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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-06-06 Committee on People with Disabilities Minutes Action required: MAYOR'S COMMITTEE ON PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES Letter to Mike Ben Î M. Gleason Friday, June 6, 2003, 10:30 a.m. Kona Mayor's Office Conference Room PRESENT: Michael Gleason, Chair; Betsy Whitney, Secretary; James Souza, Laura Tobosa, Ted Yamanaka EXCUSED: Elizabeth Mason, Lawrence Scadden GUESTS: Chuck Fleming, DCAB Board Member; Susan Golden, John Hartman, H.A.W.K.; Andy Levin, Mayor's Office; John Little, Recreation Director-Department of Parks and Recreation; Alisa Mitchener, Recreation Specialist-Department of Parks and Recreation; Malina Thorpe, Interpreter CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 10:52 a.m. An introduction of committee members, staff, and guests was made. APPROVAL OF MINUTES B. Whitney made a motion to accept the minutes of April 4, 2003 as submitted. T. Yamanaka seconded the motion. The motion was passed. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ISSUES None. TREASURER'S REPORT The treasurer's report was reviewed. T. Yamanaka made a motion to accept the treasurer's report as submitted. L. Tobosa seconded the motion. The motion was passed. CORRESPONDENCE A. Letter to Mayor H. Kim from Lorna Nekoba regarding covering all accessible stalls in the County of Hawaii B. Letter to L. Nekoba from Mayor H. Kim referring the letter to A. Levin and MCPD B. Whitney suggested forwarding the letter to the person who does the guidelines. A. Levin reported that he passed on the letter to the Department of Public Works (DPW) and Disability and Communication Access Board (DCAB). The response from DCAB was that obviously it would be a nice idea, but it is not required and the question was where the funding would come from. However, DCAB would support it if we wanted to do it. He did not expect a response from DPW and he did not receive one anyway. M. Gleason suggested that someone could take up this issue with one of his or her community service organizations as a project in conjunction with the county. He felt that MCPD should keep this discussion open for future meetings. C. Letter to A. Levin from Police Chief L. Mahuna addressing the monthly report on the Volunteer Parking Enforcement Program and several questions regarding parking enforcement B. Whitney suggested inviting Sergeant Apele to the next Hilo and Kona meetings to answer some questions she has on the low number of hours, limited hours for the volunteers, and parking enforcement by volunteers when an officer is not available. MCPD agreed. D. First Quarter Statistics (January-March 2003) for the Volunteer Parking Enforcement Program E. Resignation letter to Mayor H. Kim from A. Mitchener F. Letter to MCPD from R. Amundson addressing J. Hartman's comments made at the April meeting G. Letter to Chairman J. Arakaki and Members of the County Council from Mayor H. Kim appointing L. Scadden to MCPD replacing J. Beimborn H. Email to MCPD from A. Levin regarding the Transition Plan for Programs in Parks and Recreation SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS A. EDUCATION/PUBLIC AWARENESS SUBCOMMITTEE Î M. GLEASON 1. Finalization of Recognition Luncheons M. Gleason reported that the Kona recognition luncheon will be held today after the meeting. The Hilo recognition luncheon will be held on July meeting. B. RECREATION SUBCOMMITTEE No report. C. TRANSPORTATION SUBCOMMITTEE Î B. WHITNEY B. Whitney reported that this subcommittee did not meet. UNFINISHED BUSINESS A. VOLUNTEER PARKING VIOLATION ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE Î A. LEVIN A. Levin reported he has no new information to add. B. UPDATE FROM DCAB Î C. FLEMING/N. OLESEN No report. 2 C. ADA COORDINATOR'S REPORT Î A. LEVIN A. Levin reported that there are currently two vacancies on MCPD. He spoke to Disability Rights Hawaii (DRH) and the County Council informing them of the vacancies and that the committee would welcome any recommendations. S. Golden suggested that MCPD put an article in the newspaper announcing the vacancies. A. Levin offered to do the press release. Three people (Karen Kane of UH Hilo; Donald Haumea, and Linda Toms Barker) have expressed interest in serving on MCPD so he sent applications to them. He suggested that MCPD members forward names of interested applicants so the applications can be mailed out to them. S. Golden suggested that the countyÓs website include a request for committee members because there is not any announcement about the vacancies. A. Levin offered to follow up with Janet Snyder who does the county's website. A. Mitchener said it would be desirable to have a parent of a child with a disability as a member of MCPD. NEW BUSINESS A. PROJECT IMPACT Tabled. B. PARKS AND RECREATION REPORT Î A. MITCHENER A. Mitchener asked if MCPD would like her to submit a written or verbal report for each meeting. B. Whitney said she would like an outline of projects and progress to be submitted with the meeting packet. A. Mitchener shared the following: 1. The Department of Parks and Recreation has their nine division heads acting as disability access liaisons for the transition plan. They met on 2. Accessibility Tool Kit Î Progress is being made with a contract lending library. A. Mitchener is seeking community input on adapted recreation toys. 3. A. Mitchener lead hands on TTY training for 32 Parks and Recreat Responses ranged from extreme fear to comfort based on an individual's ability to type. She reviewed questions about purchasing TTYs. Island is assisting with researching assistive listening systems and de 4. Looking to create a system for measurement of success. Need to track the number, attendance, and repeat registration of people with disabilities of all ages. Currently tracking requests for new programs. Evaluating programs with staff. Surveying people who participate. A. Mitchener asked if anyone on MCPD wished to include specific questions on the P&R public survey to her. 3 5. Held staff training on confidentiality. An awareness day was held for Summer Fun Directors and included mobility awareness, adapting toys and games, and a TTY scavenger hunt. 6. Will be working with 125 summer hires on disability awareness. 7. Training schedule is available up to November 2004. 8. Guest speaker, Makia Malo, a storyteller will be at Aunty Sally's Luau Hale on September 12, 2003, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. MCPD is invited to attend. 9. Discussed and shared ideas with a family on beach access and saf Beach. 10. Researching best practices for access to recreation programs. Oahu is creating a manual and is sharing their policy. Current policy regarding assistance to the water says lifeguards are not supposed to lift anyone into the w takes lifeguards away from their duty to oversee the entire picture, especially challenging when there is only one lifeguard per beach or pool area. The Oahu manual is suggesting lifeguards should be able to help assist patrons to the water with training on transfers. 11. Oahu has just begun an inclusion aide program. Their system al assist a person with a disability in a parks program. C. ELECTION OF OFFICERS L. Tobosa made a motion to nominate T. Yamanaka as vice-chair. seconded the motion. The motion was passed. Nominations were made from the floor for the following positions: Chair Î M. Gleason Vice-Chair Î T. Yamanaka Secretary Î B. Whitney L. Tobosa made a motion to accept the slate of officers. J. Souza seconded the motion. The motion was passed. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON NON-AGENDA ISSUES S. Golden raised a concern about non-accessible portable toilets. The only way to get compliance is to include a statement about the law on the county permit and require it as part of the permitting process. She recommended that the County of Hawaii include such a statement. J. Hartman reported that the County of Hawaii a lot of times uses the word ÐshallÑ rathe than Ðmust.Ñ The county is responsible for enforcing that requirement if they permit an 4 organization to do what they are intended to do on county property. C. Fleming said that for some reason whenever you see a regulation you always see the word ÐshallÑ and you never see the word Ðmust.Ñ The reason is ÐshallÑ is enforceable and ÐmustÑ isnÓt. J. Hartman was unsure because he heard the exact opposite. B. Whitney suggested asking Corporation Counsel which is the more enforceab J. Hartman inquired on Glenn MiyaoÓs replacement. He understood that an outside person from another state was hired and is in training. Secondly, he did not see any recruitment announcement in the newspaper for that particular position. A. Levin responded that he does not know the name of the person. J. Hartman asked A. Levin about the ADA CoordinatorÓs position. A. Levin indicated that the new budget, effective July 1, is on the table. The budget includes funding for an ADA/Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Officer in the Department of Civil Service. MCPD suggested rewriting a letter to Mike Ben inquirin updating the job description so it includes more ADA responsibilities. M. Gleason will draft the letter. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next meeting will be held on Thursday, July 3, 2003, at 10:30 a.m. in Hilo. Location to be announced. A. Mitchener suggested scheduling the Hilo recognition luncheon in September instead of July because several of the nominees will not be able to attend because of summer fun. MCPD agreed. M. Gleason thanked MCPD for a good year. The committee only missed one meeting this fiscal year and he felt they accomplished a lot. He also t participating in the meeting. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 11:42 a.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, _______________________________ JEAN VIERNES, STAFF SECRETARY 5