs or people with disabilities. T.Kindredsaidthathereviewedthestateplanthismorning.Theplanreestablishes that emergency preparedness begins with the individual. If youre someone with a disability or special need, you have a greater burden to be prepared because there is more challenges. Knowing where you live and what hazards are associated with your area helps reduce the risk of everybody concerned. During a windstorm, you may be stuck at home for a number of days. The Public Works Department will work day and night to get the trees and telephone poles out of the way so people can have ingress and egress. It is critical for someone who needs medication or special care that they have a supply of at least three to five days worth of things on hand. T. Kindred mentioned that he has been on the job for three years, 18 months of which he has been gone in the Middle East. In that three years, the Civil Defense Agency has only now just got four people they were authorized. There is a little backlog, but they are catching up on things. It is essential that they work hand in hand with the disabled community to make it more efficient and to meet the needs of everybody. J. Souza reported that he had a meeting with Lanny Nakano two years ago regarding emergency preparedness. He asked if T. Kindred had a list that was generated with him. T. Kindred said he didnt bring the list with him, but he can update it and move forward. L. Nakano is very good at maintaining notes and documents. J. Souza offered to forward a report from the meeting to T. Kindred. J. Souza asked if reverse 911 will work for a deaf person who has a video phone because those phones do not connect with the police department/911. T. Kindred replied he does not know if it will work at all. He needs to research ways to tie that in and do something else to try and fix it. Secondly, J. Souza said he has 911 relay service on his blackberry and asked whether reverse 911 will work on his blackberry. T. Kindred said he knows the technology is there, but he does not know how it works. There are also initiatives which some other counties have done in certain alerts are certain scenarios they developed an email distribution list. 3 S. Golden reported that it was announced awhile ago that generators will be purchased for the wells so that the water system would not stop during a power failure. T. Kindred responded that it has not been done yet. Mayor H. Kim appropriated $2 million this fiscal year in his budget to purchase those emergency generators and Civil Defense will make it happen. T. Kindred said he is waiting for the specifications for the generators from the Water Department so he can do a specification bid sheet. The $2 million will cover at least one generator per district. The Mayor is working with the Water Department and Civil Defense to determine the best location to start. The funds need to be executed before June 30, 2007. L. Scadden asked the accessibility of Level I, emergency shelters if people with disabilities need to be sent there. T. Kindred responded he is being reacquainted with the differences between Level I, Level II, and Level III for the different styles of shelter. He does not believe that we have a shelter here that meets the Level II requirements.HehasadetailedbinderfromtheStateCivilDefenseidentifyingalist of the good things, bad things, and the things that need to be improved of each facility. Furthermore, there is a new individual at State Civil Defense named Danny Tengan who is very responsive to his questions. There is a difference between a shelter and a center. A center is a county owned facility and it is easy to open a center. A shelter is a school or facility operated by another agency. Both of the shelter and center work for all emergencies until the wind starts to blow. In a hurricane scenario, only the State Civil Defense can designate what a hurricane shelter is. If its a hurricane event, the American Red Cross will only go to a site pre-designated by State Civil Defense at the hurricane shelter. There are three centers (Yano Hall, Imin Center, Pahoa) located on the Big Island that they wanted to retrofit. However, the cost ratio benefit of how much it would cost to retrofit that shelter versus how many people they can put in that shelter was not too efficient. Therefore, the State Civil Defense has now floated a list which he sent to the Mayor yesterday identifying Holualoa School, Keaau High School and Intermediate School, and Konawaena Schools as hurricane shelters. T. Kindred stated that they recently received a container from FEMA consisting of 500 cots, 500 blankets, 500 toiletry kits to load on a truck and take some place. He is asking FEMA for more because he could use his Homeland Security Grant money to purchase and try to put one of those in each community. M. Gleason reported that if an organization was in the process of building a facility and wanted to make it a Level II shelter, where would they go to find out the specifications for that. T. Kindred suggested that he contact our local representative at the Department of Health. If the Department of Health is unable to provide an answer, then the State Civil Defense should be contacted. L. Scadden said he has been asked a number of times by people in the county of what may be done to make sure people with disabilities are included in the Civil Defense drills and the thought process. T. Kindred responded that he thinks they 4 will include people with disabilities. The Hawaii County Civil Defense has always made an emergency outrageous plan for the general population. There is not a tab in there that says special needs or people with disabilities because the focus was how to reach them and how to get them. The Civil Defense Agency does conduct drills. For example, on August 14 and August 15, the Department of Public Works, the Civil Defense Agency, and other departments will participate in a tsunami road block plan. At the Civil Defense level, they will be doing a command post exercise to make sure they have communication with everybody and make sure they track the exercise so they know where everything is. L. Scadden asked if the Civil Defense Agency does drills with regards to shelters and centers as to how well prepared they are. T. Kindred said they actually do live drills. Anytime they have heavy rains in Kawa Flat between Pahala and Naalehu, the children get cut off because the schools are on one side and most of the children liveontheotherside.HewillopenupashelterinPahalaandNaalehuwhenever there is a road closure. The American Red Cross mobilizes people and they open up the shelters with the Civil Defense Agency and they usually man it. However, they have never had a full-blown exercise with the American Red Cross for shelters. There is a lot of attention being put on shelters right now such as retrofitting some of these shelters pending availability of funding. T. Kindred mentioned that the Hawaii Volcanoes Observatory has a very detailed map which will draw a line through different TMKs of where the different lava flow zones are. It is based on historic precedence and based on topographical maps to see which direction the lava will flow as it comes down. The military developed a computer system called a Geographic Information System which puts in a topographical map and street map. Once he clicks on the property it will pop up who owns it, the value, and different information. T. Kindred encouraged MCPD members and the public to call or e-mail him for any concerns or questions. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NON-AGENDA ISSUES J. Sabuda reported that he is a new resident to the Big Island. He and his wife moved from Seattle and he owns a company that provides products and services for access and mobility such as ramps and grab bars. His wife is a special education teacher at Kahakai School. He is looking for opportunities to get involved with the local community. ANNOUNCEMENTS L.ScaddenannouncedthatthepublicisinvitedtotwopublicopenhousesonThursday, August 17, 2006, at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, August 19, 2006, at 3:00 p.m. for the new replacementoftheUSSArizonaMemorialVisitorCenteratPearlHarboronOahu. L.ScaddenannouncedthatMCPDneedstoelectnewofficers.Hefeltheshouldnotbe the chair for the next year. Secondly, other members have not been as active and 5 MCPD should look at some of the members resigning and getting new members since the committee has not been ableto make quorum. He suggested that MCPD have election of officers and discuss committee membership at the next meeting. The next meeting will be held on Friday, September 1, 2006, at 10:30 a.m. in the Aupuni Center Conference Room. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 11:28 a.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, _______________________________ JEAN VIERNES, STAFF SECRETARY 6