Committee Concerning People with Disabilities

COMMITTEE CONCERNING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES MEETING MINUTES City of Middletown 61 Durant Terrace May 3, 2022 6:00 PM 1. Members Present: Marty Knight/Chairperson, Phil Cacciola, Elderrean Paules, Richard Pelletier, August DeFrance, Joe Carta (via phone) Joseph Bibisi, Molly Carta and Keith Vinci. Absent: None Staff Present: Catherine Lechowicz – Director of Recreation and Community Services General Public: none 2. Meeting Called to Order: Called to order at 6:04pm. 3. Public Hearing: none 4. Approval of Minutes: A motion to approve the meeting minutes of April 5, 2022, was made by Richard Pelletier and seconded by August DeFrance. The motion carries. Departmental Reports:  Elderrean Paules stated that the painting is completed Monarca Place. There was an empty apartment and a visually impaired woman with a guide dog has moved into that apartment. The generator is in the process. Phil stated that no one bid on the job of installing the generator. John from the Housing Authority Department reached out to various contractors and some are simply too busy to do the job but others are not. The Housing Authority is going to re-open the bid process in the near future. A discussion ensued about the thermostat and temperature of the building  Molly Carta did not have anything to report.  August DeFrance stated that they did have a meeting and they are working on the 40% cost estimate now. They are going to skip May meeting and have a meeting in June when they are closer to how much it is going to cost. They did get the money from the Common Council to go forward with the estimate of what it would cost to build it. A discussion ensued.  Joe Carta stated that there is an issue with handicapped parking at Romegialli field. There is only a marked pavement in the handicapped spot. There is not a sign. Cathy stated that she will reach out to the Public Works department to put up a sign. A discussion ensued.  Phil Cacciola stated that he has not heard anything regarding the track. He asked Molly if there was any news about the Hunting Hill Avenue gate. She stated that there was no new information. Molly asked why the gate cannot be left in the up position. Cathy stated that she will ask that to the Board of Education. Phil stated that the bathroom doors at Pat Kidney field can be adjusted so that they are not so heavy. Phil also asked why there were no high school kids on the CCPD Committee. Cathy stated that the program was run through Justin Carbonella called Youth Services. There are 2 young women from Wesleyan that called Cathy regarding CCPD and wanted to know if there was anything that they can do help with the committee. A discussion ensued.  Keith Vinci stated that the demand for sign language interpreters from Wesleyan has blown up. They are in the process of interviewing deaf persons to run as a professor at Wesleyan. They are facing the issue of getting interpreters for that professor. A discussion ensued.  Joseph Bibisi stated that he had nothing to report. He did receive a letter from the Mayor’s office so that he could be sworn in. A discussion ensued.  Richard Pelletier stated that Beman School is going very well. They corrected all of the problems with the chairs. There is an issue with overtime because the custodians had to clean oil off of the  chairs. Richard is on the Citizens Advisory Committee. This committee has put aside money to fix the door at City Hall. If you push the button, the door does not open. It is not working properly. A discussion ensued. Cathy advised that Richard call the Mayor directly with this issue.  Marty stated that at South Congregational Church the changes are coming along well. The social room is almost completely redone. A new floor has been put in and they are putting in an accessible bathroom currently where the nursery used to be. They have still not fixed the pothole that is near the curb on Pleasant Street. A discussion ensued. Old Business: New Business: Miscellaneous: Adjournment: A motion of adjournment was made by Elderrean Paules and was seconded by Phil Cacciola. The meeting adjourned at 6:46 pm. Respectfully submitted, Laura Bruni Runte