Committee Concerning People with Disabilities

COMMITTEE CONCERNING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES MEETING MINUTES City of Middletown 61 Durant Terrace September 1, 2020 6:00 PM 1. Members Present: Marty Knight/Chairperson, Elderrean Paules, August DeFrance (via Webex), Phil Cacciola, Richard Pelletier, Keith Vinci and Tateisha Perry (via phone). Absent: Joseph Bibisi and Joe Carta 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 March 3, 2020, was made by August DeFrance and seconded by Elderrean Paules. The motion carries. Marty welcomed new member, Tateisha Perry, to the Committee Concerning People with Disabilities. Tateisha introduced herself and each of the Committee members also introduced themselves. Departmental Reports:  Elderrean Paules stated that 2 weeks ago Monarca Place had no air conditioning. Ellie called the housing authority to complain. An hour later, a maintenance person was there and fixed the issue. The elevator did not work for 6 days after the tropical storm. Ellie stated that when she went to vote last, it took the moderator 30 minutes to get the machine up and running. Richard suggested sending a letter to Lisa Santangelo stating that the voting machines for the disabled should be set up and ready to go at 6am on a voting day. Cathy will draft a letter to the Registrar of Voter’s office addressing these concerns. A discussion ensued.  Richard Pelletier stated the banner was attached to the Beman Middle School. There are 2 state of the art science rooms that are included in the new school. Cathy explained that once the new middle school is complete, they will knock down a great portion of the old school but keep a large space for the Recreation Department. A discussion ensued regarding the school acting as an emergency shelter  Phil Cacciola stated that he has nothing to report.  Keith Vinci stated that said that he was glad to see that when Governor Ned Lamont gave his Press Conferences there were interpreters for the deaf and hearing impaired signing. Many of the interpreters were people that he knew and some he had previously trained. A discussion ensued.  August DeFrance stated that there was a meeting but he was unable to make it and has not yet seen the minutes. He has nothing to report.  Tateisha Perry asked about the members speaking about other committees that they are on. Cathy explained that there is a CCPD member on each committee. A discussion ensued.  Cathy stated that she wanted to give an update of what each department is doing during the pandemic. She stated that the senior division was making about 1000 calls per week, with help from the library, to our seniors to see if they needed help. We partnered with the Amazing Grace & Vox Church to assist with getting food to those people who needed food because they could not  get out. Cathy worked very closely with the City when restaurants opened and tables were on sidewalks to make sure that everything remained accessible. Cathy and Marty spoke about terms on the committee. There were some people that were listed as alternates that should not have been. That has been fixed. The committee was formed in the early 90’s. It was formed through a resolution and not through an ordinance. The paperwork has not yet been found. An ordinance may be put forward to correct the errors and make sure that each member’s term is correct and that they remain and not be replaced. A discussion ensued. An additional discussion was had regarding how to hold the meetings going forward. 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 6:51 pm. Respectfully submitted, Laura Bruni Runte