Commission for Citizens with Disabilities

Regular Meeting

Arlington Heights, IL · January 16, 2025

Minutes

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF COMMISSION FOR CITIZENS WITH DISABILITIES THURSDAY, JANUARY 16TH, 2024 7:00 P.M. BUECHNER CONFERENCE ROOM I. CALL TO ORDER The Regular Commissions of Citizens with Disabilities was called order by Commissioner Roxanne L. Calibraro and seconded by Commissioner Eva Mullinax at 7:01 in the Buechner Room at the Village Hall. II. ROLL CALL Present: Roxanne Calibraro, Commissioner Eva Mullinax, Commissioner David R. McCallum, Commissioner Brian Harrison, Commissioner Pam McVoy, Commissioner Jennifer Durkin, Commissioner Also Present: Darren Brown, Health & Human Services TreWan Collins, Health & Human Services James McCalister, Director of Health & Human Services Absent: Sheryl Letwat, Chairman Seth Goldberg, Commissioner Beth Deiter, Commissioner III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made and agreed upon The Commissioner to approve the minutes of November 2024 Commissions for Citizens with Disabilities Meeting. IV. OLD BUSINESS A. Transportation Summit Commissioner Roxanne and Commissioner Eva attend the last summit. The other Commissioner do find it hard to attend the public meetings when they are hosted at a private business. Commissioner Eva recommended that people do attend these events because they are very enlightening. Roxanne shared Luan Redding submission that came from the RTA, now everything will be dependent on what happens in Springfield due to Covid funds running out. Commissioner Roxanne believes that if more funds are not given residents will not have the services they have now. There was no further discussion. VII. OTHER BUSINESS A. Chairman Resigning Liaison Darren Brown shared with Commission that Sheryl Letwat has stepped down from her roll as Chairman for the Commission and that the mayor will be appointing a new chairman for the Commission. Darren will get confirmation if Chairman Letwat is just stepping down or leaving the Commission entirely. B. Strategic Goals for Commission Darren shared with commissioners that the Village would like each board and commission to contribute to the upcoming strategic priorities process the Village Board will be discussing in the upcoming cycle this spring. The Village Board would like to get feed back from all commissions on what issues they feel should be discussed regarding the Arlington Heights Community. They are not looking for detailed projects but general issues that are current and important to the commissions. They are asking for a list of discussion topics by April 30th. James shared with the Commission that he spoke with Mayor Hayes about updating the Commission’s goals, which are Frontier Days, Disability Award, and the Transportation summit. James stated that now that Disability Award is no longer going to be continuing annually that the commissioners need to find some type of event or goal to replace that one. James brought up to the commissioners how in the past the Senior Commission, the Youth Commission, and the Disability Commission tried to work together to create a teen snow shoveling program for seniors and people with disabilities. The issue with that the program is that it’s hard-to-get teens to sign up, but this year they were able to get 300+ volunteers. IX. ADJOURNMENT With no further business to discuss, a motion was made to adjourn by Commissioner Calibraro, Seconded by Commissioner Mullinax, and approved by unanimous consent. Meeting adjourned at 7;50 P.M.

Agenda

Packet

AGENDA Commission for Citizens with Disabilities Commissions Room Arlington Heights Village Hall, 33 S. Arlington Heights Rd., AH 60005 January 16, 2025 7:00 PM I. CALL TO ORDER II. ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Approval of November 14th, 2024 Minutes IV. REPORTS V. OLD BUSINESS A. Disability Employment Awareness Award a. News or Events to Share B. Presentations a. Review Recent Presentation b. New Ideas VI. NEW BUSINESS A. Transportation a. Transportation Subcommittee Meeting b. Metropolis hosting the RTA's Suburban Transit Summit VII. OTHER BUSINESS VIII. PUBLIC COMMENT Anyone wishing to speak on a subject not on the Agenda may speak at this time. Please limit your comments to three minutes. IX. ADJOURNMENT Persons with disabilities requiring auxiliary aids or services, such as an American Sign Page 1 of 7 Language interpreter or written materials in accessible formats, should contact the Health & Human Services Department, at 33 S. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights, IL 60005, healthmail@vah.com or 847/368-5760. Page 2 of 7 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF COMMISSION FOR CITIZENS WITH DISABILITIES TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12TH, 2024 6:30 P.M. BUECHNER CONFERENCE ROOM I. CALL TO ORDER The Regular Commissions of Citizens with Disabilities was called to order by Chairman Letwat and seconded by commissioner Calibraro 6:30 p.m. in the Buechner Room at the Village Hall. II. ROLL CALL Present: Sheryl Letwat, Chairman Seth Goldberg, Commissioner Eva Mullinax, Commissioner Roxanne L. Calibraro, Commissioner Beth Deiter, Commissioner Eva Mullinax, Commissioner Also Present: Stacey Shein Stapleton, Interpreter Nafia Kahn, Guest Jason Sternberg, Guest Absent: David McCallum, Commissioner III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion was made and agreed upon The Commissioner to approve the minutes of the September 2024 Commissions for Citizens with Disabilities Meeting. V. OLD BUSINESS A. Disability Employment Awareness Award a. News or Events to Share The Commission is still considering other avenues to highlight those with disabilities. Highlighting those who are treated inclusively, equitably, and perhaps are spotlighted in the community from a variety of entities including but not limited to: Businesses, Schools, Sports Clubs, The Library, etc. Page 3 of 7 The Commissioners shared together a plethora of ideas for different types of re- shaping the DEAA. Commissioner Goldberg provided an example of using St. Viator High School for Disability Celebration. B. Presentation a. Review Recent Presentation The Commissioners discussed with Chairman Letwat, about the presentation that was in person and also via zoom. The Presentation was very informative with a lot of follow up questions. b. New Ideas Chairman Letwat shared with the commissioners how she attended the Disability Fair this summer and was able to meet with Laurie Abel, the chairperson. Chairperson Abel presented the idea of having someone from Illinois come talk to families about saving their children with disabilities. They plan on voting on the idea next meeting. C. PROGRESS CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING Nafia Kahn, speaker for the Progress Center for Independent Living, spoke to the commission on the company provides assistance for the disabled. The Progress Center for Independent Living is a company that provides services for people with disabilities but also receive services for people with disabilities, about 50% of their employees have disabilities and about 51% of the board has disabilities. The organization’s goals and mission are to make sure they help people with disabilities of all disabilities to help them achieve their self-determined goals. Currently they are trying to advocate for the dignity at pay law to be changed in Illinois, that would give people with disabilities a chance at competitive wage jobs. This would mean people with disabilities wouldn’t get the bottom of the barrel jobs anymore. They also provide personal home assistance for help with grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc. VI. NEW BUSINESS A. TRANSPORTATION a. Transportation Sub-Committee meeting The Commissioners discussed the Sub-Committee meeting. Several Commissioners attend the meeting along with the Summit. Commissioners shared that there will be a budget meeting for all transportation agency at the Metropolis, a date is to be determined. At the transportation Summit, Commissioners found it very resourceful. All transportation agencies got a chance to speak publicly to the audiences, and after they broke up into small groups to ask questions from each agency individually. The Commission was informed that the Legislature must approve funding in the next session, which goes into the budget for the 3 agencies. In 2026, COVID money from the state Page 4 of 7 will end. If the money is not approved by that time there will be service cuts and also delays. Unfortunately, at the Summit there was no discussion about cab services or other transportation services. Commissioners strongly encourage that they attend the next budgeting meeting, to inform the Legislature about the struggles with transportation in Arlington Heights. At the Summit, Commissioners were informed that all agency is making revisions, agencies have discussed a way for transportation to be on call for people within the community. Whether that be through a bus, or even trying to utilize Lyft or Uber. Commissioners voiced that Uber does have similar program but as of right now it is only in the City of Chicago; Commissioner Goldberg voiced that he believes Uber is only accessible for people with disabilities in Chicago. Commissioner Goldberg believes the Commission should find out how many people with disabilities live in the area. b. Metropolis hosting the RTA’s Suburban Transit Summit Commissioners discussed the lack of transportation that is needed in Arlington Heights, it was brought to their attention that the summits are meant to bring knowledge and awareness to the agencies about the lack of transportation. All agencies are working to fix this issue such as the CTA, RTA, and Metra. At the moment all agencies have considered the input in changes that need to made from the community and the commission, it is the lack of funds that haven’t brought these changes to fruition. The Commission discussed about coming up with some kind of plan in order to make change happen, they are looking to pitch it to Maggie Trevor or Mary Beth Canty. IX. ADJOURNMENT With no further business to discuss, a motion was made to adjourn by Commissioner Goldberg, Seconded by Commissioner Harrison, and approved by unanimous consent. Meeting adjourned at 7;55 P.M. Page 5 of 7 Page 6 of 7 Commission for Citizens with Disabilities 1/16/2025 Item: Transportation a. Transportation Subcommittee Meeting b. Metropolis hosting the RTA's Suburban Transit Summit Department: Health & Human Services Item Description: ATTACHMENTS: None Page 7 of 7