HomeMy Public PortalAboutWCOD Meeting Minutes January 2015 Watertown Commission on Disability
149 Main St. Watertown, MA. 02472
Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, January 21 st, 2015
The meeting was called to order at 7:12 p.m. by Chair Kim Charlson.
ROLL CALL- Kim Charlson, Chair; Steven Corbett; John Hawes; Fred Isaacs; Carol
Menton; Jeanne O'Connell; Megan O'Halloran; Gayle Shattuck, Town Personnel Director
and ADA Coordinator; and Carol Wilson-Braun.
Audience- Ellen Bey, co-chair of Watertown Special Ed Parent Advisory Council, George
Donahue, Stephanie Venizelos and Natalie Tarbet, co-chairs of Live Well Watertown,
Miguel Roldan, Vice-Chair of Chicopee Disability Committee and Al Kendall, member of
the committee, Christine Russo, WCOD intern, and Mike Shepherd, school committee.
AUDIENCE ISSUES- Ellen Bey from SPEDPAC came to thank the commission for our
support of their organization, and gave Kim a thank you card. She reviewed their recent
activities. They offered First Aid and CPR training for caregivers in Dec. and Jan. attended
by 27 people, and a presentation on anger management in January. In February there will be
a presentation on bullying for the Watertown Middle School. The annual award ceremony
will take place on 4/9 at the Hosmer School and the Hoyt family will speak. Fred mentioned
that our grant covers speakers fees, cost for certification for first aid and refreshments. Pizza
and childcare are offered by the school. There is a new board this year.
GUEST SPEAKERS- Natalie Tarbet is also vice-chair of Watertown Community Gardens.
She said that Live Well Watertown is part of that project. They had a$20K community
health coalition grant from Mt. Auburn Hospital. On Mar. 8th at the library will take place
the first major forum of all wellness organizations in the community. Stephanie Venizelos is
project coordinator, a 10 hr/wk paid position, who started in August. Live Well Watertown
started in 2011, and is working on building a community health coalition with schools,
recreation dept, Watertown Citizens, Watertown Family Network, Bike and Pedestrian
Committee, and dealing with issues such as promotion of healthy eating, general community
health, snow removal, health and technology speaker series at the schools. They want
everyone to see the value of working together. Carol M recommended CART for the forum
and said that the Commission could help with funding if requested. Kim invited them to
send us a letter with a request. Then Kim asked Steve to give a short history on snow
removal for our guests, including Steve's town council efforts and the new WMS volunteer
initiative.
Al Kendall and Miguel Roldan came from the Chicopee Disability Committee to see how
we function and to share about their committee and town. Kim asked WCOD members to
take turns describing various projects we have done over the years. The Chicopee committee
is addressing issues such as: their cable system and will start to record meetings, voter
accessibility, handicapped parking, safe crosswalks, art festival in their library,neighborhood
gardens. They wanted to learn more about closed captioning from us, and will continue to
have conversations with us. Miguel is running for city council.
CHAIR'S REPORT-
Kim said that she received a letter in response to the MBTA bus island delta issue from
Laura Brelsford, the director of accessibility for the T, saying that she has been aware of the
issue and that when the weather gets better, she wants to come and evaluate firsthand. Kim
said she'd try to set up a meeting in the next month or two to further address the issue of
accessibility.
Brigit O'Leary had officially requested$1200 for audio description of the New Rep
performance at Perkins. It was MOVED, seconded and voted with one abstention by Kim, to
fund the request.
ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES- It was MOVED, seconded and passed unanimously to accept
the minutes as corrected from the December meeting. Copies of the minutes may be requested
from the Town Clerk's Office.
TREASURER'S REPORT- It was MOVED, seconded and passed unanimously to accept the
Treasurer's Report for December. Copies of the Treasurer's report may be requested from the
town's ADA Coordinator in the Personnel Office.
COMMITTEE REPORTS-
1) Plans Review- John said that they reviewed a proposal for a hotel behind
Watertown mall, and it was accessible as far as he could tell. George was
concerned that it may not have enough spaces,but John said that hotels' parking
spaces don't often equal rooms.
2) Closed Caption- Carol M. got quotes from Caption First. $140/hr plus 15 min
increments. She will make a list of what is involved for remote captioning and
will discuss next time. Gayle asked if we should have Helen present at meeting.
Kim suggested looking at current service and cost to compare the two.
ONGOING BUSINESS-
1) Watertown Riverfront Project- John said it is dormant for the winter.
2) HP Parking- Jean said some progress was still taking place. Wants an idea of
when the work will be done so she can review. Kim asked Gayle if Dennis from
DPW could come to update us. What is the next phase?
3) Watertown Comprehensive Plan- John said it should be done by March. Kim
said we should talk about the list concerning WCOD. John said the
implementation list is a"moving target". Kim recommended having Steve
Magoon come and talk to us.
NEW BUSINESS-
Kim welcomed Megan to the committee. George D said that he was at the Unity breakfast
and the CART reporting was excellent.
The next meeting will take place on Wed. Mar. 18th at 7 p.m. There will be no meeting in Feb.
It was MOVED, seconded and voted unanimously to adjourn at 8:55 p.m.
These minutes are recorded and respectfully submitted by Carol Wilson-Braun, Secretary.