Committee Concerning People with Disabilities

COMMITTEE CONCERNING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES MEETING MINUTES City of Middletown 61 Durant Terrace – Recreation/Community Service Building May 1, 2018 6:00 PM 1. Members Present: Marty Knight/Chairperson, August DeFrance, Joe Carta (via phone), Richard Pelletier, Elderrean Paules, Phil Cacciola and Keith Vinci. Absent: Joseph Bibisi, Dr. Helen Evrard. 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: 4. Approval of Minutes: A motion to approve the meeting minutes of April 3, 2018, was made by Richard Pelletier and seconded by Keith Vinci. The motion carries. Departmental Reports:  Elderrean Paules stated that Monarca Place is back to being full again. The new tenant is a woman. The new security system was discussed.  Richard Pelletier stated that they did have a meeting for the middle school. At this meeting, they put out a RFP for a contractor at risk. This is a contractor who will be responsible for all the sub- contractors. We are still waiting for the state to determine if we will get the money or not. A discussion ensued.  August DeFrance stated that they did have a meeting for the boat house. At the next meeting, they will go over more ideas. At the last meeting, there were many members of the public present and the meeting lasted over 2 hours. A discussion ensued.  Joe Carta stated that he was at Hubbard Park on Saturday to watch little league baseball and that he had to park on the road. It looked like there was a new cut out but it did not have any signage. A discussion ensued.  Keith Vinci stated that the latest information regarding the green envelopes is that at the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association had an annual meeting at the Aqua Turf and asked if Keith would attend and set up a booth. There were about 300 people in attendance and the green envelopes are in big demand. A discussion ensued.  Phil Cacciola stated that the Sheperd Home had the groundbreaking ceremony. They are doing a great deal of work on the inside of the building. A discussion ensued.  Cathy Lechowicz stated that we had the Senior Expo today. It was a tremendous success with well over 200 seniors coming to the expo. She thanked the staff for their hard work. A discussion ensued.  Marty Knight stated that some times in June we do not always have a quorum and the committee does not meet in July and August. He wanted to know what the committee wanted to do this year for July and August. A motion was made by Phil Cacciola to not have meetings in July or August unless something comes up and was seconded by Elderrean Paules. The motion carries. A discussion ensued. Old Business New Business:  Elderrean Paules stated that the para-transit in Middletown is getting very bad. The funding isn’t there but the Dial- A-Ride people are making it very difficult for those that are visually impaired. There are 4 people that are blind that are having trouble. One of her friends, who is blind, gets a ride to and from work every day from Dial- A- Ride. They are supposed to blow the horn so that she will know to come outside. Instead, they waited 5 minutes and left. The drivers are not permitted to get off the bus to assist anyone. Ellie has her interview with Dial-A-Ride next week. She has a lot of questions that she wants answers to during her interview. A decision was made to write a letter from the Committee Concerning People with Disabilities to our state reps regarding this issue. A discussion ensued. Miscellaneous: Adjournment: A motion of adjournment was made by Richard Pelletier and was seconded by August DeFrance. The motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 6:42 pm. Respectfully submitted, Laura Bruni Runte