Tacoma Area Commission on Disabilities Committee Meeting Minutes TACID – 6315 South 19th Street, Tacoma, WA 98407 February 11, 2016, 4:00 PM Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 4:05 pm Commissioners Present Gerrit Nyland (Chair), Roxanne Miles (Vice-Chair), Luke Byram, Susan Dye, Sheryl Ellis, JoAnn Fritsche, Todd Holloway, Michael Maratas, Krystal Monteros, Devin Myers, Gary Peterson City Staff Present Joy St. Germain, Donlisa Scott Guests Present Christy McDade, Heather Ryder, Nola Renz Adoption of Agenda The agenda was accepted as presented. Acceptance of Minutes A motion was made, seconded, and carried to accept the January 15, 2016, meeting minutes with a correction made to a typo. Public Comment There was no public comment. Reports Human Resources Director’s Report – Joy St. Germain Director St. Germain provided an update about the plan to secure a non-paid intern who will update the ADA Transition plan. Director St. Germain will send a link of the completed job posting to the Commission. TACID Report – Nola Renz Nola Renz reported that TACID received anonymous donations to paint and purchase new carpet for the TACID building. The Board and staff met for a staff retreat and strategic planning meeting in November. Nola Renz provided the draft of the three year strategic plan that will be shared with public. They have been fund raising and have received several grant awards. The Mental Health Ombudsman position will be revised to that of a Behavioral Health Ombudsman as of April 1. The TACID website has been redesigned and everyone was encouraged to look at it. Center for Independence (CFI) Report – Commissioner Holloway CFI is involved in the Washington State Plan for Independent Living (SPIL). The State Centers for Independent Living are working with the State Independent Living Council to create a plan to present to the Governor on issues that are important to the public and go beyond the core services provided from the Independent Living Centers. They are moving forward with the Assisted Technology Initiative that will focus on the aging and people with disabilities that have little access to the internet and the tools needed to access the web. The Youth Transition program activity has increased and there is the Work Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) that focuses on employment for students transitioning from high school into the work environment or secondary education to have better opportunities. Business Decision Making Guidelines Final Review – Vice-Chair Miles Vice-Chair Miles provided a handout of the decision making/discussion protocols and reviewed the goals and recommendations. Discussion ensued. Director St. Germain suggested to include ‘Public Disclosure and the Public Meetings Act’ to item #5 in the Commission Decision section, as well as adding an item #10 which makes reference to how the Commission will communicate / disseminate information . Vice-Chair Miles will edit the document to include what was discussed and will send it to the commissioners for review. Officer Nominations and Elections – Chair Nyland Chair Nyland opened the nominations for Chair and Vice-Chair. Roxanne Miles was nominated for Chair. A motion was made and by acclamation Roxanne Miles was elected Chair. Commissioners Byram, Holloway, Monteros, and Myers were nominated for Vice-Chair. Commissioner Myers declined the nomination. Votes were taken and Krystal Monteros was elected Vice-Chair. Proposed Closed Captioning Goal – Devin Myers Commissioner Myers provided a handout detailing a potential closed captioning initiative for all public areas in the City of Tacoma. The Effective Communications Committee is requesting the Commission’s support to bring the initiative to the city council to adopt an ordinance requiring that closed-captioning be activated on televisions in all public areas to ensure that people with hearing problems have equal access to public television. After discussion, Chair Nyland recommended that the Commission wait to fulfill some of the current projects before presenting anything new to the city council. Vice-Chair Miles motioned that the Commission adopt this as a research project of the Commission with three objectives 1) A recommendation of what we would like to see in the ordinance or resolution be based on examples of other jurisdictions. 2) Determine the steps required to get an ordinance passed or defined. 3) Define who to approach to garner support. The motion was moved, seconded and carried to amend the motion to read ‘The Commission adopts this as a research project of the Effective Communications Committee with three objectives 1) A recommendation of what we would like to see in the ordinance or resolution be based on examples of other jurisdictions. 2) Determine the steps required to get an ordinance passed or defined. 3) Define who to approach to garner support.’ Closing Personal Impact Story Commissioner Holloway shared the story of a city employee who was happy with the work the COD did to make the city council building accessible to people with disabilities. Good of the Order/Announcements > Chair Nyland met with Councilmember Keith Blocker. He thinks that Councilmember Blocker will be an excellent ally for the city council. Councilmember Blocker is legally blind and was very interested in what he could do to help the Commission. > The grant funding through accessible taxis is moving forward. > Commissioner Byram shared that the Effective Communication Committee met and determined there are eight Neighborhood Councils and they will focus on them first. He provided a map of the Neighborhood Councils and requested that people sign up for the meetings that they would like to attend. > Commissioner Dye will be relocating and will resign from the Commission shortly after the March meeting. > The strategic plan project group met and has recommendations on how four of the seven areas tie closely to what they do and how they may want to be involved in those area. They will send out the recommendations in advance and look to have time on the agenda at a future meeting to talk through the recommendations to strengthen what they are trying to accomplish. Adjournment Meeting adjourned at 5:45pm Next Commission on Disability Meeting: March 10, 2016 3 To request this information in an alternative format or to request a reasonable accommodation for this event, please contact Sandy Davis, (253) 591-5452; TTY 711 1 To request this information in an alternative format or to request a reasonable accommodation for this event, please contact Gail Himes, (253) 591-5785; TTY (253) 591-5153