Committee Concerning People with Disabilities

COMMITTEE CONCERNING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES MEETING MINUTES City of Middletown 61 Durant Terrace – Recreation/Community Service Building April 3, 2018 6:00 PM 1. Members Present: Marty Knight/Chairperson, Richard Pelletier, Elderrean Paules, Dr. Helen Evrard, Phil Cacciola, Joseph Bibisi and Keith Vinci. Absent: Joe Carta, August DeFrance. Staff Present: Catherine Lechowicz – Director of Recreation and Community Services General Public: none 2. Meeting Called to Order: Called to order at 6:01pm. 3. Public Hearing:  Lisa Santangelo, Democratic Registrar of Voters, was present at this meeting. She is addressing people’s needs at the polls. She apologized to Marty Knight for not inviting him to the moderator training and stated that it would not happen again and that it was an oversight. She discussed the new HAVA machines that are located in a couple of polling stations. The old systems would generate the ballot on a fax machine and the paper from the fax machine is a different texture than a ballot and it was not going through the tabulator and was not being counted. This issue has been corrected. There was an issue at Beckham Hall which is a polling facility in the middle of the 14th district. The challenge that they had was that the screen for the computer was facing the room which allowed people walking by to see what was on the screen. The head moderator’s corrected these issues. There was a post-election meeting at Beckham Hall and apparently there was an issue that the HAVA machines were not set up near the polls. The moderators should have been able to resolve this issue. The next moderator training will be more robust so that there will not be any issues pertaining to the HAVA machines. She stated that if there are any future issues to please contact the Registrar’s office. A discussion ensued. 4. Approval of Minutes: A motion to approve the meeting minutes of March 3, 2018, was made by Joseph Bibisi and seconded by Dr. Helen Evrard. The motion carried with 1 abstention. Keith Vinci was not present at last month’s meeting. Departmental Reports:  Elderrean Paules stated that there is a deaf tenant that is moving out of Monarca Place. There is a waiting list of people that would like to move into Monarca Place. A discussion ensued.  Richard Pelletier stated that they did have a meeting. At this meeting, the financial arrangements were discussed. A discussion ensued.  Dr. Helen Evrard stated that she did not have anything to report.  Joe Bibisi stated that the warming shelter is closed. The director of the warming center is retiring in November. There will be a meeting on May 15th to hire a new director. This is a city program. A discussion ensued.  Keith Vinci spoke about the green envelopes. A discussion ensued.  Phil Cacciola stated that they are having the groundbreaking ceremony for the Shepard Home tomorrow on Wednesday, April 4th at 10am at the site. This facility should be for veterans. There  are 32 units at the Shepards Home. Fedex has made a commitment to hire those that are disabled as well as veterans. The building is fully accessible. A discussion ensued.  Cathy Lechowicz stated that she did not have anything to report.  Marty Knight stated that last night at the Common Council meeting he and Keith were re- appointed to the Committee Concerning People with Disabilities. Their terms were set to expire on April 30, 2018. Their new terms will expire on April 2023. A discussion ensued. Old Business New Business: Miscellaneous: Adjournment: A motion of adjournment was made by Phil Cacciola and was seconded by Elderrean Paules. The motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 6:43 pm. Respectfully submitted, Laura Bruni Runte