Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-04-16, Committee on People with Disabilities Minutees 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, April 16, 2014 The County of Hawai‘i Mayor’s Committee on People with Disabilities met at 10:20 a.m. at the Aging and Disability Resource Center at 1055 Kino‘ole Street, Hilo, Hawai‘i. MEMBERS PRESENT: Wesley Tanigawa, Vice Chair; Pauline Aughe, Chris Cholas, Janice Mancini, Raelene Souza, Laura Tobosa. ABSENT: Paige De Lima, Jessica Arruda, James Souza, Dr. Ron Wagner-Wright OTHERS PRESENT AND GUESTS: Renee Schoen, Corporation Counsel; Sandra Arriola, Aging; Alisa Mitchener, P&R; Jesse Floyd, DD Council; Sam Nagasawa, Karen Riedel, Paul Pascua, Joy Cash, Ron Amundson CALL TO ORDER W. Tanigawa, Vice Chair, called the meeting to order at 10:20 a.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE NOVEMBER 20, 2013, MEETING W. Tanigawa called for a motion to accept the minutes of November 20, 2013. L. TobosaC. Cholas moved to accept the minutes. seconded. All were in favor. None opposed. Motion passed. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC (Agenda Items) There were no statements from the public. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Review and Approval of Access Ad Hoc Committee’s Report to the Mayor P. Aughe stated that the Access Ad Hoc committee report summarizes what went on in the meetings with DPW, Police Dept., and Mass Transit Agency. Hopefully the Mayor would see what the Committee’s recommendations were to each of those departments and that he would take the initiative on helping encourage those agencies or departments to consider those recommendations L. Tobosa seriously and implement that. stated that it was a very good report. W. TanigawaJ. Mancini called for a motion to accept or decline. made a L Tobosa motion to accept. seconded. All were in favor. None opposed. Motion passed. Discussion on Committee Recommendations for Department of Public Works P. Aughe stated that this is a thank you letter to Warren Lee summarizing what was said at the meeting, and the ad hoc committee wanted to have this letter approved by the committee so it could be sent out. W. Tanigawa called for a motion to accept the letter to Warren Lee. C. CholasP. Aughe moved to accept and send the letter to Mr. Lee. seconded it. All were in favor. None opposed. Motion passed. C. Cholas was inquiring if the Mayor sends the committee anything that R. Schoen acknowledges he received our correspondence. stated that she was not sure if there is a practice in place that the Mayor responds to every letter he W. Tanigawa receives. mentioned sending another letter to the Mayor regarding R. Schoen the status of the committee’s recommendations. stated that it could be a letter putting both the Access and Recreation Ad Hoc committees together and say this is a compilation of what we did in 2013. Report from Recreation Ad Hoc Committee and Review Draft Letter to the Mayor J. Mancini reported that the ad hoc committee met on May 7, 2013, and drafted a letter to the Mayor regarding Richardson’s Beach Park. Parks and Rec rules were approved on January, 2014 so it’s too late for recommendations. An update on Richardson’s may be more appropriate than writing a letter that was W. Tanigawa thought of a year ago. will agendize that for the next meeting NEW BUSINESS Correspondence of Cost of Government Commission R. Schoen informed the committee that the letter is asking the committee if there are any suggestions to improving how this committee runs. Suggestions don’t only have to be regarding the committee. You may have interactions with other county agencies or departments that you have suggestions for, and you want to do that as an individual, that’s fine. Otherwise if you have suggestions for this committee, then e-mail them to Renee. REPORT OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I EQUAL OPPORTUNITY OFFICER AND ADA COORDINATOR, TERI SPINOLA-CAMPBELL A. Mitchener read Teri’s report. Report attached. REVIEW OF NOMINATION FORM DRAFT AND REPORT BY THE COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I ADA RECREATION SPECIALIST, ALISA MITCHENER See attached report. 2 Nomination Form There was discussion on the draft nomination form to recommend people, organizations, agencies, acknowledging people who go above and beyond to W. Tanigawa help people with disabilities and accessibility, etc. called for a P. motion to approve the form. Aughe made a motion to accept nomination form L. Tobosa with corrections and additions. It was seconded by . All were in favor. None opposed. Motion passed. R. Schoen suggested that whoever wants to nominate someone can do it on their own and submit it to the committee. It was decided that it should be the County acknowledging someone in the community who has done a great service to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. It could make a real difference in people’s attitudes to know that they are being embraced and acknowledged. J. Floyd suggested increasing employment opportunities for individuals with R. Souza disabilities. felt it should be broader since not everyone with P. Aughe disabilities is employed. stated that a bullet for employment could be added. Also the sentence “Briefly describe … recommending this person” - it should be group or organization, and it should be - the nominee. There also was discussion about how often nominations would be accepted and followed through with the actual awards. It was decided to have review of nominations on the next agenda. C. Cholas recommended inviting the director of Parks and Recreation to one of the meetings to speak about aspects of their department that deal with people with disabilities. C. Cholas Going back a little, had some concerns about delaying the report that the Access ad hoc committee did since the Recreation’s report wasn’t quite A. Mitchener ready. stated that they should just go ahead with the report to the Mayor because the committee needs to regroup as an ad hoc committee and come up with the next set of goals. Maybe the next time a report is sent to the C. Cholas Mayor, Recreation could be included. felt that the report would include the items the Pauline shared today that’s in the report, last year’s Housing ad hoc committee’s visitability item, and Civil Defense’s emergency preparedness and recommendations. It could blend those three into one report and send it off fairly soon to the Mayor. So, Instead of Access Ad Hoc Committee, just do one report for 2013. R. Schoen stated the committee can approve that now and give it to Paige for W. Tanigawa signature. called for a motion to combine the ad hoc committee report with the Emergency Preparedness Report and the Housing ad hoc committee reports. 3 L. TobosaC. Cholas moved to combine the three reports. Seconded by . All were in favor of accepting writing the recommendation to the Mayor, compiling the Ad hoc committees’ reports. None opposed. One other department that Chris is interested in is Housing with regards to C. Cholas Mohouli Senior Housing. stated that out of the 60 apartments only three are made with accessibility. That is below the five percent rule. They are all visitable; they have big bathrooms, have no-step entrances. But only three of them have the counters, stoves and things that should be Fair Housing accessible but are not. He doesn’t understand why those features weren’t put in all of them. Chris is concerned about the future of housing and would like to start the Housing Ad Hoc Committee again to look at public housing. Renee stated that would be fine and it can be discussed as it relates to reports. R. Souza will be joining Chris with the Housing ad hoc committee. Raelene spoke about a State housing project, how they had to renovate the homes twice even though it was brand new because they were in violation. So even if the plans go to DCAB for approval, it somehow still falls through the cracks. It was decided to bring in someone from County Housing to speak to the committee. The Housing committee will do some research first so it can be presented at the meeting. Mohouli Senior Housing is the newest and there will be a second phase to that and we can check on whatever other projects are going on. ANNOUNCEMENTS J. Floyd announced that Snorkel Day in on April 25 by Deep and Beyond. (According to Alisa, it is actually on May 23.) NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 in Hilo at the ADRC Training Room. ADJOURNMENT Meeting was adjourned at 11:15 a.m. Transcribed by: Sandra Arriola 4