Accessibility Advisory Commission - Regular Meeting

Welcome to the Tuesday, April 28th, 2026 meeting of Grafton Mass Accessibility Advisory Commission. I'm Roger Trahan. I'm the chair and I call this meeting to order. And because we are meeting by teleconference via Zoom, I will go around and take attendance. Christy Proctor.

Here.

Catherine Dupuy.

Here.

And Tracy Sharkey.

Hi.

All right, awesome. So everyone, Roger Trahan here. So everyone can hear me and see me okay? Well, I guess. And moving on, a number of announcements that I actually included in the meeting packet. But before I do so, let's see. Actually, I will do this last. All right, the first one is, There are still two Accessibility Advisory Commission vacancies for terms ending June 30th of 27 and 1 in 28. And especially for the 1 in 27, someone doesn't have to make a big commitment. because it will be ending in a little over a year. So I'll advertise online on the various Facebook pages. And I know every so often the select board Advertise is on the website and sometimes in the Grafton News, all of the vacancies on the various boards and committees. So it's been frustrating. This is our longest drought. So anyway, moving on to 1B. Grafton did receive the FY26 Mass Office on Disability grant that was applied for to replace the Senior Center ramp. at the municipal center for 75,000. So Tracy, you were involved in that, right?

Yes.

Yeah. Thank you, Tracy.

You're welcome.

So it was you and William Blake. Yes. All right. Thank you, William.

We are looking for a contractor.

Oh, okay. So you have to find that very soon or else you lose a grant, right? Or we lose a grant. Okay.

I don't know what the timeline is, but. We may need to shake the trees a little bit.

Okay.

Finding a person to do the work.

All right. Well, let's hope we can find someone. Or if this is a market issue, let the Mass Office on Disabilities, whoever communicated the award, it might not be a bad idea to... seek their input on you know let them know what's going on yes and then and uh you know plead mercy so yeah um yeah okay yeah yeah and then you at least have it documented that all right here's the issue you know look look what happened with the library just to replace the shelf And that there was there was a couple inches on one of the shelves and that prevented an occupancy permit. And it was because of market conditions. So. So. All right. Moving on. One C. Grafton Recreation Department adaptive summer programming. I know that we. spoke of this, I believe at our last meeting, but now we're heading really close to all the various summer programs. And so the Grafton Rec Department has a number of adaptive offerings. So I would invite folks to go onto the grafton-ma.gov website under departments for recreation and look at the various summer programs that are available. And moving forward under announcements 1D, an update on 95 North Street, the accessible Angval Recreation Area. under I think it was the town administrators updates either at the last meeting or the meeting before of the select board there's going to be a ribbon cutting ceremony soon and so that park should be opening quite soon so that has an adaptive or pardon an accessible walk space and parking as well so that will be opening soon and Announcement E, Big Truck Day is Saturday, June 20th from 10 to noon at Millbury Street School. And there's a sensory friendly hour from 10 to 11 where they won't be blasting the sirens or horns or anything like that. And I will be reaching out to Mike Kennedy. he wasn't able to make it last year but the year before this adaptable van um was a raving hit a lot of little kids climbed in and and mike was uh really uh engaged with a lot of the community members regarding all the various features of how that van works and all the uh how that was retrofitted and uh What was interesting about that whole day was that a lot of people don't realize that the stripes are the axis aisle and that's just not there for decoration. And so I'll reach out to Mike and hope that he can Make it that day, and if not, if you could recommend someone in his place. That went over real well, if you recall, from two years ago. Moving forward with another announcement, the Mass Ready Act, which was legislation S as in Sam 2542, passed on April 15, 2026. and include included 50 million dollars for mass trails grants including 10 million dollars dedicated specifically to improving accessibility so i'm not sure if um how those grants will be awarded or whether they are uh similar to appropriations that you know the various uh our various reps uh obtain, but know that the state is adding some focus in this area with an additional $10 million. And then lastly, and I could have put this on the head of the meeting, but I realized about a half hour ago, today is National Adaptive Sports Day. So as we're heading soon into National Night Out with adaptive tennis, today is National Adaptive Sports Day. So that is all I have for announcements. Does anyone else have any announcements that they would like to share? Just flipping my agenda here. Okay, external correspondence. I had ended up forwarding, there were a number of emails along the way, but this was really, The final email regarding the Mass Architectural Access Board provided correspondence. Pretty sure I had been forwarding these emails to everyone regarding the 151 Wichita Street, the Verizon poles and the width of the sidewalk. And they had That was an email that I had forwarded to you that was dated from March 11th. And it was a case resolution that basically said that the particular complaint regarding that particular pole, that there was enough width, the 36 inch width, but it was required that the action required was to remove vegetation around the pole. prep it for pavement, patch it to achieve 36-inch clearance, and also there was the potential to widen the sidewalk if warranted, where you'll see that there's certain paved areas on the sidewalk from the curb cut, and then sometimes there'll be a telephone pole there, But the fact that there's additional potential width that if the town were to proceed with it, it was seemingly town property to extend the sidewalk width to the various stone walls and property lines. And so that's what that means. And then the potential to move the pole closer to the back of the curb if warranted. What I found interesting about this particular complaint and all the emails and the final decision is if you go up Worcester Street on that side of the road, on the odd numbered side, 151, and you go, it's from where the 122, 140 come together and then head towards Stop and Shop on your right. Like that whole length all the way up to the pike and beyond has seemingly similar characteristics. So it surprised me why the rest of the poles on that whole straightaway weren't part of the complaint. So even if this area is fixed, the whole straightaway from a bird's eye view driving by is seemingly in the same condition. So even if that's fixed, in an ideal world, there is seemingly room for improvement to widen that whole area. But this situation, the AAP is resolved, but there's required action. So did everyone go through that complaint and the pictures and such?

Roger, I know I didn't.

Okay. Okay. It's a number of pictures that show the various widths from the curb cut to where the pole, the telephone pole is, and then beyond the telephone pole to a grassy area that then proceeds a couple of feet to a stone wall. And so once you cut around the pole and prep it, from the pole to the end of the paved area becomes 36 inches. But it was just in a state of sort of overgrowth and disrepair that that wasn't a permanent situation. In other words, the pole being there wasn't fatal to remediating the issue.

I'm surprised it came through on March 11th when that area was probably covered by snow and ice. I'm surprised that wasn't the complaint, the clearing of the sidewalks this year.

I think this went back a couple of years. They assigned it a docket number. I think the earlier... The earlier email said we'll come out in the spring and maybe there was no snow on the ground at that time leading up to the March 11th email. So anyway, it's all over town where the telephone pulse can become problematic, especially with overgrowth. So anyway, I'll put that aside.

Yeah, if I could just add one thing.

Yeah, sure.

So the issue did resurface due to the consecutive snowstorms and the inability to have that 36 inches maintained. This is a section of the state highway. So that is why DOT was involved with this and not our local DPW.

Okay. Gotcha.

And some of the improvements in recent years have just been get the sidewalk laid down type of improvement with not a lot of notice to the town.

So let me ask you this, Tracy. So it's a state road, but the sidewalk is the... sidewalk the sidewalk is our responsibility or not it's a gray area oh i would it be a gray area if roger trahan parked in a safe spot uh walked across the street with his weed whacker but it's it's more than that it requires paving but like in areas where overgrowth is the only issue I guess you would still not have pavement underneath because if there's growth, it means that it's not a hard surface beneath. But it's almost like it would seem to be an easy fix if things become overgrown and that becomes the only issue.

Yeah. So the original complaint from a couple of years ago had DOT involved.

Okay. Yeah.

And I'm just trying to locate that. And it was never really formally submitted back to MAAB for the response. That's, I think, why we had that docket number. Okay.

So C-22, was that referring to 2022? Yes. Oh, so this goes back four years.

Yes. So MAAB had come down with that decision and I'm just trying to find the chain.

Yeah.

They came down with the decision and DOT maintenance did rectify it, but it was never relayed back to...

For lack of time, what I ended up doing is I'm typically more astute regarding the meeting packet, and I hadn't gone back and saved those and combined those. If I had had an extra day, I think the email chain would have made the meeting packet.

Yeah, don't worry about it. But you are correct where it actually came up again because of the snow clearing. And a concern. And the District 3 was the one responsible for rectifying the issues of the violations on Route 122. And they did respond September 20, 2023. And then that was that email from Ann Sullivan. She's the... the district three project development engineer at MassDOT highway division.

Okay. So what, what happens next then if it's a gray area?

Well, they should be continuing to maintain it. It's just when, you know, it's, The circle, right? So something gets fixed and then things happen. Vegetation grows again and it needs to be addressed again eventually. So they should be maintaining. They should be clearing. And of course, our DPW would take care of it. And I think they did. It was just not wide enough.

Okay. Okay.

And then we had the multiple storms and we had equipment breaking down. So I think it was just a pile up. And then this, the violation wasn't closed out. So then they, they addressed it.

Okay. Yeah. All right. So we don't we basically how do we monitor that? In other words, I mean, aside from the technical jurisdiction of the maintenance. Do we I know that DPW does all sorts of things. including where the space exists, clearing of snow with that wedge or the large snowblower with, you know, that's driven and the street sweepers were out today on my street. And so is it, do you know one way or the other, whether DPW ever goes by there and at least in areas that may not require like patchwork, whether they weed whack on those sidewalks, I'm unsure.

I could find out the maintenance protocols.

Okay. Could you shoot an email maybe to DPW director? Sure. Thank you so much.

Yeah, no problem.

Just writing that note.

Awesome.

And other external correspondence, I forwarded to you. Actually, Tracy, you forwarded to me. And then I, no, actually, no, you forwarded it to the commission, right? The Mass Office on Disabilities FY27 Municipal ADA Grant Program for Municipalities. school districts and housing authorities um and the application period opens on friday may 1st and then closes on june 12th which i think is a friday um so i guess you're the person who's the the sole person who receives these things correct probably not the sole person okay but we we have that list going who's on the list for the state like well we have the list going for improvements oh the list right right yeah i i thought you were referring to who's on the receiving end of like can we contact mod to add a handful of us to make sure things get here um I know that between Evan Broussard and William Blake on the municipal side and Dr. Jay Cummings, the superintendent on the school side, they must get a gazillion emails a day. What I ended up doing is I ended up forwarding... I forwarded the email that you sent to us. I forwarded it to Evan, William, and Jay. And then mentioning that we would be able to assist. I know June 12th is pretty much around the corner. It may sound a long ways away, but it isn't. And it's only like six weeks away. So...

Well, what I could do is I could add the commission email to the list because it does say, please share this email with your municipal department heads and others who may be interested. So I could just get our main email address on the group on this email.

Okay, awesome. Thank you. And what I'm doing is... Oh, I, I actually, uh, through, it was a Facebook, it was a Facebook chat that then turned into a, another messenger. I was in touch with John Kelly, who's on the Grafton housing authority. And, um, he had mentioned I brought it the MOD grant cycle to his attention. And he had said that he's reached out to his executive director who handles the grant applications, um, and, you know, uh, to coordinate. And so, um, So I told him that, you know, AAC, you know, would be available to collaborate, you know, on any application. As far as one of the things we typically didn't, we typically weren't the sole applicant. Sometimes we were the co-applicant for various things, but at the very least, there were other ones where we offered a letter of support or endorsement.

Yeah, I think picking a couple items off the list, that spreadsheet would be the best way to do it. Try to chip away at those tasks. I thought there was a lot of stuff at the schools.

Yeah, one of the things, there were a lot. And one of the things that happened with the schools is that they changed servers and the ADA kind of got swallowed up. as far as one of the documents. So it had to be revived. And it's actually missing the summary statement. It's like a 20 plus page summary statement. And the school ADA of L actually sits on the table of contents. And so I'm going to look into and address that piece so that the full document is up there, but that wouldn't prevent us from identifying and working with the schools to identify various areas that are listed. I think there's a lot of areas that would be impactful that aren't necessarily big money. Yeah, it's like 5,000 here, 5,000 here, 1,000 here. And maybe combine some that may be in the same area or serve the same population. So I'm going to go through that and stay in touch with both the superintendent and the facilities person to maybe – have them give me an idea us an idea as a commission of some of the items that they might see as more prominent and maybe even low-hanging fruit so right yeah yeah that's a great idea yeah i'd like that yeah and so what's really good is that all right so even though we got 75,000 for the senior center ramp and that, all right. So MOD pays attention to, okay, were you awarded recently? Yes or no. Are you, do you serve, are there various underserved, are you part of an underserved community? Probably not. You know, there are certain municipalities that have different demographic where we wouldn't be up at the top of the list. But notwithstanding, when we revived this commission back in 2019, at the time, the MOD was given $10 million by the state, and they chose to spread it out $2 million a year over five years. And this grant cycle has a kitty of $7 million, all right? And the other thing is that some of the communities that we might be competing against are no longer in the running because in order to qualify for the Mass Office on Disability, this particular grant, you have to have accepted the MBTA Communities Act and exhibited that you're actually moving forward with action items to achieve that you're not just rubber stamping that on paper. And so I think that because of the increase in dollars and maybe certain towns now being excluded because they didn't accept that act, that it may put us in the running, you know, maybe not at the top of the list, but I wouldn't say that we shouldn't apply, so.

Absolutely, we should apply.

Yep.

So for next meeting, I think if everyone could have maybe one item that they're interested in, um, putting in a, an application for where you can gather that and be able to submit timely.

Yep. Um, so yeah, so that would be the municipal on our webpage and, um, the school ADA one. One of the interesting things is, and I don't know if we'd be stepping on any toes, but I'll ask the superintendent whether he has any objection to, it would seem that there wouldn't be any harm by duplicating that document on our webpage. even though we report to the select board and that document for the schools was kind of commissioned by and paid for on their end, on that side of the budget, that I don't see any benefit from having the documents necessarily in different places. I don't know if anyone has any thoughts on that. Just to keep track. In other words, the school ADA plan. That was from 22. Isn't it combined? What was that?

Wasn't it combined?

No, no, no. The municipal one did not include schools and did not include the library because it was going to be replaced. And so the school had one that was maybe communicated at the end of 21 or early 22. And so because of that technology glitch, that that particular document and kind of lay aside. And so it'll be exciting to really kind of go back and revisit that. And so I'll ask the superintendent if he has any issue with having a copy of the school document on our webpage. I don't want to cause any confusion because there are two separate documents, one for municipal non-schools and then one for the schools. So anyway. Sounds good. All right, meeting minutes February 10 2026. Again, thank you, Christy, for your always timely and awesome minutes. So I will accept the motion to approve the February 10 2026 meeting minutes as drafted.

And if we can have sharing privileges.

too what was that we could have sharing privileges oh yeah of course yeah thanks thanks roger wait a minute what am i doing where do i share no i'm not raising my hand whiteboards hmm

So if you go, I believe, under participants and look at my profile. Oh, okay. There's three dots. Oh, no, it won't say that. It won't say it there. I'm sorry. I thought maybe it would.

Wait a minute. Hold on.

It should be under sharing, though, or more. Okay.

Okay, wait a minute. No. So on your picture, the three dots does not do it, nor under the participants. The three dots doesn't do it either.

This is a different setup.

I hope I'm on participant. I hope we're not just having this like private meeting. I know. No, the town of Grafton showed up by default, and I was under webinars. And I logged in yesterday. Just to see if I could get in. So, no, I'm actually recording from the actual town Zoom account here.

I'm wondering if you go to, well, let me see if I can copy the link and everybody can open it on their own. You may be blocked, though.

Did everyone read the minutes, dare I ask?

Yeah, I read them. I made a few adjustments.

Okay.

In the chat, I am going to put the link, and I'm not sure if everyone can get there. Yeah, that's weird how I'm not... Catherine, try to click on it and see if you can come through and see the document it may block you because you're not i can see it oh great okay let's go through it then

Okay. So I can see you're in it.

Okay.

Do I do I have a motion to approve the draft?

Yeah, I'll, I'll make the motion.

All right, Catherine, do I have a second?

I'll second.

All right. And Christy seconds it. Do I have any discussion on the motion? All right, so I only had one item that you would simply now change agenda slash meeting notice to minutes. Oh, I do it once we, yeah. All right. And then moving forward, I guess when you give us a draft minutes, that you change it to draft minutes? Yes.

Well, the name of it is draft meeting minutes.

No, the document, the document name.

Yeah.

No, but I'm saying when you print it out, it should, it still has agenda slash meeting notice.

I usually fix that. I guess I didn't do it this time.

I just want, if people are looking at it, I like that. They, that they may not wonder what it is. Yeah. Um, And then what changes did you have? Because I didn't notice anything else.

Hold on. Let me just fix that. The alignment. Hold on. Okay. Let's see if I changed Paul. Okay, so what I'm changing is underneath the roll call, it says Catherine Dupuy is absent. I'm changing it to was absent because this is in past tense.

Oh, I'm the word nerd.

And then I wanted to see if there was any other place. And I think that was it. I mean, I know it sounds silly, but when I copied it over for tonight's meeting minutes, I updated it. Okay. Okay. That was it.

All right. Awesome. Um, just going to move this aside. All right. Um, with those, uh, minor edits, um, by roll call on the motion to approve the minutes as drafted with the minor edits. Christy Proctor.

Approved, yes.

Catherine. Aye.

Tracy. I was in the wrong tab.

And Roger Trahan, aye, to clear the motion carried unanimously for nothing. Okay. Moving forward. This is a, this was a recurring item that was a big catch-all. Okay. And, um, uh, the, the, the agenda item reads annual budgets, proposition 2.5 override accessible services and supports community preservation act slash community preservation committee, uh, regarding Blackstone Valley walkway system. So, uh, I am going to tackle the easier one first. Okay. And it's regarding the walkway. On article, we have town meeting coming up. Okay. And it's on Monday, May 11th. And we have our town election on Tuesday, May 19th. Starting with town meeting, there is the warrant article, the 28 warrant articles, and I am going to go to page 27. Well, Article 26, hold on. Page 14 of the warrant. And I don't know. This is actually when I sent everyone the meeting packet. Sometimes when I attempt to send everyone a hard document times the number of pages, it doesn't go through. So I sent everyone the link. So I don't know. It should be or could be under either the select board or town clerk's website. But reading this, OK, I will read it out loud, first of all, to see if the town will vote to appropriate the sum of $90,000 from the FY2027 community preservation budgeted reserve account. For the purpose of contributing to the funding of a Blackstone Greenway slash bikeway feasibility and concept study with such funds to be expended by June 30th, 2028. Unless the CPC, meaning Community Preservation Committee, by majority vote extends the deadline or take any other action relative thereto. And it was submitted by the Community Preservation Committee. The reason why this is on our agenda is that any. subsequent funding and building of an extension from Worcester to, I think it's Oxbridge. Some of it's on-road, but some of it's off-road that this would create more accessible space. It's basically paved areas. that would allow folks to navigate who have disabilities because it's a paid flat surface, or parts of it would be. So that's why it has come. That's why I put it on the agenda tonight. And so my thought was, in the ways similar to the Unitarian Universalist Society slash church, We had offered endorsements where they went before Community Preservation Committee and then it subsequently went in front of Town Meeting. And we offered our endorsement for this. So I'm asking whether you would want us to offer an endorsement for me to speak to Town Meeting. that we are speaking in favor of this appropriation as the subsequent project would increase accessible spaces or accessible recreational spaces.

I'll make a motion to allow Roger Duran, Chair of the AAC, to speak on behalf of the commission to advocate for and endorse the project. And I'm not sure if the project has a name.

No, actually it was... It's actually kind of two parts that your motion may be. The appropriation is to fund the Blackstone Greenway slash bikeway project. feasibility and concept study all right so the study itself doesn't create accessibility but the study is required to proceed with the project yeah so um that to speak on maybe speak on behalf of aac to endorse the funding for the blackstone valley greenway proposal uh blackstone greenway slash bikeway feasibility and concept study thank you bikeway feasibility and concept study yeah i got it down at um i guess maybe i'll i'll feed you your feed you additional words as the annual town meeting yes yeah and and so um as um as this project would create additional accessible recreational space or?

Or we could just say it's in line with our philosophy as a commission or since it's in alignment with our goals as a commission.

We could do that, yeah, but I would just want to connect in a more specific manner. Okay. If everyone's on board with that, that as this project aligns with AAC's charge or... Mission? Oh, mission, yeah. Yeah. And would create additional accessible recreational space.

Okay. Okay, let me read it back to you. The motion is to allow Roger Trahan to speak on behalf of the AAC to endorse the funding for the Blackstone Greenway slash Bikeway feasibility slash concept study at the annual town meeting as this project aligns with the AAC's mission to create accessible recreation space. Does anybody want a second? Okay.

I will second that motion, yes. Okay, thank you, Catherine.

All right, and so the wording is actually, after the word feasibility, it's the word and.

Okay.

Not slash, all right.

Yeah, got it.

And so I will ask for, I guess, unanimous consent from us here, from my remaining three colleagues, that that motion includes for me to, on behalf of the commission, to send a letter to... I guess the Community Preservation Commission, or committee, pardon, a letter to CPC, because they're the ones who submitted this and will be probably, well, actually, the Select Board actually reads the motions now, but it was submitted by Community Preservation Committee, and so... for me to send a letter to the Community Preservation Committee on behalf of AAC and copy whom? I know Finance Committee weighs in on things. FinCom and Select Board? Or Town Administrative, Finance Committee and TA?

Yes, yes, yeah.

So finance committee, town administrator and select board. Okay.

And all us members.

Right. In other words, I'd be, I'd be writing on behalf of you.

Do you want to do town administrator's office, including William?

Yeah. he really works with us um so so so basically copying um finance committee ta ata and select board yes okay All right. So motion made with tweaks and seconded. Everyone okay with including that wording?

Okay.

And all right then. Any other discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all those in favor by roll call. Christy Proctor.

Aye.

Catherine Dupuy.

Aye.

Tracy Sharkey. Aye. Roger, it's your hand. I declare the motion carried for nothing. And so I guess I will. So you had said copy the commission too, right? In other words, us, right? Well, I could always just forward it, I mean, to everyone. Or does that include seat copying? us including AAC as a CC in the letter at the bottom?

Yes.

Okay. Okay.

All right. So moving forward, the budget. Prop two and a half override the scuttlebutt and everything going on regarding budgets, contingent budgets, override issues and things like that. My thought here in putting this on the agenda was to consider for us to consider as a committee or commission to make a high level general statement asking the asking the voters at town meeting and at the election to properly fund budgets or to properly fund budgets which do not, I guess, I'm at a loss for words, but my thought process is properly funding things so that support services and programs are maintained, something like that. So we're not really just, we're not getting into saying, you know, yes to this, yes to that, that knowing that various items can be amended on time meeting floor and, you know, And then there's a subsequent two and a half override vote on the 19th that we could certainly consider weighing in at a high level, asking the town to properly fund budgets which do not adversely impact municipal or school services supports or programs and so that's twofold what does everyone before accepting a motion what does everyone think of that idea and and also if we were to do that how much detail would we get in other than just reminding people that It's in line with our mission as AAC to be mindful or to advocate in areas that you know, protect services, supports and programs. You know what I mean? And so both municipal and school. So what's everyone's thoughts on this before we, you know, put something together?

Well, it's interesting. I guess I should have said something in the announcement portion because I didn't think of it at the time. But, you know, with the DOJ giving everybody one more year to get ready for the accessibility requirements of Title II, one of the main reasons they pushed it out a year was because of the outcry from K-12. K-12 does not have manpower, staffing or infrastructure for technology. That's not their thing versus a college, which definitely is much more bent towards an internal.

Right.

wired infrastructure. So when you say special services, I also go to the Title II requirements the town's going to need to comply with next year. Well, actually in two years. And then I also go to the fact that we don't want to see the population of students under-identified or

Not receive services like you said. Right. And this is why one of the things is I was knowing that I can sometimes jump into the weeds. My thought process in introducing this particular agenda item was to, I guess once you start getting into details, there will always be areas that you may leave out. Like Silver Lake, for example, Silver Lake could survive maybe half or the entire season on various funds that they have. So we're talking long-term effects too, short-term, FY27 and long-term, where if there are certain cuts, maybe we would be looking at no Silver Lake opening in 2027 summer. And I mentioned Silver Lake because that's an area where we actually focus on the ADA eval, where there's two accessible spaces at the top. And as a town paved, where it runs behind the snack shack, where that didn't exist before. And we put matting down on the sand. to create a surface that people could navigate down to the shoreline. And so that's just one area where we'd be going backwards, where it would be a cut in programming. and it would impact folks with disabilities. And so I didn't want to get too much into detail because there's always a group or a service or a program that could be left out. And so my thought process is to ask everyone whether it may not be more beneficial to sort of speak at a high level, to remind them that, you know, in the context of us speaking as a commission, that particular populations may be adversely impacted by not maintaining proper services or budgets or funding, pardon. And how to word that as far as how much detail do we put in? And do we want to, you know, even address it?

I think that I'm not sure I want to address it, though, Roger, you're gonna think it's, I have a little qualms about it.

Okay. And one of the things is that I think that a lot of people are looking for specific endorsements of specific votes. And what I'm trying to do is not get into the politics of it all. There's some heated discussion on for many people on this issue. And what I'm trying to do is speak or put forth this issue to you three. You know, we're a quorum now. in the context of Accessibility Advisory Commission putting forth some comments at town meeting that if things are not, if budget requests aren't maintained, it could adversely impact folks with disabilities, you know, something like that. Oh, yeah. Oh, definitely, short and long term. Sure. And so, you know, I'm not always the best for wording, you know, once we get into the evening. And so what are people's thoughts on that, on putting forth a high-level statement that as a gentle reminder that the way we budget things and fund things could have the ability to adversely impact programs, services, and supports for people with disabilities. I mean, like really high level stuff. And as a gentle reminder, without really pointing towards specific items because we could point in 100 different directions as to all the different populations and services and supports that people benefit from. But there will be a lot of people looking to speak that night. And so there's a certain efficiency that's expected where you jump in, you say a few things and jump out. And I think that sort of dynamic aton meeting with so many people looking to speak sort of commands brevity. So what are your concerns, Christy?

I feel like... You're gonna chuckle here, but I feel like a lot of this is already being discussed already with the dismantling of the Department of Education. So I've been hearing this for a while in a lot of different ways that services are gonna be hurt, we're not funding, SPED and OSERS is really going away. So I've been hearing this for some time now. For us, as a commission, I'm just trying to think back for a precedent if we have ever spoken towards the budget. I know we've had projects, but for something as large as an override, I don't think we've had that on our radar before. Am I wrong, or do you remember anything, Roger?

You know, I think we have generally stuck to... smaller warrant articles that have been largely about community preservation committee that seeking community preservation funds to either in part or in whole fund certain projects. And so the budget itself And the funding sources of the budget are one thing. And contingent appropriation is on there to fund or to backfill any reduction budget. So there's town meeting, and then there's a town election. I mean, if Accessibility Advisory Commission is not doesn't move forward with this, I mean, I could prominently focus on and, you know, let the town meeting know that if I do speak on this, that I'm wearing my hat as a citizen, okay, and not on behalf of the commission. Catherine and Tracy, do you have any reservations about moving forward regarding this, or do you feel like we should?

My opinion is, I'm not a town's citizen, but I would say keeping the opinions to each individual person and not really... I mean, so what would the difference be sending something in support of the override? Obviously, you want to say the services are going to be affected, but everybody knows that there's going to be decreases. So that's kind of what's the value added? for the commission to be sending a letter of support somewhere. On the line of political influence. I know.

And the thing is, is that I appreciate that perspective. My thought process, at the very least, was that considering that these are the types of things we sometimes discuss and that it wouldn't hurt to at least open up the discussion versus not put it on the agenda and at least that we have affirmatively you know discuss it amongst ourselves and said okay you know as you said what's what's the value add and is it too politicizing because most people would know that a lot of people, including folks with disabilities, could be impacted without us weighing in.

And I think the meeting minutes could reflect that we did discuss it and acknowledge that there could be some services reduced if the override doesn't pass.

And yeah, and that if any one of us wants to speak individually to that, we could do so without representing the commission.

Correct. Yes.

OK. All right. I just wanted to put it out there because I think that. You know, I may be one person and I would absolutely qualify my statements that I'm speaking as an individual and not as a committee member that, you know, there are various areas that we have tried to tackle that as as part of our ADA about. that we could be taking a step back by not properly funding moving forward. And that would be my own personal opinion versus representing the commission. All right. How about you, Catherine? What are your thoughts?

I'm pretty much in line with what Tracy said. If you come out and say, I am on this commission and this is what I think, but I don't speak on behalf of the commission itself, it would be relevant. But I'm also in the same position as her.

Right. Okay. No, that's fine. That's fine. I didn't want to ignore it. I think that it's possible. I get the sense that disability commissions, however named... in towns that have town meeting may not always delve into these areas but I don't see why not because finance committee weighs in planning board on a lot of things like zoning they're required to weigh in various groups weigh in on things so I think this is absolutely within our our charge I guess to at least have a conversation about you know All right. Then if any one of us wants to speak individually to that, then we'll do so. I may very well do that. And I guess this particular agenda item, we can just move forward with all business now. All right. Old business, outstanding meeting minutes. I still need to get to this. Christy has addressed ones that were from like 23 and 25. Yeah, they're all done. So right now, one, two, three. Christy wasn't clerk at the time. So one, two, three, four, five, six. I think five out of the six were recorded meetings. at least they're on the town clerk's website they say that they were recorded i'm going to have to look back and see whether or not we approve the minutes with any edits and if we did whether or not those weren't submitted in other words we may have as a commission taken action on them but then the clerk at the time may not have moved forward with the next step of submitting them to the clerk. Um, so, and then the other thing too, is that we've had some issues with, I mean, the website too. I mean, various, uh, crashes and such. Um, and other committees having said that they submitted data that either got lost or never got put online. So that's on my to-do list again. I'm just looking for my lucky blue marker that I highlight things as to-do. So I outline my action items in blue. we're one of the few committees that doesn't have a paid scribe. So we're running a tight ship. Hi. Um, all right. Uh, moving forward, old business town survey, um, looking back at our February minutes, we didn't meet in March because we didn't have, um, we wouldn't have had a quorum and I have not connected with the lame regarding, um, what we need to, how we need to proceed with, I guess, survey questions or the process. Because I know the master planning committee had a survey. The library had a survey in the past. Tracy, was there a piece that you were going to do on this or no?

Yes, there was the Shrewsbury questions.

Okay.

I will need to follow up on that.

Okay. All right. Good. All right. We'll give each other all a mulligan. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. All right. Roger, talk with William. Okay. And other old business. I always just put that as a placeholder. Any other old business anyone wants to talk about?

Believe it or not, it's just around the corner. August.

Yes.

So today we had the pause for people come on campus.

Yep.

And I said to one of them that we don't plan to ask them to come on our night out. I think it would be best to just focus on the wheelchair tennis.

Okay.

I think I think that's a little more exciting and interactive and something that really is a little more meaningful. I mean, I appreciate the dogs being there, but it's just it's kind of a really hyper night where everyone's running around looking for things for free. I'm going to be honest with you. It's like a it's like a handout and everyone just they don't really want to talk about I feel like doing the tennis and having people experience that is a much more value-added offering for that event. There's so much that affirms what we do as a commission. I'd like to pursue that and make that a better showcase for the event. So if we can just keep that maybe for our next meeting, make sure we're ready to talk about. And let me look up the date.

So here's the thing. I had kicked the can down the road a couple of times based on my own schedule. I think it's been a challenge where the quorum issue, because we're technically a commission of seven, We cannot have more than two people absent. And so why I say that is that we're already at April 28th and I'm jumping ahead of myself looking at the next agenda or the next meeting normally would be Tuesday, May 12th. But do we just skip that and go straight to June 9th? because our activities regarding big truck day are simply me contacting Mike Kennedy and see whether he can make it. And if not, whether someone else can make it. I think that was sort of some light lifting. And I don't know if we really need to meet so soon because it's already April 28th. And that would, We'd be meeting again on May 12th. That's only two weeks away. What do people think about that?

It would actually be more convenient for me to skip it because I am actually working at commencement that night.

Okay.

Wow, that's quick.

Whereabouts again?

Next week is finals.

Where is that?

At the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence.

Okay.

which I volunteered because I'm there every weekend anyway for the hockey games. So I know where everything is, so I can give directions to anybody who shows up.

So you're wearing a Bruins jersey, aren't you?

I am, yes. They are, in fact, playing a game right now. Are they losing because Buffalo really – They're up 1-0, but it's only like half – they're only seven minutes in. So anything could happen.

Yeah, Buffalo heated up at the end of the season.

I'm not expecting them to win.

No.

Buffalo's been very good.

Yes, especially toward the end of the season.

But Providence starts their playoffs on Friday. Oh, good.

Awesome. So, all right, Christy, I will put this on our June agenda then. If everyone, well, I'm ahead of myself, but put that on the next agenda. Okay. And I'll contact South Coast Wheelchair.

Okay. Okay.

Okay. I'm just writing here. All right. Okay. Moving forward, any new business items, I guess?

When you contact South Coast Wheelchair, can you ask the gentleman?

Oh, my God. I forgot his name. I know.

I can't remember it at the moment. But the name of the woman from Grafton...

Yes.

Because I think we... I'd like to ask her to join our commission.

Okay. Oh, Tom Dodd.

Yes, that's it.

Okay.

So let me... All right, I will ask him about that, Tom, about that. But let me ask you, for the purposes of the... For the purposes of the minutes, do you want to call... the national night out new business, not old business.

Okay.

Is everyone okay with that?

Yes. I will cut and paste right now.

Okay. All right. And so any other new business items? I liked how... I love the pause for people, but you know what? What... there's so much frenzy with those dogs some of them kind of freaked out i mean no but but i but i'd say it's just it's a lot to host well it's hard to do two things at the same time when they're separated location wise i think we need to yeah i i agree with you because we not only needed two locations but we needed one location being on the grassy area and then it's separate and it's separated yeah physically and so it's um i like the idea of just focusing on the tennis course just hoping that it hasn't rained within the last 12 hours because even a um a damp surface they will not they will not play tennis on right so And so we, we need to, we can talk about this next month. I mean, or in June, what would the plan be? Uh, do we have a plan B at the last minute regarding a table and information or display? If they have to cancel last minute, that would be something that we'd want to at least maybe, um, have some something. Um, Or even have the display board or the... What do you call it? Where people wrote, like, what do you think accessibility is? Remember the little sticky notes and everything? Like the... like the eraser board type of thing or where people wrote down what they would like to see, almost like an informal survey like we did a couple of years back. I would at least want to have us discuss or be ready to discuss at our next meeting what Plan B activities or items we could – display rather than just like bow out altogether if there's a last minute cancellation because not that the whole thing is canceled but that the tennis itself can't move forward because that happened where it stopped raining but the surface was still wet uh two years ago so they they couldn't move forward with that so anyway all right um all right um All right, so the next meeting is June 9th at 630. So I will make sure that we cancel the Zoom schedule for May 12th and just keep it on for June 9th. And 630 is okay with you, Catherine? We don't need seven?

No, because the semester will be over, so I don't even be working.

Awesome, okay, perfect.

I'll just be doing placement tests all summer.

Okay, so you'll be busy notwithstanding, but in a different way.

Just during the day, yeah.

Yeah, all right, cool. All right, without any further agenda items, I will entertain a motion to adjourn.

I'll make the motion to adjourn.

All right, do I have a second?

I will second.

All right, a motion made by Christy to adjourn, seconded by Catherine. All those in favor by roll call. Christy?

Aye.

Catherine?

Aye.

Tracy?

Aye.

Roger, aye. I declare the motion carried. This meeting is adjourned at 8.02 p.m.