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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-02-03 Committee on People with Disabilities Minutes COMMITTEE ON PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES Friday, February 3, 2006, 10:30 a.m. Kona Mayors Office Conference Room PRESENT: Ted Yamanaka, Vice-Chair; DeniseCowdrey, Michael Gleason, Jack Matsui, James Souza, Laura Tobosa EXCUSED: Lawrence Scadden, Chair; Betsy Whitney, Secretary GUESTS: Malina Dravis-Tucker, Interpreter; Susan Golden, Debbie Jackson, DCAB; Sam Nagasawa, Sharon Smockhoffmann, Hawaii Disability Rights Center; Teri Spinola- Campbell, ADA Coordinator (Equal Opportunity Officer), Shaye Wylie, CIL-North and South Kona CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 10:42 a.m. An introduction of committee members, staff, and guests wasmade. APPROVAL OF MINUTES L. Tobosa made a motion to accept the minutes of January 6, 2006. D. Cowdrey 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. J. Matsui seconded the motion. The motion was passed. CORRESPONDENCE A. Letter from Mayor Harry Kim to Council Chairman Stacy Higa and Members of the County Council appointing Julia A. Staten replacing Elizabeth Mason to MCPD J. Staten is on the mainland and she will be on board at the next meeting. TEAM REPORTS A. EDUCATION/PUBLIC AWARENESS TEAM € M. GLEASON No report. B. RECREATIONTEAM €L. SCADDEN Noreport. C.TRANSPORTATIONTEAM€B.WHITNEY No report. Hawaii County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer D. NOMINATING TEAM € M. GLEASON/L. TOBOSA/B. WHITNEY Since the committees membership is full, D. Cowdrey made a motion to remove this item from the agenda. L. Tobosa seconded the motion. The motionwas passed. 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 October to December 2005 which was distributedto MCPD members. S. Golden reported that she has noticed along Alii Drive that there are all kinds of illegal parking now. There are no violations of handicapped parking, but all the curb cuts are being blocked. She asked if MCPD could follow up with the Police Department. T. Spinola-Campbell offered to forward S. Goldens complaint to Major John Dawrs in Kona because he has been concerned on different issues related to disability parking. M. Gleason said that this item has been on the agenda everytime and MCPD has invited somebody to come and speak to the committee every meeting, but nobody has come for a while. MCPD has always wanted the volunteer enforcement program to start in Hilo and to expand the program in Kona. What is the status of theprogram?Thereisnothingtocomparethequarterlyreportwithaprevious quarterly report or year-end report to indicate any progress. He suggested that MCPD invite a representative from the Police Department to provide an update on the program. T. Yamanaka offered to contact Sgt. D. Veriato. T. Spinola-Campbell mentioned that Joan Lawhead, volunteer enforcement officer in Kona, has raised concerns before the Disability Rights Hawaii meeting held in Hilo that one of the main problems they have identified is with private businesses that do not have compliance parking. J. Souza stated that it has been a long time that Hilo has had any applicants for the volunteer parking violation enforcement program. T. Spinola-Campbell said the process includes a record check, references, and criminal background check. B. UPDATE FROM DCAB € C. FLEMING/N. OLESEN/K. SHAW D. Jackson reviewed the February report from K. Shaw, DCAB which was distributed to MCPD members. C.ADACOORDINATORSREPORT€T.SPINOLA-CAMPBELL T. Spinola-Campbell provided her report as the ADA Coordinator for January 2006. ADACoordinatorsreportattached. J.Matsuiraisedanissueregardingdisabledparkingatasupermarketindowntown Hilo. The security guard is chasing away disabled patrons from parking in the 2 disabled stall because they claim parking is limited. He suggested that MCPD write a letter to the security companies asking for theircooperation. T. Spinola-Campbell said its a Title III issue because its a private supermarket. She suggested that a complaint be filed with Disability Right Hawaii so they could try to speak with the supermarket manager and suggest that their security people need training. If it does not improve, then the complainant could take further action with Hawaii Disability Rights Center. MCPD felt this issue is not in the scope of the committee. S. Smockhoffmann encouraged people with disabilities who witness a violation to contact their office on Oahu at 1-800-882-1057 (ask for Intake). The complaint would be forwarded to the Hilo or Kona office and they would write a letter to the violator saying they received a complaint, what the complaint/violation is, and to take care of the problem. If the problem is not taken care of, the violator could be taken to court and be sued. D. PARKS AND RECREATION REPORT € A. MITCHENER No report. E. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS € L. SCADDEN No report. NEW BUSINESS A. PARKING BILL AND EMERGENCY EVACUATION PLAN € D. JACKSON, DCAB D. Jackson reviewed the goals and objectives of the draft 2006 Interagency Plan for the Emergency Preparedness of People with Disabilities and Special Needs. She would like MCPDs comments after reviewing the draft. D. Jackson explained that some of the assumptions that DCAB started with while working on the draft is that people with disabilities at times can need special assistance or different assistance than people without disabilities. If you have a caregiver, than that person would have the responsibility to assist you. In some states, they do have a registry of people with disabilities. However, this stopped in allofthecountiesbecauseitgivespeopleafalsesenseofsecuritythatsomebody will come and rescue them during a crisis. Maybe after the crisis is over, people will goouttolookforpeoplebutprobablynotduringacrisis.Therefore,alistisnot recommended and it is also hard to keep updated. There should be a select number oflocationsthatdohavegeneratorssothatthereiselectricityintheevacuationsite. Some people with disabilities or medical needs do need refrigeration or electricity. At this time, they dont have any Level II shelters. This plan is looking at how they can develop Level II shelters, where some of the populations might be located, and identify people at the state and county level that are living in adult residential care homes that are getting services from the state or county so they can identify specific population groups and locate a Level II shelter with a generator near that area. 3 Hospitals are reserved for Level III people with special needs. Adult residential care homes, even though they are licensed by the state, are supposed to have a plan. In an emergency, the care homes tend to drop off their patients at the nearest hospital which is not appropriate. The patients may not need hospital level care so they should not be dropped off. Individuals with disabilities or with special needs can include people that become temporarily disabled during a disaster. People with disabilities or special needs should not be separated from their families because they require some medical needs. D. Jackson said these are the basic assumptions that they started out with in developing things. She asked if MCPD wanted to provide any comments on any of the goals and objectives in the plan. They primarily looked at shelters and notification for disabilities. There are other issues such as transportation and how do you get to the shelters. S. Golden said that the majority of the shelters were not wheelchair accessible so peoplewereturnedaway.D.Jacksonrepliedthattheyarenowlookingatallofthe shelters with Civil Defense and the Department of Education to ensure they are accessible for people to get in and out and bathrooms are accessible. The first goal says that all the Level I shelter will be accessible. There are hardly any Level II. S. Golden said she does not want any Level I, but to start at Level II. The meeting was recessed at 11:40 a.m. The meeting was reconvened at 11:50 a.m. J. Souza expressed concern for the deaf group and how they will be informed if they are on a farm or up on the mountains. He suggested that the state distribute pagers to the deaf community to be used for emergency only. D. Cowdrey agreed. D. Jackson reported that there were two bills that will help the counties. One was a statute change and the other was an appropriation bill to ensure that the counties were reimbursed for issuing parking placards. DCAB is asking for support of both bills. Testimony from individuals from the counties will assist DCAB in getting the bills passed. She would e-mail information about the hearings and sample testimonies to the counties. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NON-AGENDA ISSUES S. Smockhoffmann reported that through the PAVA (Protection and Advocacy for Voter Accessibility) Grant, they have developed a packet to talk to people with disabilities who are not registered and help themget registered. The packet includes how to file a complaintifthevotersiteisnotaccessible,yourguidetovotinginHawaiiavailablein Braille, absentee applications in Braille, instructions in completing the Wiki Wiki voter registrationinBraille,andelectioncomplaintforminBraille. T.Spinola-CampbellmentionedthatshereceivedanemailfromJoanBird,StateOffice of Election, and they want to hold islandwide meetings for people with disabilitieson 4 voting. J. Bird would like to get in touch with various people or suggest people in providing feedback. The email will be forwarded to J. Viernes and she will forward it to MCPD members. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next meeting will be held on Friday, March 3, 2006, at 10:30 a.m. in the Aupuni Center Conference Room. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 12:02 p.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, _______________________________ JEAN VIERNES, STAFF SECRETARY 5