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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010 0720 Minutes Open_APPROVED Meeting Minutes — Approved as circulated 9/21/10 Mayor's Advisory Committee For Equal Access (MACFEA) Tuesday, July 20, 2010 Mo'ikeha Meeting Room 2A & 213 4444 Rice Street, Uhu'e, HI 96766 Those present at the meeting were: Rita Manriquez — State Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board (STBIAB); Dr. Lucy Miller — DCAB (Disability and Communication Access Board) member; Dawn Cummings — Family Advocate; Sharry Glass — Advocate, Teacher/Trainer; Kathy English — Hawai'i Disability Rights Center; Betty Bell — Kaua'i Federation for the Blind; Linda Nuland-Ames — ADA Consultant; Rev. Richard Chun, Senior Representative. Staff members also present: Christiana Pilkington —ADA Coordinator; Barbara Davis — Staff Secretary; Marc Guyot, Deputy County Attorney. Captioner: Daryl Morrell, Caption First. Guests: Roberta Eiben Members absent or excused: Julia Hall — American Red Cross; El Doi — Kaua'i Developmental Disabilities Council (DDC); Rhoda Rojas — Hawai'i Center for Independent Living-Kaua'i (HCIL); Elena Costales — Consumer, KCIL Volunteer. Ms. Pilkington announced that Chair El Doi was out of town for a family emergency and Vice Chair Elena Costales was ill so a Chair Pro Tern would need to be elected to run today's meeting. ACTION: Ms. Glass nominated Dr. Lucy Miller. With no other nominations, Attorney Guyot noted there were sufficient members to make a quorum and called for the vote. Motion carried 7:0 Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Acting Chair Dr. Lucy at 12:02 pm in the Mo'ikeha Building Meeting Room 2A & 2B at 4444 Rice Street in LThu'e with a quorum of 7 members present and 1 member joining thereafter. Approval of Agenda Ms. Bell moved to approve the agenda as circulated. Ms. Glass seconded the motion. Motion carried 7:0 Approval of June 16, 2010 Minutes Ms. Glass moved to approve the minutes as circulated. Ms. Manriquez seconded the motion. Motion carried 7:0 MACFEA Page 1 Business o Email dated July 7 from Cindy Omura regarding Department of Transportation's scheduled hearings for the State Pedestrian Master Plan Ms. Pilkington announced that this was a State-wide plan and KauaTs meeting was scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at the Kaua'i War Memorial Convention Hall on Tuesday, July 27th. The State is looking for public input on alternative ways of transportation. Ms. Glass said she would be attending as this is the appropriate venue to bring up low speed vehicles such as wheelchairs, scooters, mopeds, golf carts and small electric vehicles. ACTION: Ms. Glass moved to accept the communication for the record. Ms. English seconded the motion. Motion carried 7:0 o Update for taping the Together We Can Mayor's show and the final format for the July 26, 2010 ADA Proclamation presentation Ms. Pilkington advised the Committee that the Mayor will be reading the ADA Proclamation in the rotunda of the Round Building at 1 :00 pm on July 26 th. Prior to that time, Dr. Lucy, Sharry Glass, Rhoda Rojas and she will sit with the Mayor in his office for the filming of the Together We Can show. They will tie this to the proclamation and some of the things MACFEA has worked towards for the county to be in compliance with the ADA these past 20 years. There are also plans to have the Mayor ask questions to people in the audience at the Proclamation as to how ADA has affected them personally or their family. Additionally, there will be refreshments following the Proclamation and Ms. Pilkington asked the committee members to extend an invitation to their family and friends to attend. Ms. Glass said her contribution to the program would be a kind of historical perspective remembering back to the 1980's when a person had to be carried up the stairs in the Historical County Building to attend a County Council meeting; this was before they finally installed the elevator. In addition the Kaua'i War Memorial Convention Hall was not accessible to veterans as they couldn't go on the stage or backstage if they used a wheelchair, crutches or walker unless they were carried up the very narrow stairs. Also none of the bathrooms inside the Convention Hall were accessible and now all of that has changed because of ADA. Ms. Glass said people did not realize how far-reaching the benefits of the changes would be such as where there are ramps instead of stairs it benefits moms and dads pushing strollers, people who are temporarily injured and people with heart or respiratory problems. Captioning for the deaf and hearing impaired people also reaches those using English as a second language and makes it easier to understand people with accents. Ms. Bell said the County is doing a good job and should be acknowledged for the Paratransit system but suggested they could discuss an extended schedule for those who use Paratransit recognizing even though it is expensive to operate. Dr. Lucy said many of these changes that affect so many did not come voluntarily, they had to be legislated such as special parking for the handicapped; we MACFEA Page 2 can see why this legislation was so appropriate and now it is already being taken for granted. Ms. Pilkington said that prior to the ADA they had the Rehabilitation Act but it was the ADA that gave the Rehab Act of 1973 its bite. It was through ADA that we got the UFAC (Unified Federal Access Code) which is the design code originally specifying doorways should be 30 inches wide and you have to have a 60 inch area for someone in a wheelchair to turn. o Decision-making on changing meeting schedule to a bi-monthly basis ACTION: Ms. Bell moved to change the meeting schedule to every other month rather than monthly. Ms. Glass seconded the motion. Meetings will be conducted in September, November, January, March and May which should be the months Ms. English is able to come from O'ahu to attend; special meetings will be called as necessary. Motion carried 8:0 Reports DCAB's report for July, 2010 Dr. Lucy reported that the Chief of the disability rights section of the Department of Justice will be on O'ahu for a special conference September 8 and 9 at the Ala Moana Hotel and sponsored in part by DCAB. The new ADA Title II and Title III rules include the adoption of the revised and updated ABA/ADA accessibility guidelines which should be approved by the Office of Management and Budget on the Federal level before these meetings. Dr. Lucy said she was particularly interested in the meeting on the 9th where they will discuss the update and refinements to the service animal guidelines. Dr. Lucy made available a document on Assistance Dog Model State Law pointing out this may not necessarily reflect the final bill but it does clarify many things. Dr. Lucy noted that because of budget concerns, DCAB also meets bimonthly even though some committees may meet more often. When asked about guidelines for parks and outdoor developed areas, Ms. Pilkington said we defer to the Outdoor Developed Area Access Guidelines which have not been adopted by Justice yet but Kaua'i County has asked DCAB to review some parts of our bike paths and the more developed parks that have problems which were not addressed in the ADA access guidelines. Ms. Pilkington said that the Access Board also published recreation guidelines which address harbors, playgrounds and other areas that you can't find under the ADA access guidelines. The DOT (Department of Transportation) has adopted the ADA/ABA Guidelines for their building standard and there are other Federal agencies that are going through this process but they have not been adopted yet by the Department of Justice. Members' reports Betty Bell: The National Federation of the Blind meets monthly in the State Building and members desperately need a bench or some type of accommodation at the back of the MACFEA Page 3 building where they wait for the busses. Ms. Bell said if a bench were donated she did not know the proper format to get it installed. Ms. Pilkington suggested the National Federation of the Blind contact Ms. Janine Rapozo at The Kaua'i Bus to explain the need for the bench there and let her be the liaison with the State as they may already have something in the works for that area. Ms. Glass suggested that in addition to contacting Ms. Rapozo, they also contact the Lion's Club whose main focus is for the visually-impaired and blind and who might be willing to provide the bench. Kathy English: Our new fiscal year starts in October so we are gathering input for our priorities for next year and you can find the survey at www.hawaiidisabilitiesrights.org or we have paper surveys which you can fill out and mail back on what you think we should be focusing on for the next year. We are working on Act 163, signed into law that says you cannot be in a public high school after age 20 which we believe is discriminatory for the special education programs. When the State applied for funds to implement the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, they said they were going to provide services through age 21 which means to the 22nd birthday and that is not what this law is doing so we will challenge it in court. Rita Manriquez: The Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board met on July gth. Ms. Manriquez spoke with Dr. David Frey, who is in charge of the Honolulu division of DDD, about her being the only medical person at the initial shelter set up during the tsunami alert and he advised her to contact the head of the Department of Health on Kaua'i so at the time of future disasters there will be a lot more nurses and medical people involved. Attorney Guyot suggested that MACFEA create a Permitted Interaction Group that would meet immediately following the main meeting to work on the preparation for the Mayor's Together We Can show. ACTION: Ms. Glass moved to create a Permitted Interaction Group for the purpose of creating a script for the Mayor's program. Rev. Chun seconded the motion. Motion carried 8:0 Next MACFEA meeting: Tuesday, September 21 , 2010 Adjournment: Ms. Nuland-Ames moved to adjourn the meeting at 12:58 pm. Ms. Bell seconded the motion. Motion carried 8:0 Respectfully submitted by: Barbara Davis, Staff Support ( ) Approved as is ( ) Approved with amendments. MACFEA Page 4