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Home My WebLink About2012-5-16, Committee on People with Disabilities-Minutes MAYOR’S COMMITTEE ON PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES c/o Hawai‘i County Office of Aging, 1055 Kino‘ole Street,Suite 101, Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 MINUTES Wednesday, May 16, 2012 The County of Hawai‘i Mayor’s Committee on People with Disabilities met at 10:00 a.m. in the Puna Conference Room, 25 Aupuni Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720, with Chair Paige De Lima presiding. MEMBERS PRESENT: Paige De Lima, Chair; Wesley Tanigawa, Vice Chair; Jessica Arruda, Chris Cholas, Edeltraud Hanoa, Janice Mancini, James Souza, Laura Tobosa. EXCUSED: Pauline Aughe, Jesslie Hook, Jean Navarro, Dareth Pung-Boteilho, Dr. Ron Wagner-Wright. OTHERS PRESENT AND GUESTS: Renee Schoen, Corporation Counsel; Sandra Arriola, HCOA; Teri Spinola-Campbell, Human Resources; Elwood Kita, HCOA, Alisa Mitchener, P&R; Ku Mei Kern, KBK Interpreting; Sam Nagasawa, Aloha Independent Living Hawai‘i; Mar Ortaleza, Taylor Cockerham, Donald Haumea. CALL TO ORDER: The Chair called the meeting to order at 10:25 a.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE MARCH 21, 2012 MEETING C. CholasMar Ortaleza stated that ’s name was misspelled on page 2 under R. Schoen New Business. had a correction on the same page, one paragraph too many above – too much should be . MOTION:C. Cholas made a motion to approve the minutes as corrected. It W. Tanigawa was seconded by . Seven members were in favor; J. Souza did not vote because he was not present at the meeting. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC (Agenda Items) Taylor Cockerham, an architect, introduced herself to the committee. She was here on behalf of Chris regarding visitability. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Review and appropriate action on draft letter of Recreation Ad Hoc Committee regarding Richardson Beach Park A. Mitchener reiterated that what was happening at Richardson’s is based on a Consent Decree, which still allows the County to complete these projects within T. Spinola-Campbell the next four years. said that because it is a historical site it creates complications with the State Historical Preservation, but it is in the design phase. R. Schoen stated the court recently approved a Close-out Order of the Consent Decree where we’ve agreed to complete the 20 remaining park facilities within a certain period of time considering that we expand several millions over the course of four years. She’s not trying to discourage the committee from writing a letter, because certainly that would be helpful, but just to understand that Richardson’s is already in there and we’re working within a four year period. Actually the court imposed a priority schedule so we had to make improvements as the court imposed. A. Mitchener According to , Kahaluu Beach Park is done. They have all their accessible routes and the restroom is done. In response to Janice’s concern about the entrance being rocky and hard to navigate, A. Mitchener stated that accessibility to the entrance of the water is not required. Alisa stated that they are making water access available during events with the Mobi Mats. They have a 50 ft. Mobi Mat that people use, but there is no requirement that a person be able to traverse the sand at this point. J. Mancini volunteered to do the letter to the Mayor requesting hastening the process for creating accessibility and construction for Richardson’s. MOTION:L. Tobosa moved to have Janice draft a letter to the Mayor for the W. Tanigawa Committee to review. It was seconded by . All were in favor. Motion passed. Report of the County of Hawai‘i, Equal Opportunity Officer, ADA Coordinator, Teri Spinola-Campbell T. Spinola-Campbell gave a report on the Close-out Order of the Consent Decree of Russell vs the County of Hawai‘i. It’s in the United States District Court Civil #97-01102-BMK. The county filed a Transition Plan for Accessibility to public facilities with the court on June 19, 2000. On December 7, 2011, the parties agreed to a four-year plan for completion of the ADA parks projects. 2 NEW BUSINESS Discussion regarding adding a Housing Ad Hoc committee C. Cholas submitted three documents he had regarding visitability. Pima County Arizona is one of the first places in the U.S. that made visitability features in housing a mandate. There’s no law that says you have to build houses that way. It has to be an ordinance added to the Building Code. No step entrance. Some of the main things to have regarding visitability are: a 32” Doorways should have a minimum net clearance of when the door is 36” wide hallwaysaccessible bathroom opened; . Have an . Electrical wall 15” above the finished outlets on the main floor should be mounted at least floor. light switches and thermostatsand other controls,no higher The than 48” from the floor . E. Hanoa suggested maybe there should some kind of tax break for making a home accessible. C. Cholas – A Housing Ad Hoc committee could look at suggestions we could give to the mayor and his staff to look at. MOTION:E. Hanoa made a motion to add a Housing Ad Hoc committee. L. Tobosa seconded the motion. All were in favor. C. CholasE. Hanoa volunteered to be the chair. And offered to be on it too. Discussion regarding 2012 and 2013 Pac Rim Conference R. Schoen stated that there was a discussion about the desire to provide funding to committee members to attend the Pac Rim Conference at the last meeting. W. Tanigawa stated that Alan suggested that it would be beneficial for the officers to meet with Renee to talk about the committee’s fiduciary duties about the budget and then maybe go further into this area of allocating monies for Pac Rim and other events that the committee is involved with. Discussion/planning regarding 2012 ADA Awareness Day W. Tanigawa requested members to sign up for teams for ADA Awareness Day, which will be on July 26, and report back in June to see if there are any last minute things that need to be done or things that are lacking. R. Schoen When asked about clarification regarding budget, stated that the committee falls under the Office of Aging and so whatever amounts that are allocated for this committee, that’s what it is. And it goes through the whole budget process. Typically the budget for boards and commissions are limited to mileage, any food type expenses and photocopying. So, it’s not a large amount. 3 P. De Lima wanted to know what the committee needs to do to help with ADA Awareness Day so it doesn’t pressure whatever the budget is for the committee. E. Kita She wanted to know because last time she got everything donated. informed the committee that the ADRC for the Office of Aging does not have a budget for open houses. It was decided to have another meeting before ADA Day. MOTION:W. Tanigawa made a motion to have a meeting on June 21 to E. Hanoa discuss ADA Awareness Day. seconded the motion. All were in favor. Report of Ad Hoc Committees Employment Ad Hoc Committee J. Hartley was not here but had nothing to report. Education Ad Hoc Committee P. De Lima had nothing to report. Transportation Ad Hoc Committee L. Tobosa had nothing to report. Recreation Committee A. Mitchener spoke about Surf Day, Canoe Day, Mayor’s Health Fair Healthfest, Mobi Mat Day. She will try to reschedule Mobi Mat Day because the first day is the same day as the ADA Awareness Day. Janice will be participating in Surf Day as a committee member. ANNOUNCEMENTS P. De LimaRon O’KeefeGreg Ayau introduced and from the Lions Club of East Hawai‘i. They spoke about what the Lion’s do for the visually impaired and for the community. A special meeting is scheduled for June 21, 10:00 a.m. at the ADRC at 1055 Kinoole Street, Hilo. ADJOURNMENT Meeting was adjourned at 11:40 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sandra Arriola 4