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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010 0316 Minutes Open_APPROVED COUNTY OF KAUAI MACFEA Meeting Minutes REGULAR SESSION Approved as circulated 4/20/10 Board/Committee: Mayor's Advisory Committee for Equal Meeting Date March 16, 2010 Access (MACFEA) Location Mo'ikeha Meeting Room 2A & B Time: 12:01 pm Adjourned: 1 :17 pm Members Rita Manriquez — State Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board (STBIAB), Rhoda Rojas — Hawai'i Center for Present Independent Living-Kaua'i (HCIL), El Doi — Kaua'i Developmental Disabilities Council (DDC), Lynn Putisan — Kaua'i Federation for the Blind, Linda Nuland-Ames — ADA Consultant, Elena Costales — Consumer, KCIL Volunteer, Rev. Richard Chun, Senior Representative, Dr. Lucy Miller— DCAB (Disability and Communication Access Board) member, Dawn Cummings — Family Advocate Members Kathy English — Hawai'i Disability Rights Center, Julia Hall — American Red Cross, Sharry Glass — Advocate, Excused Teacher/Trainer COK Staff Christiana Pilkington —ADA Coordinator, Barbara Davis — Staff Secretary, Marc Guyot — Deputy County Attorney Captioner Cindy Thompson, Caption First ASL Interpreter Guest(s) Ulu Brede — President, Kaua'i Federation for the Blind; Doug Haigh — COK Chief of Buildings; Kylan Dela Cruz, COK Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation, Rose Costales SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Call To Order Chair Costales called the meeting to order at 12:01 p.m. and following member introduction determined there was a quorum with 7 present. (Ms. Nuland-Ames arrived 12:08 m; Rev. Chun arrived 12:22 m Approval of Ms. Doi moved to approve the agenda as Agenda circulated. Ms. Manriquez seconded the motion. Motion carried 7:0 Approval of Minutes of February 16, 2010 Minutes Ms. Rojas requested a correction to her report on page 5: Correct the name of the guest speaker from Janine Rapozo to Rosie Rapozo (Paratransit Coordinator for The Kaua'i Bus); also Ms. Doi moved to approve the minutes as the meeting was rescheduled from March 23 to March 30. corrected. Ms. Rojas seconded the motion. MACFEE Open Session March 16, 2010 Page 2 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Motion carried 8:0 Communication o Letter dated February 22, 2010, to Mayor Carvalho from Ms. Rojas moved to receive the Mrs. Felonelia (Lynn) Putisan resigning as a member of communication. Ms. Doi seconded the MACFEA due to an extended trip to the Philippines motion. Ms. Rojas asked if Ms. Putisan could be reinstated after she Motion carried 8:0 returns (from the Philippines). Staff stated it was dependent on the number of members appointed to MACFEA at that time (MACFEA policy requires membership of 13) but Ms. Putisan could always attend the meetings as a guest. Business o Update on County of Kaua'i DOJ Settlement Agreement ADA Improvements • Update on Transition Plan Barrier Removal projects • Lydgate Beach Park accessible camping sites update Doug Haigh from the County of Kaua'i Department of Public Works reported on the status of the DOJ (Department of Justice) Settlement Agreement and the Transition Plan access barrier removal projects. Mr. Haigh reported that several years ago there was a court case which resulted in a federal court order for the County of Kaua'i to develop a Transition Plan. The County hired a consultant to prepare the Transition Plan which included an inventory of improvements that needed to be done to county facilities, primarily park facilities. The Buildings Division was assigned the task of developing a schedule, requesting funding and completing the scope of work developed by the consultant. A year later the Department of Justice (DOJ) came to Kaua'i and conducted another investigation of county facilities. While there were some new access barriers found there were many duplications noted in the Transition Plan (TP) so the county, using the existing list and six year completion schedule, proceeded with the work for the DOJ Settlement Agreement and TP projects. Recently the county hired a consultant to verify the status of the Department of Justice and Transition Plans projects and the report noted that not all the projects had been completed so the county negotiated for additional time. As of today everything on DOJ's latest list of items has been completed except some projects at Hanama'ulu Beach Park. The County hopes to submit their final report to DOJ within a month which will close out the settlement agreement obligations. The county still has work, primarily in the parks, like accessible drinking fountains, areas in front of the drinking fountains, accessible parking at the LThu'e tennis complex which should be going out for construction bids within MACFEE Open Session March 16, 2010 Page 3 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION two months as well as some miscellaneous work which will be done by the county maintenance crews. During inspections, the County also found that between the time the work was completed and the consultant's inspection, there had been vandalism; the accessible hardware had been taken away, there was weather wear and tear and other maintenance type issues. County maintenance crews have been scheduled to complete many outstanding items, with training as part of the continual part of their maintenance, to replace items, to move items that create barriers and to replace signs when they have been removed. Ms. Rojas asked if any of the issues with the bus stops had been tackled. Mr. Haigh said the bus stops are handled by the County Transportation Department Agency and they have their own Transition Plan and schedule to improve bus stops. Ms. Pilkington said that the County Transportation Agency Transition Plan includes bus stops and bus shelters and if the members do not have a copy she will make sure to bring copies to next month's meeting. Some of the bus stops were addressed in the Curb Ramp Transition Plan through the Engineering Division and that portion has been completed. There are still access barriers that people come across and there may be new access barriers or barriers that weren't addressed by the consultant when the Transition Plan was created. Although Rice Street was part of the Transition Plan, detectible warnings were not required at the time the plan was developed; now they are required. These are areas we can look at and see if they can be prioritized. At Lydgate Beach Park — the concrete work for the ADA campsites was completed last week; the final work is to provide rubberized pads for the campsites and it should be completed shortly. Mr. Dela Cruz — The County has just floated a bond for the Lydgate Park campgrounds which has already gone through Planning and DCAB review so the County is moving forward with finalizing the plan and putting it out to bid. The project is expected to be completed in roughly nine months. The campsite will not be opened until ADA accessibility has been addressed. Mr. Dela Cruz was asked if the County considered the suggestions from the MACFEA members who visited the campsite. Mr. Dela Cruz noted one of the main issues regarding the campsite was the elevated camping platforms and the type of surface that would provide a firm, stable, slip resistant surface. The County ended up choosing concrete with a rubberized surface for the one elevated campsite to comply with the best practices for recreation and outdoor rules and the other campsites maka'i of the campground will be level with the ground surface. Where the Pavilion burned down there is insurance recovery of$100,000 but the County will need to come up with another $150,000 in the form of a bond to complete it. With the finalizing of the plans, DCAB review and bidding out the construction work, it is anticipated to take roughly a year to rebuild the pavilion. MACFEE Open Session March 16, 2010 Page 4 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION o COK Emergency Preparedness Plan for People with Disabilities update Ms. Pilkington reported that the committee had not met in about six months but Mark Marshall, head of Civil Defense on Kaua'i, was going to take the plan that the committee had come up and tweak it a little bit. The plan will then go back to the committee to see if there is anything else to be added before it is brought to MACFEA for final input. Ms. Pilkington said at a recent Emergency Preparedness Conference on O'ahu they discussed how to provide a one-stop network that people could plan around based on wherever they were in the State. Since Kaua'i does not have a final plan yet, we are trying to make sure that our plan is well integrated with whatever other plans are out there so there is similar language and understanding. Ms. Pilkington pointed out that situations and challenges for persons with disabilities are very individualized and she tries to encourage people to shelter at home if they can, depending on what the emergency is. o Discussion of a subject for the Together We Can Mayor's show Ms. Pilkington was not sure exactly what the Committee had in mind requesting this topic be placed on the agenda or if it was in relationship to emergency preparedness. Ms. Pilkington will check with the Public Information Officer for the schedule and asked for this item to be deferred to the April Meeting. Reports o DCAB's report for March, 2010 Dr. Lucy referred the members to the DCAB report included in their meeting packet. The DCAB bills before the Legislature don't seem to be getting too much of a negative reaction because most of them refer to DCAB becoming more self-supporting with fees and line item budgeting. o Members reports Rev. Chun — distributed a brochure on senior services put out by the County's Agency on Elderly Affairs. Rev. Chun said in 1965 the Older Americans Act was passed with funds allocated to deal with people age 60 and above. In the early 1970's, this service went from being a state agency to a county agency with funding and each county agency had to develop a program to meet the needs of their older people. At that time they had a nutrition program, a transportation program, a health screening program, and information and referral services. Kaua'i senior centers were all organized and funded by the Older Americans Act money so all of the neighborhood centers had programs to meet the needs of older people. The Older Americans Act has now be un to chan a so the emphasis is not so much providing services as contracting services out. At the present MACFEE Open Session March 16, 2010 Page 5 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION time, the staff from the Agency on Elderly Affairs still goes into senior centers to see if the seniors have particular needs. That information is then put into the office in their files and when the area plan is written, these needs are then addressed in either programs that the area agency may operate or programs where they would go to other agencies or contract with other agencies to provide. The nutrition program is now run by KEO (Kaua'i Economic Opportunity), the recreation program and the senior center is operated by Parks and Recreation and transportation is by the Transportation Agency. The RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) is also under the Office of Elderly Affairs with programs like foster grandparents, visitation, senior companion program where seniors go to isolated elderly people or stay with them while their caregiver takes a break. Rev. Chun noted when these programs were started in the early 1970's, there was money all over the place but now it is really tight and they are not as free as before to develop or maintain programs. Ms. Nuland-Ames — noted her current schedule for this month and next will cause her to arrive a little late and leave the meeting a little early but said she would be there so the meeting does have a quorum. Ms. Putisan — since she is going to be off island for six to seven months, Ms. Putisan said "aloha" and "bye bye" to the MACFEA members. Ms. Ulu Brede said they have asked Betty Bell to represent the NFB (National Federation for the Blind) Kaua'i Chapter at future MACFEA meetings. Ms. Bell used to be the administrator at Wilcox Hospital, was a pharmacist, a realtor, a member of various chorales and a very active person in the Kaua'i community. Ms. Doi — The DD (Developmental Disabilities) Council is sponsoring "A Day at the Capitol" Thursday, March 18 and there are 14 participants this year consisting of self-advocates, family members, care givers and personal assistants. This year they will be focusing on the budget cuts that are occurring. Our Legislators will be providing lunches for the participants and meeting with the group in one of the rooms at the Capitol. On March 19th at 5:00 pm in the Kaua'i Community College cafeteria, there is a meeting regarding the closing of the Department of Human Services Offices here on Kaua'i and they are hoping for a good number of people to support the request to not allow this to happen. Ms. Doi explained that the Department of Human Services includes Medicaid, financial assistance, and food stamps for individuals who are not working, single mothers with children, people with disabilities and senior citizens. Access to these programs would be through use of a computer or telephone and with our large elderly population; many of them do not know how to use a computer or can't hear well and would not be able to utilize these programs. Ms. Doi thought this might eventually trickle down to child welfare and adult protective services. Everyone is encouraged to show up at this meeting as the MACFEE Open Session March 16, 2010 Page 6 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION loss of this service really impacts absolutely everyone on this island who will ever need access to any of those services. Every time they withdraw on-island service and put it in Honolulu, fewer people get benefits and that is part of the cost savings, not only in rent and personnel, but they know there will be people who won't know how to apply or won't know how to get the information. The seniors will not fight to get their benefits, medication or food they need and this would be really detrimental to them. Ms. Doi encouraged everyone to show up for this meeting and support the DHS workers on this critical issue. Ms. Manriquez — The Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board is meeting on the 29th so there is nothing to report at this time. With the recent tsunami scare, the volunteer disaster team for the American Red Cross started the preparation to set up the shelters. The hotels either told their guests to go to the shelters or started dropping them off there and that there would be food and water for them. The shelters don't actually get fully going until after the event and that is when the food and water comes in. This upset a lot of people so the County needs to tell the hotels to tell the tourists they need to take care of their own medication and things they might need. Ms. Pilkington said she was told that they did not open any shelters. Ms. Manriquez said the shelters were not officially open; shelters are not official until after the event and the volunteers were only setting up in preparation should they be needed. Ms. Manriquez was grateful that the tsunami never materialized and noted this was a good, good practice period and commended the County on it phone call system to alert the community. Ms. Rojas — also attended the same meeting as Ms. Doi and encourage everyone to go to the meeting on the 19th so these services do not disappear from this island. Ms. Rojas attended a Social Security Benefits Planning Meeting on O'ahu on the 11th and is now better able to plan benefits for the people of Kaua'i with disabilities. The Hawai'i Center for Independent Living self-advocacy group meeting is March 30th, 10:00 am to 11 :30 am, with guest speaker Rosie Ra ozo from the Paratransit Transportation Office. Announcements Ms. Ulu Brede — President, Kaua'i Federation for the Blind showed the members the new digital talking book machine which is very compact, portable and even has a sleep feature. The machine can be run off a battery and charged through an electrical outlet. Ms. Brede then demonstrated some of the functions noting that the talking book tapes are half the size of the old tapes. Talking books is sponsored by the Library of Congress and the priority is for any veteran, male or female that served in the Armed Forces, with being blind or physically handicapped a priority; then come seniors, some children and then the general public. The Library for the Blind is on O'ahu at 402 Kapahulu on the other side of the Ala Wai golf course and anyone receiving talking books who is blind, the postage is free for all printed matter to and from the library and are usually received within a day or two. Ms. Brede acknowledged that public libraries do not yet have the talking book machine. Ms. Brede said that MACFEE Open Session March 16, 2010 Page 7 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION the Library of Congress only issues X number of machines or X number of recorders and when the priority list is completed they may consider putting them in public libraries. Ms. Brede offered her assistance to anyone who needs help in obtaining a talking book machine. The phone number for NFB is 808-333-9317. Next Meeting Tuesday, April 20, 2010 Ms. Pilkington asked if the membership had any items they would like to include on the next agenda. So far she has the bus stop Transition Plan and Access Barrier removal instruments to identify new access barriers. Adjournment Rev. Chun moved to adjourn at 1 :17 pm. Ms. Rojas seconded the motion. Motion carried 8:0 Respectfully Submitted by: Barbara Davis, Secretary Date: ( ) Approved as is. ( ) Approved with amendments. See minutes of meeting.