Disability Commission - Regular Meeting

so the meeting is now open at 11:33 good morning everyone morning I don't know if you can hear me oh there we go all right I was gonna tell you that you were muted yeah my I don't know we're not we're on like a webinar or something um so we're on a regular Zoom that um we do through our town yeah I we can see you yep yeah it said I'm joining as a panelist for some reason I don't know what the difference is y we have you joined as a panelist okay yep and um yeah so we should be all good with just um and we recording this meeting so like we always do because that way it will go right up onto the website when we get done um and so I'll just keep an eye on um when um Bill and Donna join us and we'll add them in actually Bill informed me this morning that he is uh he woke up uh with a high fever and is under the weather so he's not able to join and at last I knew earlier this week Donna is having uh some ongoing technical issues with her phone which is her main means of joining so I'm I'm not sure honestly either one will be able to make it today okay all right well that's fine um so we can just kind of have a conversation as to what's going on I mean if you w to bring George up to speed as to what we're looking to do um with either one of them um that would kind of work yeah um so George I I forget if uh you were

part of the discussion last time but um you know we were actively uh looking at um kind of updating our roster so to speak with regards to our committee members for this committee um you know I I know that uh I think Luigi has not um been able to be active with our group uh in you know recent months uh or or recently so you know we were going to be getting a status or checking um you know on the intentions to continue or not uh with the committee uh on his part and uh depending on the outcome of that uh you know I had through my Outreach with uh you know community members in little who have disabilities themselves uh I have managed to you know connect with two who are at least um you know um uh you know open to the idea or or interested in you know becoming an active member and lending their their voices to what we do on this committee so uh that's where that stands I had hoped that both of those interested parties would be able to join us today but uh you know things have worked out so it doesn't look like they're going to be to but maybe next month but uh I didn't know Diane if you have maybe an update on um you know where we stand with our existing members sure so um I reached out to him and then I reached you know with the with the letter and then last Friday I sent another email because I hadn't heard from him and still nothing back so um you I talk briefly to George yesterday and he said that he believes that perhaps we should just move forward with you know going to

the select board and looking to have um have them removed because it you know it makes no sense to go forward any you know any further because we've done our due diligence uh in trying to you know be as mindful as humanly possible um with everything that he's going through but you know this board you know truly needs to have a quorum and it's t the three of us you know um are doing our our best at what we're doing and you know like Gary's out he's away this week and you know I understand that but you know we need to get somebody else in and so if we I reach out to the selectboard come forward with it explain them explain it to them and then say that we do have a couple of people that are interested and you know um even if we have one that's that steps up and you know look at an alternate or whatever but yeah I think that looks like we should probably ask the select select Bo to take action I'm in favor of that sure thank you great so should we put a motion yeah so I think we need to take a motion um as such to be able to rightfully do that um so I'll move to petition the select board for the removal of Luigi as a Committee Member second all those in favor George I Eric all Di and I so it's unanimous so I will um approach uh Ryan and see when they can get that on to that if they can get on to the next select board meeting and

then we'll go forward for there very good yeah go ahead can can we tely uh uh like send a letter to the two possible candidates there and uh let them know that either March or or April that we probably would uh view with them so that they would have some heads up sure yeah Eric you're in touch with them all the time I mean yeah I've been keeping them a prized but I think something more official would uh would probably be not a bad thing okay all right we can do that all right um the next item is um Town van dispatch yeah I can update on this um so as we spoke about most recently you know unfortunately I did have um you know pretty negative uh experiences and feedback to share regarding my own personal experiences trying to utilize uh the town van and having to schedule rides using the the third party uh you know vendor the uh outside dispatch service that they use and um you know after our last meeting uh I did take the advice of of our group here and um you know I connected with Liz trec and shared you know what my own experience had been uh as well as you know

expressed that in conversation with others uh that have used the town van you know it does seem to go beyond just my experience uh you know a consistent kind of negative um uh experience people have had so I offered that uh and Liz you know responded and said it was very surprising it was the very first uh that she had heard of this and um you know said that she would bring it up like take it up with them and you know I haven't heard anything since that time so I'm wondering you know if it's possible to request from the Council on Aging any any sort of update or you know what next steps might be on on that issue so I had um actually I had a very very brief conversation with Amy D Michelle and she said that she was going to um as well reach out um to the uh the company to have a quick conversation but she wanted to look at our um meeting that we had had cuz I think we had briefly went over it and your experience and so she wanted to have a little bit of um background on it so that when she had the conversation with them she would understand more fully what your experience had been and she wanted to you know watch our meeting and hear what you had to say and because she was not privy to what Liz was privy to so um yeah so she was going to do that that was just on Tuesday that I had the conversation with her so I think maybe um when she's had an opportunity said she was going to try and do it this week um watch watch our meeting and then she was going to try and reach out next week so perhaps we schedule that for our next meeting with you know like you said either Liz or

somebody from um EHS and see what they've been able to find out so um we we can definitely schedule either Liz or Amy or someone from EHS and see um if they've been able to get something constructive going on with with that yeah and if it's helpful for Amy to connect directly with me for any you know any clarification on anything I mean I'm I'm open to that if if that's useful so just okay yeah yeah I can tell her that too um so as far as the last um agenda items updates I did send to everyone um the information as far as what I was working on so the first thing I was working on was um you know the member information and then the second information that I was working on was the uh Grant uh responses from uh Jeff and couple of the things that he was looking for was obviously our um Ada coordinator in our page so we do now have um an ADA coordinator um which is Eric Dera um they did do that at a select board meeting um so he was voted on at a select board meeting we do now have uh it's the facilities slada coordinator um so we do have a page which is at its infancy right now obviously um but it does you know at least have contact information um it has Eric's uh direct information to get in touch with him it doesn't have really any other information on it

because um we are working we meaning um the town uh working on you know the uh non-discrimination notices and things like that so I sent to you um the notice of n nondiscrimination um which anything that we look at today um it has to go before the board and has to get approved um because it's not our um policy it would be the select board's policy U so the notice of non-discrimination is a quick um non-discrimination policy that you know um George had worked on um I looked on the state um uh site and I did see that I didn't pull one of the um parts of the wording um so on the second paragraph of it it said the activities of the Judiciary it should be activities of the town so um that does have to be fixed but for the most part it's what the state approves um and anything that the town um is finding out is um discriminating against anybody in the town and how how we actually are allowing anybody outside to contact somebody from the town who is who is Eric derba our Ada coordinator so um it's a short little quick notice of what they can do if they feel that they've been discriminated against as far as Ada is concerned um and I don't know if you had a chance to read it it was yeah I've read everything there I notic that you put uh in the Ada um coordinator you had George name down

there also uh well he he's on that on on the page um because he's on you know he's on that um facilities page because it's a it's a facilities slada coordinator it's on that page so that's why his name is on there okay um if Eric for some reason not there they can contact him and leave message for that's correct yeah okay yeah that's what I that's what I fig it was when I when I saw it there because I know that we didn't uh we didn't have an assistant Ada right so that's what I thought yeah okay yeah and then um just just the way in and I'm you know I I don't want to get a reputation as a as a complainer I I hope I certainly don't have that reputation but I'm just opening to be honest like my fault here I'm opening this for the first time and Y no problem I can't tell if it's a screenshot or what but it's not something that I can view um oh the on the Ada coordinator yeah I just did a screen I just did a screenshot of our web page so um we do have an ADA coordinator and who he is and that's our web page that we're going to gotta okay start growing and putting so yeah I mean that said I haven't been able to review the language but uh you know I did open the I'm I'm sure you know and then yeah the second one is um the complaint how to do a complaint and it you know um it's basically you send your complaint to um you do your complaint with Eric and if you're not satisfied then the second route is going through our assistant um Town Administrator and then if you're not satisfied after that going to the

Attorney General's office so where was where was Eric before this like Alex was the coordinator before is that true yes so he was he worked in an apartment complex in which he was responsible for all ADA compliance at the apartment complex um so he has extensive Ada uh compliance as well um I have a feeling that we'll probably name Henry as um the assistant coordinator because he pretty much will be um The Enforcer so to speak you know um because you know he'll probably go out with um Eric you know when there if hopefully there isn't a lot of complaints but if there's a complaint he would be the one that would you know um do the enforcing sure does Eric live in Littleton he does not why you say h be the enforcer uh because of do we not do we not have that in reverse first that Eric would uh be the one that that calls the shot and well he he he would one that says that yes there's a violation and yes this needs to be corrected and but Henry being the Building Commissioner um Eric feels that that connection between the two the Ada coordinator and The Building Commissioner um is a good connection because um The Building Commissioner

being um not the be all and all of building but knowing um knowing what steps he has taken like in a in an area if somebody has supposedly taken the actions that he's supposed to have taken he or she has taken then he knows if they have come before him in the past and so he would be able to go out with him to you know so the two of them would be able to you know be be enforcing everything together well I was just I I was just uh uh uh thinking that uh procedure wise as far as the the M mod goes that uh the Ada is the person that calls a shot on it and if uh we need the the enforcement um say if it's in the building permit yeah I can see hry there but if it if it does not involve a a uh a permit situation then uh he he calls a shot on that and if there is some type of structure that needs to uh uh be uh adjusted or fixed or whatever the case is then I think that's where he uh then passes uh that over as a action part on him as the Ada to the building department for the building department to uh call the shot and say you need to do this because uh this is in violation right yeah well I mean you know in talking with Henry the other day you you heard what Henry said yeah understand yeah what what what he uh uh takes very seriously here I just I'm I'm just I'm just trying to follow the procedure

because the Ada uh it it it it says that you know if uh if things doesn't get rectified at your level there then you to tell a person to elevate it to the state I think for us we would like to try to resolve it at our level and that would be his pass go over to Henry to say this is the problem we got we'd like for you to step in and do this and then hry takes care and then tells uh Eric it's all sat and then Eric can us back that you know where the complaint came from that you know this been resolved I'm I'm just looking at proced no I I see in the right direction yeah no I see what you're saying so don't worry about that but yeah we just you know and it just could just be the fact that he thinks that Henry is well if he's not there perhaps Henry would step in as because he knows Ada yeah AB we try to make as as possible just I I don't I don't I don't have a problem with that I'm I'm just speaking from the procedure ASP of because if we if we uh have this guy's Ada we don't want we don't want to infringe by doing something that you know uh that's against whatever you know his position is with regard to that and where is that Henry is is is working close uh with us with regards to that uh that is that is fantastic and uh it uh

gives Eric a little bit of a backup uh in turn if you ever a uh get in a situation where that um you got somebody that's really uh being knows to the grinding stone that you know he said listen we we're going to bring the billing Authority in on it and uh put you in position here where that uh either you apply or we go to the state on you right no I see what you're saying GE yeah yeah but those are the those are the three things that I you know have going on and um would like to be able to go forward and you know talk with the select board and you know get their approval to you know um add to our uh um add to the Ada coordinator's page so that and then we can add it to our um Grant process if if you know the select board approve it yeah I think that's uh that's the way that uh uh Jeff suggested that we do it so uh yeah we just tweak uh already started have a wording that tweak and uh put in place and then uh yeah go over to um the select board with the three elements and say we need you know your blessing on these three items so that we can uh make it

inclusive with the grant process that we're going to submit here in May of 2025 so yeah I I make a motion that uh that uh the chair um tweak these documents for the proper wording that needs to be in place with regards to the town because it is a town uh policy and that uh we go ahead and submit it okay to the select board for the approval second motion has been made by George seconded by Eric all those in favor George I Eric I di and I motion has been so approved all right um is there any other action items that we need to discuss regarding the last meeting go ahead go go ahead Eric uh I was just going to circle back Diane on the um like that required one hour training that or sort of like sign off that were all I didn't know if there were alternate um formats available of that or if yeah they they still as much as we're supposed to do it they still have not gotten back to me on anything so as soon as they get back to me I will um send you whatever update I get from them am I at risk of being okay no no okay thank you yeah no the only the only thing that uh I was saying was going to say rather was

that um as long as we get this stuff in and um and and get the select board to uh process it um and uh we put all of it together uh I think at that time then we would um discuss you know before the board that we do have everything in place according to what Jeff suggest that uh we uh need to have in place and that uh the proposal is U Chef ready and that uh we um scheduled to uh be submitted uh in May um for them to for the mod to uh consider yet I just think that uh having it in place and knowing that yeah we've looked at it and everything is fine and dandy um we all sat we just hold it and at that time uh I would suggest that uh we try to uh contact Jeff and uh see if we can uh get a date from him as to when uh this is going to open up in May so we tely can um put that date uh on the proposal uh to be uh submitted and find out you know is there particular attention address that it needs to be sent to um getting all those particular in place for it uh would help uh alleviate it being delayed by this arbitrary sending to add dress if he has

a particular place where we at the Senate then uh get that address and then uh we know we have it going to the right place okay that sounds [Music] good um as far as our next meeting would be in March can you believe it almost ready almost there wow [Music] um that would be see we've been doing the second Friday so yeah yeah that be the 14th yeah let me take a look here make sure I only have a for minute the 14th okay no I got something on the seventh not the 14th okay um so yeah I'll reinvite our um well I'll hold off we're going to send a letter but um you know tentatively I could potentially invite you know if we know everything you know from the select board's perspective you know is clear and it makes sense to do so I'm happy to invite Bill and Donna again to the 14th

if it makes sense for us and then uh I can certainly send the you know the placeholder invite to to us three plus Gary for the time being and then um you know just to block off the 12 to one hour on the 14th okay sounds great so this be at 12 I mean 12 yeah I mean unless yeah I mean un unless you know does 11:30 work okay for everybody or is that a tough one for you Eric well it's I think we all just leave it at the 12 okay sure yeah it's equally it's it's it's the same for me either way all right all right so March 12th at noon March 14th at 12 I mean March 14th yeah that no all right all right hearing no other information we can move to adjourn so move all right we here a second Eric second y all right so hearing a motion and seconded all those George hi Eric hi and Diane and I we are happy valentine day everybody you too you bye by