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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-12-05 Committee on People with Disabilities Minutes COMMITTEE ON PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES Friday, December 5, 2003, 10:30 a.m. Kona MayorÓs Office Conference Room PRESENT: Michael Gleason, Chair; Betsy Whitney, Secretary; Elizabeth Mason, Lawrence Scadden, James Souza, Laura Tobosa EXCUSED: Ted Yamanaka, Vice-Chair GUESTS: Chuck Fleming, DCAB Board Member; Susan Golden, John Hartman, H.A.W.K.; Joan Lawhead, Volunteer Enforcement Officer; Andy Levin, MayorÓs Office; Alisa Mitchener, Recreation Specialist-Department of Parks and Recreation; Sonia Scadden, Malina Thorpe, Interpreter CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 10:30 a.m. An introduction of committee members, staff, and guests was made. APPROVAL OF MINUTES L. Scadden made a motion to accept the minutes of October 3, 2003. J. Souza seconded the motion. The motion was passed with B. Whitney abst STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ISSUES S. Golden thanked J. Hartman and A. Levin for diminishing the problem of motorcycles found parked in front of Coconut Grove on Alii Drive. TREASURERÓS REPORT The treasurerÓs report was reviewed. B. Whitney made a motion to accept the treasurerÓs report as submitted. L. Tobosa seconded the motion. The motion was passed. CORRESPONDENCE A. Letter to A. Levin from Lawrence Mahuna, Police Chief, regarding the first, second and third quarter statistics (January to September 2003) for the Volunteer Disabled Parking Enforcement Program B. Memorandum to L. Mahuna, Police Chief, from A. Levin regarding illegal parking in Kona C. Letter to David Lacy and Bill Stockton from A. Levin concerning Condominiums/Alii Drive Crosswalk A. Levin reported that at the last meeting C. Fleming, S. Golden and J. Hartman volunteered to help with the review of the Kona Alii Condominiums/Alii Drive crosswalk plans. A response was received from D. Lacy that they have hired Jean Tessmer. J. Hartman mentioned that J. Tessmer submitted an alternate plan to what they proposed and D. Lacy turned it down. D. Memorandum to A. Levin from P. Engelhard regarding ADA Compliance of Portable Accessible Restrooms J. Hartman raised a concern about Kahaluu Beach Park because it is under renovations. The restrooms are being renovated, therefore portable restrooms were installed in the parking lot. However, there were no portable accessible restrooms. Why donÓt the Department of Parks and Recreation follow through these things are done? B. Whitney said that maybe it should be part of the contract process. There could be an addendum to each contract which needs to be checked off, sign to the county. C. Fleming suggested a simple process such as a contractors. A. Mitchener offered to create a checklist, circulate it to all of the park sites, and have the park directors be aware of their facility during the reconstruction phase. E. Letter to M. Gleason from M. Ben regarding the interview of 13 candidates for the new personnel program specialist M. Gleason reported he contacted M. Ben and informed him that MCPD was unable to make the time frames that he mentioned for the interview. A. Levin reported that the interviews have begun. A similar letter was sent to MCPD and two other committees as well. M. Ben is conducting the inte since representatives from other committees are not sitting in on the interview. B. Whitney felt the reason that nobody was able to attend is due to the time of day for the interview (4:30 to 6:00 p.m.) and at the rate of one per day for 13 days. She thought it was an odd time to conduct interviews. E. Mason stated that it also eliminated a representative from Kona because of the travel time everyday. F. Letter to J. Hartman from A. Levin regarding the memorandum from the Police Department concerning illegal parking in Kona G. Memorandum to A. Levin from Harry Kubojiri, Deputy Police Chief, regarding response about illegal parking in Kona A. Levin reported that the volunteer enforcement program will be expanding their enforcement efforts through the weekend to include the evening hours. However, they are not planning to train more volunteers yet. 2 J. Lawhead explained that the volunteers are required to work at least 20 hours a month. Volunteer enforcement will be expanded to include evening hours. Currently, there are four volunteers working in Kona. H. Letter to S. Golden from A. Levin regarding portable accessible toilets I. Letter to A. Levin from J. Hartman regarding grievance procedure A. Levin reported that the response from the Department of Parks and Recreation is that there have been some improvements. The county knows the project is not done and that necessary improvements will be made. J. Hartman said that A. LevinÓs response stated that improvements were completed at Hale Halawai, but was not met to include all the improvements. A. Levin replied that it was faulty writing on the part of the person who did the annual report. The county recognizes that not all the improvements have been done. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS A. EDUCATION/PUBLIC AWARENESS SUBCOMMITTEE Î M. GLEASON M. Gleason reported that this subcommittee did not meet. B. RECREATION SUBCOMMITTEE M. Gleason reported that MCPD is still seeking a committee member to spearhead this subcommittee. C. TRANSPORTATION SUBCOMMITTEE Î B. WHITNEY B. Whitney reported that this subcommittee did not meet, but they have a report to share with MCPD. T. Brown sent an email to A. Mitchener that he is finalizing the selection of the planner for the rural transportation plan. It should be done in a week or so. As far as our congressional earmark funds from Senator Inouye, they are planning to implement handi-van services in Kona, Hamakua, and Puna. The county may receive $3 million federal funds to improve transportation services. E. Mason pointed out that when the Transportation Committee meets in Kona, there is no transportation to the transportation meeting for people who want to attend. B. Whitney suggested sending a letter asking a question about how can people who have transportation needs participate in transportation committee meetings when there is no transportation. B. Whitney suggested that MCPD request the dates of the Transportation Committee meetings from T. Brown. A. Mitchener offered to set that up. D. MEMBERSHIP SUBCOMMITTEE Î M. GLEASON/L. TOBOSA/B. WHITNEY M. Gleason reported that the subcommittee recommends Karen Hand from Kona and Denise Cowdrey from Hilo to fill two vacant positions on MCP 3 E. Mason made a motion to forward these recommendations to the Mayor. L. Tobosa seconded the motion. The motion was passed. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. VOLUNTEER PARKING VIOLATION ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE Î A. LEVIN/SGT. APELE A. Levin reported that he will continue to get information from Sergeant Apele for future meetings. B. Whitney asked J. Lawhead why is there a difference in total man hours worked from the first quarter to the third quarter. J. Lawhead responded that the decrease in hours is due to the volunteers working in pairs and one voluntee B. Whitney suggested that we address the issue of when the Police Department will be finding more volunteers. J. Lawhead mentioned that the volunteer officers need ÐsomethingÑ in order to look more official. She suggested a new badge, new vest, or a removal placard for the volunteers to look visible. The Captain from the Kona station is willing to send a letter to the Police Chief regarding this request. In addition, the volunteer officers have received a lot of cooperation from the Captain and the Police Department. B. Whitney clarified MCPDÓs role as an advisory committee to the Mayor. The committee does not make the decision on whether or not the volunteer officers will have a new uniform. E. Mason explained that MCPD utilized their budget in order to initiate the volunteer enforcement program. She suggested that MCPD write a letter to the Police Department saying the committee would like to see an advertisement for another volunteer training program. B. UPDATE FROM DCAB Î C. FLEMING/N. OLESEN A. Levin shared a report submitted by Charlotte Townsend, DCAB. J. Souza raised a concern about the training sessions provided by DCAB to the Police Department. The lady who provided the training didnÓt know that the training was a request. She thought the training was part of the regular ADA program. Secondly, a deaf person complained to him that the Police Department is still harassing them even though they had training. The deaf club made a request to meet with the Waimea Police Department in January in Hilo. J. Souza asked A. Levin to inform him when the police training will be schedule A. Levin stated that he knew the training sessions were going to be held, however he did not know the specific dates. C. Fleming mentioned that DCAB is talking about having more volunteers. DCAB had a pilot project on Oahu which was very effective, but it took a lot of follow up 4 from DCAB staff and the Executive Director. As a result, DCAB put an item in the budget for a full time staff person to follow up with this program. J. Hartman suggested that MCPD request how many citations were issued for illegal parking in accessible parking from the Police Department in order to evaluate whether their program is working or whether the printed warning notices for the illegal use of accessible parking is working. He has seen an in violating accessible parking. A. Levin distributed a schedule of upcoming ADA teleconferences sponsored by DCAB. C. ADA COORDINATORÓS REPORT Î A. LEVIN A. Levin reported that T. Yamanaka had a stroke and is at home recuperating. MCPD agreed to send a get well card. M. Gleason said he spoke t yesterday and he sounded pretty good and wanted to tell ÐHiÑ to A. Levin said he received positive response from the Police Department on issuing cards for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. However, he h follow up on implementation. A. Levin reported that there was an Office of Information Practices training on the Sunshine Law held on December 4 in the County Council Room. There was an interesting statement that all subcommittees are subject to the Sunshine Law. There was also a statement that if itÓs fewer than a quorum of the board, then it is okay to do an investigation and it does not have to comply with the Sunshine Law. He suggested that MCPD get input from the Corporation CounselÓs Office if the committee decides to continue with subcommittees. J. Hartman stated that we should be talking about program access issues for the ADA Coordinator for the Police Department not accessibility type issues. A. Levin replied that he will follow up with Sergeant Apele on who the ADA Coordinator is or maybe there isnÓt one. D. PARKS AND RECREATION REPORT Î A. MITCHENER A. Mitchener reported on the following: 1. Finished an 11-page ADA Compliance Procedure booklet. 2. Submitted an article to M. Ben about the recreation training. 3. Updated a policy regarding registration process modification request parent handbook and summer hire staff guide. The policy is 98 percent will be forwarded to the Corporation CounselÓs Office for review 5 4. Attended a DCAB conference on communication. She was able to obtain information on accessible websites which she passed on to the Da Department. 5. Plans to create access information pages for Parks and Recreatio programs (including access maps) for the CountyÓs website next year. 6. Working on assistive listening systems for our county programs. She has been conducting research with an audiologist, DCAB, and parents. She found out that the county needs to provide listening receivers at the Edith Kanakaole Stadium which must equal 4 percent of the total number of seats. There is an estimated 5500 seats at the stadium. She asked MCPD for a reasonable recommendation on how many receivers she needs to order. The county has allocated $1,500 for six receivers. The Merrie Monarch is the biggest event held once a year at the Edith Kanakaole Stadium. L. Scadden said there are many ways to do assistive listening devices. You cannot use infrared if itÓs going to be used outside. You can either use radio frequency or loops. Loops will only work in a confined area. B. Whitney suggested that A. Mitchener speak to a communication specialist who knows about assistive listening devices. J. Hartman suggested former member Spike Werner who is a retired audiologist. A. Mitchener replied Island Skills Gathering, product representatives, audiologists, and parents who have children that uses the device in school. The meeting was recessed at 11:47 a.m. The meeting was reconven 11:55 a.m. MCPD is mentioned several times in the Parks and Recreation Transition Plan. A. Mitchener would like to bring a list of items on what the transition plan is asking the committee at the next meeting. She would like to add this item on next monthÓs agenda. A. Mitchener requested help from MCPD for a letter of support regarding the volunteer enforcement officers monitoring accessible parking during large-scale events. J. Souza suggested having a separate TV monitor with captioning in a particular area at the Merrie Monarch Festival for people who are deaf. E. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS L. Scadden reported that Bobby is not the recognized way of judging web accessibility. The best way to determine whether a website is a person who is knowledgeable or a person with a disability to evaluate the site. 6 L. Scadden reported that he has been in communication with Troy Kindred, Civil Defense Administrator, regarding emergency preparedness. T. Kindred has expressed concern and interest and is ready to work with MCPD. he needs to set up a meeting with T. Kindred. NEW BUSINESS None. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NON-AGENDA ISSUES S. Golden made a recommendation that ADAAG be part of the county and state building code. She asked if MCPD was willing to support an effort to incorporate ADAAG into the county building code. MCPD agreed that S. Golden will investigate this issue rather than establish a subcommittee. J. Hartman stated that the process needs to be started by attending every council meeting and convincing the council members to vote on this issue L. Scadden stated that Title II of ADA extends to state and local governments. ItÓs a requirement. He does not know what more people can do but to en to obey the laws. MCPD can ask the Mayor to make a stronger stand with the county and county council to make ADAAG a part of the building code. H much of ADAAG is for safety. E. Mason suggested that the two new members receive copies of the Transition Plan. ANNOUNCEMENTS L. Tobosa announced that Jane Knox, from Sprint, is offering a CapTel Telephone. It works like an amplified telephone, but everything the caller says is displayed in text. The telephone is available to interested participants at no cost. Approximately 25 telephones per month will be given out for four years. The next meeting will be held on Friday, January 2, 2004, at 10:30 a.m. in Hilo. Location to be announced. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 12:20 p.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, _______________________________ JEAN VIERNES, STAFF SECRETARY 7