Commission For Persons With Disabilities

Commission for Persons with Disabilities Regular Meeting Minutes January 2nd, 2020 4:00 PM Present: Committee Chair Elanah Sherman, Amy Dudek, Kevin Harkins, Cynthia Litton (by phone), Mark Marcy, Julie Menders, Kevin Saythany Absent: None Others Present: Brigid Marks Call to Order: Kevin Harkins called the meeting to order at 6 PM while Elanah went on a brief errand. Determination of Quorum: It was determined a quorum was present (7/7). Approval of Minutes: On a motion from Mark, seconded by Kevin S, the December, 2019 Meeting Minutes were approved as presented. Citizen Comments: None. Communications: None. Old Business: Westgate Shopping Center - Update: Because Jim Troeger is retiring, the Commission needs a new Building Department contact. In consultation with Brigid, members decided that the Commission would table the issue while the department reorganizes. Norwich Census Committee – Report: Elanah has a Census training on Monday, January 6th. She will report at the next meeting. Charging Stations Sub-Committee – Report: Julie has emailed Chris Riley, but has not heard back yet. She will email him again and ask to schedule a phone call for mid-January. (Members acknowledged that NPU is frequently dealing with emergencies.) On a related note, Brigid said she believes that CDBG would be a good fit for funding. New Business: Disability Awareness Week 2020 Voting Rights for Persons with Disability (Radio): This event will be repeated in 2020. ADA Event: Elanah suggested a program on how ADA and State Building Code interact and differ. She said NCDC is interested in co-sponsoring. Members gave Elanah approval to go forward with NCDC. Members suggested that the Chamber also be involved in this event. Advertising: Kevin H and Mark will lead the effort to develop and implement a marketing plan and timetable. Rose City Arts Festival: Elanah will invite organizers of the Rose City Arts Festival to the next meeting to discuss how to maximize accessibility at this event. In advance of this meeting, Elanah will email Commission members the planning-for-access document she emailed the Chair of the festival last year. Newspaper Article: Elanah discussed a recent article in the Bulletin about an alleged assault on a person with a disability in Norwich. https://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/20191218/norwich-brothers-and-juvenile- charged-in-attack-of-disabled-man A shorter article also appeared in The Day. Both papers declined Elanah’s suggestion that they do follow-up articles on the frequency of such attacks. Because there was to be no follow-up, Elanah submitted a Letter to the Editor of The Bulletin on behalf of the Commission elaborating on the issue; the letter was published. Elanah apologized for not getting Commission approval before submitting the letter, but said that polling members in between meetings may have constituted an illegal meeting. Adjournment: On a motion from Mark, seconded by Kevin S, the meeting was adjourned at 5:04 PM. The next meeting will be at 4 PM on Thursday, February 6th, 2020 at Norwich City Hall in Room 319. Meeting Minutes written by Ivery Stakley; revised 1/13/20 by Elanah.