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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012_0515_Meeting Minutes_APPROVED Meeting Minutes — Approved as circulated 7/17/12 Mayor's Advisory Committee For Equal Access (MACFEA) Tuesday, May 15, 2012 Mo'ikeha Building, Meeting Room 2A/2113 4444 Rice Street, Liliu'e, HI 96766 Members present: Rita Manriquez — State Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board (STBIAB); Kathy English — Hawai'i Disability Rights Center; Roberta Eiben — Consumer; Dr. Lucy Miller— DCAB (Disability and Communication Access Board) Board Member; Sharry Glass — Advocate, Teacher/Trainer; Betty Bell — Kaua'i Federation for the Blind; Elena Costales — Consumer, KCIL Volunteer. Also Brandon Raines, County of Kaua'i IT Communication Manager, Guest Presenter Staff members also present: Christina Pilkington —ADA Coordinator; Marc Guyot— Deputy County Attorney; Barbara Davis — Support Clerk; Teresa Tamura, Administrative Aide. Captioner: Heather Theriaque - Caption First. ASL Interpreter: Tamar Lani Members absent or excused: Linda Nuland-Ames — Director RSVP, COK; El Doi — Kaua'i Developmental Disabilities Council (DDC); Ana Valdez — Family Advocate; Dawn Cummings — Family Advocate Deputy Attorney Guyot told Committee Members that Chair Nuland-Ames was ill and since the Committee had not elected a Vice-Chair, the first order of business would be to elect a Chair Pro Tem for the meeting. Deputy Attorney Guyot said he would like to turn this election process over to Elena Costales since she was a past chair of the Committee. Ms. Bell nominated Elena Costales as Chair Pro Tem. Ms. Glass seconded the motion. Vote carried 7:0 Call to Order Chair Pro Tem Costales called the meeting to order at 12:06 p.m. with 7 members present. Approval of March 20, 2012 Minutes Action: Ms. Glass moved to approve the minutes of March 20, 2012, as circulated. Ms. Manriquez seconded the motion. Motion carried 7:0 Business o Discussion to change meeting time to accommodate paratransit riders (Deferred from 3/20/12) MACFEA- May 15, 2012 Page 1 Ms. Glass said if the Committee changed the starting time of the meeting to 1:00 p.m. Ms. Bell could take the 11:30 a.m. paratransit bus which should get her to the meeting just before 1:00 p.m. She could return home on a 3:00 p.m. bus and perhaps this would better accommodate her needs. Ms. Bell said when she was picked up at 11:15 a.m. in the past, she was still late to the 12:00 p.m. meeting but thought she could make it by 12:30 p.m. if that time would work better for everyone else. The return paratransit bus is at 2:50 p.m. but she does not mind waiting. Ms. Bell said she appreciates everything this Committee does and would like to continue to be a part of it. General discussion of the members present felt it would not be a problem for them to change the meeting time to 12:30 p.m. Action: Ms. Glass moved to change the MACFEA meeting time to 12:30 p.m. Dr. Lucy seconded the motion. Motion carried 7:0 o Election of Vice-chair (Deferred from 3/20/12 meeting) Action: Ms. Glass moved to nominate Elena Costales as Vice-chair. Ms. Manriquez seconded the motion. Motion carried 7:0 o Discussion of Ensuring Auxiliary Aid Notice for County Activities Ms. Glass was not sure who requested this item on the agenda but thought Dr. Lucy might want to speak on the subject since appropriate notice was not given for the Mayor's State of the County Address. Dr. Lucy did not specifically remember requesting this to be an agenda item but said it was appropriate. She is very interested in finding a way to make it more mandatory for all County sponsored events to give the necessary notification for interpreters, CART reporters or remote captioning to be provided. Ms. Glass suggested that part of the issue may be that announcements for the events have to be put out early enough to give sufficient notice to people who need auxiliary aids. Ms. Glass asked if it was customary or if there was an ordinance that a notice is provided for auxiliary aids four days before an event. Ms. Pilkington said she tries to accommodate people even if it is an hour before an event. A lot of entities will list a seven day notice but their flyer does not come out until a few days before the event so if they can't get an interpreter they feel that notice covers them. With notices like that a lot of people don't bother to attend because they are under the assumption that there is not going to be a way they can arrange for an interpreter. The County does have an auxiliary aid communication access policy. The policy does state that all County agencies need to provide auxiliary aid on invitations, flyers, and newspaper ads. MACFEA- May 15, 2012 Page 2 Dr. Lucy said her main source for events is the newspaper which is often the same day of the event or the day before and the restrictions on requesting auxiliary aids leaves her out of many events. Ms. Pilkington said the Department of Justice website asks for 48 hours advance notice and they have a good example of an auxiliary aid notice. Ms. Glass asked if VRI (Video Remote Interpreting) would make a difference on Kaua'i. Ms. Pilkington said absolutely but it would also depend on the situation and the person requesting the auxiliary aid. That is the reason we are trying to work with it to make it happen for Kaua'i. Ms. Glass asked if it was possible to have a registry of people who require auxiliary aids that could receive those press releases when they are going out to the newspaper. Ms. Pilkington said registries require someone to be in charge of the information and to keep it updated. It should be a common practice that all County entities and agencies that sponsor or cosponsor activities or events should put out the information as soon as possible and ask for 48 hours notice. That also allows 48 hours to cancel the interpreter without having to pay for their time under the State Administrative Rules. With the VRI we can work with 24 hours notice. Ms. Manriquez commented that the State was having problems regarding confidentiality with the registry for the TBI community. The registry also labels and stereotypes people that need help. Action: Discussion; no action required o Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 Dr. Lucy said the Federal Communications Commission Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was approved last November and includes the 21St Century Communications and Video Accessibility which requires that regulations by the FCC be revised to mandate closed captioning on video programming delivered using Internet protocol. In other words, all streamed video, whether television or computers, must be delivered in an accessible manner, which includes closed or open captioning. This regulation goes into effect this year, 2012. Dr. Lucy said her interpretation of the rule is that everything that it is requiring already exists technologically. What does not seem to exist is Internet access in County facilities that will permit this to take place with Webcams and so forth so we can have remote interpreting. Mr. Raines said he would probably have more questions than comments at this time. Right now, the County currently streams over the Internet several different meetings including the County Council, the Planning Department, the Police Commission and the MACFEA- May 15, 2012 Page 3 Mayor's Show. That live streaming is provided through a contract with a company called Granicus. There are other Boards and Commissions public meetings that are not being broadcast over the Internet with captioning service. Mr. Raines said he was not sure what the requirements of the law are in terms of the County moving towards making all of these public meetings available through streaming. While it is not yet available, the County has already started a project to move towards providing Internet accessibility within our meeting rooms and then eventually will move towards more remote facilities such as our neighborhood centers. Mr. Raines said that opens up a whole host of options in terms of services that would be available to meet the needs that are on the Internet. Mr. Raines expressed interest in understanding what the law says in terms of timelines and requirements because as an IT Department, they are just starting to come up to speed. Dr. Lucy said she did not recall the timeline but thought it was before the end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013. Mr. Raines asked if there were examples of what other counties in Hawai'i were doing to meet these requirements. Perhaps he could talk with his contacts to see if they are actually pursuing these initiatives and are further along than Kaua'i may be. We might even be able to share contacts and have follow-up discussions with them so we don't have to reinvent the wheel. Ms. Glass noted there was no mention of sign language interpretation being available. Also it requires that any event or program that is being broadcast over television or Internet will have to have captioning but it does not require captioning for just any public meeting. Dr. Lucy said those were two different issues. The FCC is concerned only with broadcasting and video streaming. ADA and other entities are working on the other aspects. Also the access for computers requires an audio description of the video for people who are relying totally on their hearing. With Video Remote Interpreting, arrangements can be made, preferably 24 hours before, to allow us to attend more of these events. Ms. Pilkington said Video Remote Interpreting requires a 24 hour advance notice to set up an interpreter for a specific meeting or activity. If the County had Wi-Fi in the offices could someone who is deaf communicate on the spot with a staff person using their telephone through Sprint Relay? Ms. Tamar Lani said the ADA now recognizes Video Remote Interpreting as an accessible means of providing a qualified interpreter. The County could use a video remote interpreter located on Oahu through the Internet system and explained that a wired system is better than a Wi-Fi because the bandwidth is better; it gives a higher quality video streamed in both directions. The Sprint Relay remote captioning is supposed to be used for meetings where not all of the participants are in the same MACFEA- May 15, 2012 Page 4 room. Sprint does prefer a two day notice to guarantee they will have a captioner available but they will do their best to work with shorter notices. The Sprint Relay service is free because it is part of the contract Sprint has with the Public Utilities Commission. There is a requirement from Sprint that captions are not to be broadcast onto the wall but on individual computer screens. The County might want to consider Video Remote Interpreting to make events available to the public such as the Mayor's Address, whether there is a request or not. Ms. Glass said with these new technologies, it is how we can best serve the public rather that what is being required by law because it will be required eventually. Mr. Raines agreed that he had some homework to do on some of the technologies that are available. Obviously the County would need to look at the expenditures and overhead involved but it does seem like there is opportunity. In terms of managing the bandwidth, which costs the County money every month, we limit the amount of streaming and video and the access is restricted for employees. o Public Notice of Access to County ADA Representative Attorney Guyot explained that a request was received to discuss the switching of the ADA Coordinator's position out of the Mayor's and the Boards and Commissions' Office and into the Human Resources Department. Where the position is located may not have been a concern in terms of MACFEA's role within the County however, the access of the public to an ADA representative and that interaction was. At the County Council's budget hearings, the Council requested that the position be put back into the Mayor's Office so it is no longer an issue of the ADA Coordinator position being in the Human Resources Department. This item was placed on the agenda to discuss the continued public access to the ADA representative and to MACFEA's ability to continue to advise the Mayor and the County on Federal, State, and County laws requiring equal access. Ms. Glass stated that she testified before the County Council about her concerns in the changes to the position. Not only was the position being moved but the salary for the position was being reduced by about 20-plus percent. Ms. Glass said she was very concerned that this reflected the lack of knowledge about the scope of the responsibilities and the duties of the ADA position. The ADA position affects most County departments, most County functions, and all County facilities. So it seemed very appropriate that the position should be in the Mayor's Office just as DCAB is in the Governor's Office. Even the way the office is set up now there is not appropriate privacy for people who may want to express a complaint against the County. The ADA coordinator position is essential because you have to know all the new laws that apply, train County staff, and ask County departments to spend money on something they may not agree with but that is necessary by law. This position is MACFEA's liaison with the Mayor and the person who advises MACFEA about issues in the community that the Committee needs to be aware of so we can suggest the appropriate response to the Mayor. MACFEA- May 15, 2012 Page 5 Attorney Guyot said the Committee can make their recommendations to the Mayor regarding the need for privacy and confidentiality in the ADA Coordinator's office. Ms. Glass noted her concern that the Mayor's Advisory Committee was not consulted about where the ADA Coordinator's position should be and this decision was made by a task force. Action: Ms. Glass moved to send a communication to the Mayor that the ADA Coordinator position should remain in the Mayor's Office to provide the appropriate authority and influence that the position needs to effect the changes that need to be made; and that the salary should remain comparable with the ADA Coordinator's salaries on other islands; and to provide an office for that position that allows privacy for the public. Ms. Bell seconded the motion. Motion carried 7:0 Reports o DCAB reports for April and May, 2012 Dr. Lucy discussed the three pieces of legislation introduced this session by DCAB. The bill that passed was the design review which will now go through the respective departments rather than DCAB. The bill to add a dollar fee to car registration to help support the special parking needs did not pass. They are also working to make sure that there has to be at least one electric car charging station accessible to people with disabilities. The Communication Access Committee of DCAB is progressing with making sign language videotapes of the ADA laws for deaf people who use sign language. It will be captioned and accessible on the Internet. The meeting ended at 1:22 p.m. when the Committee lost its quorum Next Meeting Tuesday, July 17, 2012 Respectfully submitted by: Barbara Davis, Staff Support ( ) Approved as circulated ( ) Approved as amended MACFEA- May 15, 2012 Page 6