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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-07-02 Committee on People with Disabilities Minutes COMMITTEE ON PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES Friday, July 2, 2004, 10:30 a.m. Aupuni Conference Room PRESENT: Michael Gleason, Chair; Ted Yamanaka, Vice-Chair; Denise Cowdrey, Jack Matsui, Lawrence Scadden, James Souza EXCUSED: Betsy Whitney, Secretary; Laura Tobosa GUESTS: Kaycie Carter, Office of Management; Malina Draivs, Interpreter; Norman Olesen, DCAB Board Member; Sonia Scadden, Teri Spinola-Campbell, ADA Coordinator (Personnel Program Specialist) CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 10:35 a.m. An introduction of committee members, staff, and guests wasmade. APPROVAL OF MINUTES L. Scadden made a motion to accept the minutes of May 7, 2004. T. Yamanaka seconded the motion. The motion was passed. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ISSUES None. TREASURERS REPORT The treasurers report for last fiscal year and the new fiscal were reviewed. M. Gleason reported that he suggested that T. Yamanaka attend the Tools for Life Workshop on July 9-10, 2004 on Oahu since MCPD had some leftover funds last fiscal year and he was unable to attend. He was unable to contact MCPD members since a decision had to be made quickly. Airfare, hotel, and an aide have been arranged for T.Yamanaka.Inaddition,theproposedbudgetforthenewfiscalyearreflectsthe same budget as last fiscal year. D. Cowdrey mentioned that MCPD discussed at a previous meeting about reallocating somelineitemcategoriesbecausethereseemstobefundsleftover.M.Gleason replied that the line item budget can be adjusted. T. Yamanaka made a motion to accept the treasurers reports as submitted. D.Cowdreysecondedthemotion.Themotionwaspassed. CORRESPONDENCE A. Report from Debbie Jackson, DCAB Program Specialist, regarding DCAB Activities UpdateforJune2004 Hawaii County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer L. Scadden reported that the DCAB report had a brief reference to efforts to prepare people with disabilities for voting this year. He is currently on the State Office of Elections Committee for selecting a new electronic voting machine that will be fully accessible for people with disabilities. People with disabilities are encouraged to participate and learn the voting machine in advance of the September primary election and November election. Public demonstrations will be held at the end of July and first part of August in Hilo, Kona, and Waimea. J. Souza mentioned that the Office of Elections selected him to do some training for deaf people on the Big Island. L. Tobosa and Center for Independent Living will be training later. There will be curbside parking and drive up to vote for people who cant walk easily into the election site. B. Report from Debbie Jackson, DCAB Program Specialist, regarding DCAB Activities Update for July 2004 C. ADA Coordinator Activities May 2004 SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS A. EDUCATION/PUBLIC AWARENESS SUBCOMMITTEE € M. GLEASON M. Gleason reported that this subcommittee did not meet this month. B. RECREATION SUBCOMMITTEE € L.SCADDEN L. Scadden reported that he needs to meet with A. Mitchener to discuss some of the county issues. There was a discussion a couple of meetings ago about county parks. It was reported that there was some additional accessible trail within Kahaluu County Park in Kona. Therefore, he and his wife went to check out the park. There was a rubberized mat which is fully accessible to wheelchairs and it does traverse quite a distance within the park to a new pavilion. However, it does not go right down to the water. This is something that can be looked at in the future. He would liketocommendthecountyformakingtheparkmoreaccessiblethanithasbeenin the past. L. Scadden reported that Bob Dunkley, ADA Coordinator for the Hawaii Volcanoes NationalPark,contactedhiminJuneandaskedifhewouldbeabletocheckout some of the things they are doing to make the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park more accessible. L. Scadden said he would like to commend the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for making more trails fully accessible. They are also making great advances within the visitor center. There are two design people assigned to working on making their exhibits fully accessible to people who are blind as well as making things within reach for those in wheelchairs. He would like to commend B. Dunkley and Jim Gale for their efforts in making things accessible. C. TRANSPORTATION SUBCOMMITTEE € B. WHITNEY Noreport. 2 UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. VOLUNTEER PARKING VIOLATION ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE € SGT. APELE T. Spinola-Campbell reported that Sergeant Apele submitted program statistics on the volunteer disabled parking enforcement program. She did not bring the report because she thought he was going to bring it to the meeting. M. Gleason reported that Sergeant Apele has been personally invited to attend all MCPD meetings to provide an update. He will remind Sergeant Apele to submit a report if he will be unable to attend the meeting. L. Scadden said the concern is that we really want to find out if that type of violation is being cited, and he is happy to hear that there were citations given indicating that efforts are being made to enforce the parking restrictions. The report should be furnished for the August meeting. B. UPDATE FROM DCAB € C. FLEMING/D. JACKSON/N. OLESEN N. Olesen reported that he currently serves on the Standing Committee on Facility Access and the Standing Committee on Parking for DCAB. The decisions they make are done on the web. N. Olesen said that he received an interesting memo from Francine Wai. Sheasked why the Big Island did not respond to the scholarships available for the Tools for Life workshop. The deadline to apply for the scholarships is based on how many people made requests for the scholarship. N. Olesen expressed concerns about the inaccessibility to vote down at Opihikao. It is difficult to get to the voting site which is located in the church. The Parking Design Notification Program is planning to have trainings for all counties. Volunteers will be trained on federal and state laws about the design and construction of parking spaces for persons with disabilities and how to identify parkingspacesinthelocalcommunitythatdonotcomplywithfederalandstate standards. The DCAB Annual Planning meeting is scheduled for July 15, 2004. The board memberswillestablishprioritiesfortheagencyinfiscalyear2004-05. D.Cowdreyaskedifthevoterswillbenotifiedaboutdriveuptovoteforpeoplewho cant walk easily into the election site. J. Souza responded that the Office of Elections will inform all registered voters. L. Scadden added that there will be a public informational campaign using the standard media (TV, radio, booklets). In addition, the Office of Elections is also obtaining portable ramps so certain places will be more accessible for election day than they are on a normal basis. The money was allocated in the federal legislation called HAVA (Help Americans Vote Act). Hawaii is to receive $5 million to implement the legislation including the lease of the 3 new machines and some of the apparatus to help make things more accessible on election day. Judy Paik from DCAB is working with the Office of Elections on the issue of accessibility for the voting process. N. Olesen stated that anyone on MCPD with issuesfor DCAB should contact him. M. Gleason asked if MCPD should advise the Office of Elections about inaccessible voting locations to ensure that they are accessible by election day. J. Souza suggested checking with them in August if no information has been given by the end of July. C. ADA COORDINATORS REPORT € T. SPINOLA-CAMPBELL T. Spinola-Campbell reported that she distributed the scholarships application forms for the Tools for Life Workshop to all the agencies that she knew. She also received a message from F. Wai that nobody has responded from the Big Island. Therefore, she sent them out again. She spoke to H. Marks, DD Council, and he seemed to think it was an issue of people not having money to afford the hotel on Oahu. H. Marks said they were also circulating the application all around town. ADA Coordinators report attached. T. Spinola-Campbell reported that she attended an ADA Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada in May 2004 and a lot of the ADA Coordinators stated that elections are held in supermarkets in a lot of the counties because they are accessible. The supermarkets like this idea because people go there to vote and then they decide to do some shopping. Perhaps this issue should be raised with the Office of Elections for the Big Island. J.SouzaquestionedthestatusoftheIDcardsfordeafcitizens.T.Spinola- Campbell responded that she wrote a letter to the Aloha State Association for the Deafinquiringaboutthecurrentstatusofthecards. J. Souza asked if the Mass Transit Agency has a TTY. Many deaf people are complaining because the Mass Transit Agency dont use a TTY and they will not respond to a TTY call. Therefore, the deaf community has to go through the relay service. If they do have a TTY, are they trained on how to use it? T. Spinola- Campbell said she will follow up with T. Brown. D. PARKS AND RECREATION REPORT € A. MITCHENER No report. E. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS € L. SCADDEN L.ScaddenreportedthathewasinWashington,D.C.forthreeweeksinMayand early June and he had the opportunity to discuss this issue with some people. The NationalOrganizationonDisabilityislocatedinWashington,D.C.andtheyhavea very good brochure called Emergency Preparedness Initiative Guide for emergency 4 managers, planners, and responders. It is available on the World Wide Web for free for downloading either in text file or in PDF for printing. He would like MCPD to find a way of getting this information into the hands of organizations that work with people with disabilities here on this island. The time to work with people with disabilities regarding emergencies is to prepare in advance. Therefore, the information should be disseminated well in advance so that people are prepared for both natural and man made disasters that can occur. He was impressed with this guide for preparing for disasters of all kinds. He welcomed any comments or thoughts on how best to get this information into the hands of groups and individuals. He would like the Civil Defense Agency to receive this guide, but they too struggle with how to get things into the hands of people as well. J. Souza said that deaf people are very concerned. They want the Civil Defense Agency to come and discuss with them on how they would have deaf people evacuate.Somepeoplelivefarawayfromanybodyelse.IsitpossiblefortheCivil Defense Agency to meet with a group of deaf people? L. Scadden stated that he spoke to Troy Kindred, Civil Defense Administrator, and he would be happy to meet with any group. However, its a matter of scheduling and ensuring that he has the information that is needed. He offered to work with T. Kindred and report back to J. Souza. J. Souza agreed to be the contact person. L. Scadden mentioned that many deaf people use pagers in the Midwest and they can be tied into the civil defense warning system. Pagers are a different issue and can be addressed later on for this island. T. Spinola-Campbell mentioned that she read an article on the internet called A Hole in the Weather Warning System. It is particularly about people who are deaf being left out when their only audible warning is in place for tornadoes, floods, and tsunamis. It also talks about the pagering system. L. Scadden agreed to send the internet address for the National Organization on Disability on e-mail to MCPD members. N. Olesen suggested that L. Scadden contact Charlotte Townsend at DCAB because she has a large volume of materials on this issue. The meeting was recessed at 11:40 a.m. The meeting was reconvened at 11:45 a.m. F. TRANSITION PLAN UPDATE, PROGRAM ACCESSIBILITY TOOLKIT € A. MITCHENER Noreport. 5 NEW BUSINESS A. DEVELOP POLICY FOR NOTIFICATION OF CANCELLED MEETINGS M. Gleason reported that T. Spinola-Campbell received a complaint about MCPD not notifying the public that the committee cancelled the last meeting in Kona. He felt that the committee could hold the meeting anyway and have a forum for the public to address their concerns. Public officials that are invited to the meeting are notified when a quorum is not available. However, he is unsure if the county will provide secretary support and lunch if there is no quorum at those meetings. Perhaps those members who can make it could attend the meeting and represent MCPD. D. Cowdrey said she recalls attending the meeting as a member from the public and the meetings would have been cancelled if there was no quorum. L. Scadden pointed out that the Kona meetings have more people from the public than the Hilo meetings. He would be willing to represent MCPD at the Kona meetings if the meeting was cancelled to hear issues and provide information. M. Gleason will follow up with the Mayors Office to see if they will support a secretary, transportation, and lunch even if there wasnt a quorum. He will report back at the next meeting. M. Gleason reported that he will check with J. Viernes on election of officers since its a new fiscal year. He suggested putting it on the agenda for next month. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NON-AGENDA ISSUES J. Matsui raised a concern about disabled parking at the supermarkets. M. Gleason reiterated that MCPDs sole purpose is to advise the Mayor, and the committee will continue to do that on issues affecting people with disabilities in the County. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next meeting will be held on Friday, August 6, 2004, at 10:30 a.m. in Kona. Location to be announced. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 11:55 a.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, _______________________________ JEANVIERNES,STAFFSECRETARY 6