Committee Concerning People with Disabilities

COMMITTEE CONCERNING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES MEETING MINUTES City of Middletown 61 Durant Terrace January 10, 2023 6:00 PM 1. Members Present: Marty Knight/Chairperson, Phil Cacciola, August DeFrance (via web), Elderrean Paules, Molly Carta (via web), Keith Vinci, Joe Bibisi Absent: Richard Pelletier 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 December 6, 2022, was made by Elderrean Paules and seconded by Joe Bibisi. Keith Vinci abstained from voting. The motion carries. Molly Carta had a question about the minutes. The question was whether or not there will be an accessible door at the Recreation Center. Cathy Lechowicz confirmed that there will be one. Departmental Reports:  Molly Carta stated that she has been asked to be on the Vet’s pool committee as a representative from the committee concerning people with disabilities. This pool committee oversees the pool as well as the splash pad. There is an upcoming meeting and Molly will keep everyone posted with updates. A discussion ensued.  August DeFrance stated that he had information about the boat house to report. There has been a special meeting on December 14th where they went over all of the specifications. There will be another meeting on January 11th and February 1st where the committee will go over the design reviews. A discussion ensued.  Elderrean Paules stated that Phil mentioned that the generator is coming along at Monarca Place. She has not heard or seen anything regarding the generator updates. Ellie stated that a tenant will be moving out in January. This tenant is deaf. A discussion ensued.  Joe Bibisi stated that the homeless are going to the Wesley Motel and Suites. They are averaging about 35- 36 homeless people. The budget is over $500,000 and the Columbus House is doing this for us. We are looking for money. We are sending letters to churches to help financially. We’ve gotten grants but they are not close to that amount. Ellie stated that the Lion’s Club would like to make a donation. The Columbus House is taking care of any donations. A discussion ensued. August stated that the homeless are sleeping in the cemetery. There are drugs and garbage everywhere.  Keith Vinci stated that the Unified Theatre did their show. It was well attended. Molly Carta stated that the show was very good and that her niece participates in Unified Theatre. A discussion ensued.  Cathy Lechowicz stated that she was given a name of a potential new member named Laurie McFadden. She has not spoken to her yet but they have had an email exchange in which Laurie expressed interest in joining the committee. Cathy will speak with her this coming week and then get it on the Mayoral appointments. Cathy attended a meeting with the Mayor regarding an issue with the bus stop at Monarca Place. She stated that sometimes what people want is not allow by MAT. Some of the drivers make accommodations even when they aren’t supposed to. There are some bus drivers that pull into Monarca Place to pick up residents. They actually aren’t supposed to do that. Elderrean stated that 15 years ago she was told that the MAT bus was supposed to come into Monarca Place as a bus stop. At this meeting, it was stated that the buses are never to  go into Monarca Place as a bus stop. Instead of having the stop always be in 1 direction, they are trying to make the stop circular so that you can get off the bus safely. MAT is going to be changing the routes. The issue is that certain roads are city roads and other roads are state roads and it’s a difficult place to put a crosswalk. A discussion ensued. Old Business:  August wanted an update as to what would happen if a person didn’t know how to pump gas and needed to get gas. Cathy stated that they are required to have a phone number that people can call statewide. Keith Vinci suggested that we send out a letter to the gas stations as a reminder that they should have this phone number posted. A discussion ensued. New Business:  Molly mentioned the issue of the parking area at Beman School. Marty stated that Richard Pelletier is working on this issue. A discussion ensued.  Keith Vinci mentioned that there was an event for Kuhn but that there was no interpreters and the City should be aware of that. He also mentioned that this is something that he would help with if necessary. A discussion ensued. Miscellaneous: Adjournment: A motion of adjournment was made by Elderrean Paules and was seconded by Joe Bibisi. The meeting adjourned at 6:31 pm. Respectfully submitted, Laura Bruni Runte