Mayor’s Advisory Committee for Citizens with Disabilities

Agenda Mayor's Advisory Committee for Citizens with Disabilities Meeting Tuesday, July 14, 2026 - 4:00 PM City Hall, 419 Fulton Street, Room 404 Roll Call A. Roll Call Table Minutes A. Approve Previous Meeting Minutes Unfinished Business None New Business A. Welcome of New Commissioner - Audrey Felder B. Speaker - Jason Marks - Premise Alert C. Staff Liasion Update on Upcoming ADA Wow Event Public Comment None Adjournment Page 1 of 9 2026 Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Commissioner Attendance Thomas X X X X X X Peterson (Chair) Kaye Berry X X X X X X (Vice Chair) Chaya Gilbert X X X X X X Jayishnu X X X X X X Srinivas Bree X X X X X X Muehlbauer Mandar X X X X X X Pattekar Susmita Saha X X X X X X Audrey Felder X X X X X X Staff Liaison X X X X X X A=Absent P=Present R=Resigned E=Excused X=No Meeting P(x)=Present, No Quorum Page 2 of 9  CITY OF PEORIA Mayor’s Advisory Committee for Citizens with Disabilities MINUTES June 10th, 2025, at 4:00 PM Call to Order Chair Peterson called the meeting to order at 4:03 PM. Roll Call Present: Chair Thomas Peterson; Vice Chair Kaye Berry; Committee Member Bree Muehlbauer; Committee Member Doug Gathers; Committee Member Datikka Peebles (present via zoom after unanimous consent); Committee Member Mandar Pattekar; Not Present: Committee Member Chaya Gilbert; Committee Member Jayishnu Srinivas; Committee Member Susmita Saha. Quorum Established. Staff Liaison Green was present. Brian Shamburger for Kimley Horn was present. Approval of Meeting Minutes October 2024 minutes: Motion to approve by Gathers, seconded by Commissioner Muehlbauer. Call to Order at 4:03 PM New Business I. ADA Transition Plan Presentation- Kimley-Horn: Brian Shamburger appears to talk about any concerns, and to have a discussion to aid in the development of the plan, and he stated that this committee should have a big impact on it. Brian reported also working with a company called Deep Walk, which is a part of some of the technology we're using to do some of the assessments. Infrastructure engineering is another local civil engineering firm that is helping us do some of the work. Introductions to those present took place: Mandar Pattekar: I’m a retired physician and a disabled person myself. So, I decided to empower myself and be part of this. Page 3 of 9 Melodi Green: I'm Melodi Green, I'm the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the City of Peoria and the liaison to this committee. Kaye Berry: I'm Vice Chair for ADA here, I've been here 12 years, so I've gone through four groups of people. I've heard a lot of different complaints from so many people, for CityLink and CityLift and sidewalks, and a lot of different people having different problems, and of different phases of life. Thomas Peterson: Hi, I'm, uh, Thomas Peterson, I'm the chair for this committee and I'm just a citizen of Peoria, so just happy to be here. Bree Muehlbauer: I am a citizen of the committee, and I was trying to think how long I've been here, at least 2 years, yeah. Paola Mendez: My name is Paola Mendez, I'm an Assistant City Engineer, so I work at Public Works. Datikka Peebles. I am just a member of the Citizens with Disability Committee. I really don't know how long I've been here, but I'm eager to kind of help and learn. Brian Shamburger: We want to improve accessibility and connectivity. We are focusing this portion of the plan on public rights-of- way, so that's all public transportation, it's the sidewalks and things. We want to encourage participation from people with disabilities, but also the public, too, because we know that it does influence everyone in some way. We also want to educate staff and the public about what really are the requirements. We're going to evaluate all the public pedestrian facilities throughout the city, to develop a list of barriers. The goal of the development of the transition plan is to develop a long- range plan to eliminate barriers. Back in the 60s, the federal government established the architectural Barriers Act. And so, as they were developing their own standards as they were spending dollars towards constructing their own Page 4 of 9  facilities, whether it was transportation, or buildings, or public spaces and they had the ADA And standards that went along with that and in the early 70s, there was the Rehab Act, Section 504, for public agencies, as Title II agencies, cities, counties, towns and any public agency that received any federal dollars. The Civil Rights Restoration Act of 87, Extended the reach of 504 and then there was the ADA. I mentioned it's a civil rights law. It prohibits any discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life. That was schools, transportation, it's any public and private places that are both normal and open to the public. We're identifying physical barriers, but we're also looking at programmatic barriers related to any of the services and activities. There can be digital elements, websites, and communication practices. Traffic signals and how people, um. Use those for equipment to navigate throughout the city, but we are going to evaluate those facilities, and then fix those things, again. And then, once we understand that, that's going to include costs. It will then develop a schedule. It's essentially a master plan, just like you have a master plan for anything else, there is a master plan for accessibility. So, some of the other requirements are included in the development of the transition plan. ADA coordinators need to be knowledgeable about how the city works and training in what the ADA is. We all know who the official ADA coordinator is for the city, and Melodi’s role, but it really does take a team, or a village. We've established an internal liaison committee, and it's really made up of city staff. Representing some, you know, different departments There is a group that is planning to meet to extend us reach in terms of what we're trying to accomplish and how we're going to do it. On the city's website there is an ADA policy. It also includes a grievance procedure, which is required, which allows someone, if they do have a concern, to file a formal complaint. Again, we'd like this to be a more formal process, so that it can be documented well. It's well written, it's very clear, there's even a complaint form that someone can go online and fill that out, and once it's submitted, it starts the process Page 5 of 9 Kaye Berry: That's intimidating. That's one of the things about her (Melodi Green) if something happened to “them” on city grounds and they had a complaint, and they're complaining to a city employee. They feel that it's unjustified, because they feel they're not going to get anything accomplished because it is an employee. They felt somebody, you know, like a mediator would be more substantial to them. Liaison Green: I would just counter that by stating that it's the Equal Opportunity Office, so any other discrimination type of complaint would be coming through the Equal Opportunity Office, but I'm happy to speak with anybody and alleviate their concerns, but typically with any municipality, there's an office that receives complaints internally and externally, and that's the same here for the city. I don't know if they have alternatives but I'm happy to hear anything. Thank you for letting me know that, though. I appreciate it. Kaye Berry: But this would be prior to her. I'm very glad she's here. This is a new age, right? I'm very glad believe me. Brian Shamburger: The city has staff now They need to have someone internally to be able to manage it. We are going to do a programmatic review of the city's programs, policies, procedures, and the services, document those, identify any barriers. We're also looking at public rights away. Once we do that assessment, we're going to develop the transition plan, things like meeting agendas, and any online forms. You look at the PDF documents that may not be accessible, meaning maybe they can't be read through screen readers. Are there transcripts, or are there captioning for videos, and things like that. Even things like an emergency management plan. The city has over 241 traffic signals, where you have push buttons and we’re also looking at 400 miles a sideboard Kaye Berry: When the Civic Center gets out, there's a huge traffic Page 6 of 9 jam all the way up Adams, Jefferson, and Kumpf Street, and there's been a lot of accidents. Brian Shamburger: We'll do an assessment based on standards and compliance and we will make a recommendation and document what needs to be adjusted. Kaye Berry: They have difficulty navigating. There's a 6-inch curb going through to the street. I'm not going to go down there, I'm gonna have a lawsuit if I did that. Kaye asserts there are “75 people”. Doug Gathers: Who would have an influence on how it ranks? Brian Shamburger that's something we're working through with city staff right now about how we prioritize things. Kaye Berry: They're, you know, they've been looking for a new terminal at the end of the line, basically, over by Target. Kaye went on to express individual problem locations. Doug Gathers: Suggests that Kaye should forward any complaints to the group and asks if anything was done with those complaints. Liaison Green: Kaye Berry never submitted photos and documentation that she said she had. Chair Peterson: questions about what the cost is for something like this. Brian asserts that it will be expensive. Brian Shamburger: Here's just some examples of… the green checkmark system. (Presentation Attached) And so we'll be showing and providing a detailed report. We're starting the process of doing these assessments. Which will be mapped in a way that the city will be able to look at it and Page 7 of 9  evaluate as we are doing work. They'll be able to potentially look and see if there are areas they would like to incorporate more while developing projects. As we develop the website we will share more information. Doug Gathers: Thanked Kimley- Horn and the City of Peoria for investing in this transition plan. Chair Peterson: reports that he had a discussion with Mayor Ali and corporation counsel regarding quorum requirements. Corporation Counsel suggested not moving towards a working group. Mayor Ali said that she would follow up with committee members who have been frequently absent. II. City Link Report Out- Vice Chair Kaye Berry DEFERRED Unfinished Business- NONE Committee Member Reports- NONE Adjournment- Motion to Adjourn made by Chair Peterson and seconded by Committee Member gathers. Meeting adjourned at 5:11PM Page 8 of 9 Page 9 of 9