HomeMy Public PortalAboutWCOD Meeting Minutes November 2011_201401101412062501WATERTOWN COMMISSION ON DISABILITY minutes for Wed. Nov 16, 2011
The meeting was called to order by Chair Kim Charlson at 7:02 p.m.
ROLL CALL- Kim Charlson, Chair; Councilor Steve Corbett; George Donahue; Anne
Doughty; John Hawes; Judith Herzberg; Fred Isaacs; Carol Menton; Gayle
Shattuck, Town Personnel Director and ADA Coordinator and Carol Wilson -Braun.
Guests- Mark and Pat Hunt from Hunt Stock.
AUDIENCE ISSUES- Mark and Pat Hunt are from a small image production company,
working with still photography and video, specializing in representing the disabled
population, showing accessible homes, lifestyle concepts. They are looking for
recommendations for models and locations. George suggested pictures of blind
using walk buttons for intersections. Carol M. suggested photos showing use of a
videophone and other technology for the deaf. Carol asked about their motivation,
and Pat mentioned market demands, and Mark said advocacy was important to
him.
CHAIR"S REPORT- Kim deferred to George, who said he was working on the year-
end report for 2011 due in January. He will forward it to Gayle and Kim then the
commission. Minutes are on the website going back to '09.
MINUTES- Fred said October minutes are not ready yet. He will send them out
soon. Carol W -B will be taking the minutes from November onward as the new
secretary.
TREASURER'S REPORT- Report for October was presented. It was MOVED, seconded
and passed unanimously to accept the Treasurer's report. Copies of the
Treasurer's report may be requested from the town's ADA Coordinator in the
Personnel Office.
Gayle reported that Walter the intern was not here tonight due to another death
in his family. The budget was explained to John, who is new on the Commission.
We have covered such projects supporting the community as disability education
in the public schools, closed captioning local cable broadcasts of town council
meetings, and helping to cover the cost of the Open Space Study, which made
recommendations to bring parks up to code. Steve mentioned that the Watertown
Master Plan being worked on will include open spaces, and didn't know that WCOD
was involved in that study. The Planning Board will be involved, and John is
involved with that.
In continuing the discussion about the Planning Board, George stated that the Site
Plan Review has been sending blueprints to him as chair, but that they can now go
to John, who understands them better. John said that the Planning Board has
meetings where various town departments are represented- Fire, Zoning, building
inspectors. In the new year, the Commission will invite a building inspector to
come to a meeting.
COMMITTEE REPORTS -
Art Exhibit- Anne spoke with Amy at the library who said many people are viewing
the exhibit and commenting positively. Exhibitor Bob Donnelly sold his clay
donkey sculpture. The exhibit will be dismantled on Tues 11/29. Gayle will look
into having a town hall or library custodian to help.
Website- George reporting that Walter was helping to find articles and updates.
George then reviews and posts them. Everyone is invited to send articles to
George. Can include advertisements for events, photos, etc. Google stats gives a
picture of use of our website.
Closed Captioning- Carol M visited Watertown Council on Aging to promote closed
captioning. Technology update from Stephanie: There is still a problem with
reliability. At the last council meeting, the encoder cable had been misplaced
causing quite a bit of consternation. There are still problems with the cable. The
cable station needs to have an adequately trained person on this system. Steve
will ask Tamara to schedule a meeting with Stephanie and Jack Woodland. George
stated that a simple trouble shooting protocol is needed. It would be good to have
a test text just before the meeting.
Snow Update- Judith stated that a letter from WCOD supporting a snow ordinance
was approved and went to the last town council meeting. Steve said that the
Public Works sub -committee will meet on Tues 11/29 and will discuss it. He will
gather documents and make an outline before the meeting to get the discussion
going. He said the idea of an ordinance will be controversial. The first step is a
policy decision. It is an obligation. Then do education. Newton had no fines the
first two years. Focus was on education. Fred said it will be important to
recognize people doing a good job.
Special Education- Fred. There was a meeting on basic rights for children on Ed
plans in November. In December, someone from the Family Connection will speak
on Mass Health- Navigating the System, which is the only way to get Children's
Behavioral Health Initiative services. Elizabeth talked more about the "needs
improvement" rating by the DOE. It is due to a statistical skew in the data. Some
kids on ed plans are not showing enough improvement.
Safety and Access- Judith stated that mapping the auditory signals in intersections
is a bigger task than anticipated. Walter has been helping her. It should be done
by Feb. George said the information can be placed on the website. There should
be a place on the data sheet to highlight problems with signals.
Gayle spoke of the Dining Guide, saying that Walter was close to finishing, by
year's end. He is completing surveys not done. George tries to keep the dining
guide on the website updated. We will hear more at the next meeting.
NEW BUSINESS- (There was no Old Business). George will continue to try to find
guest speakers. Jeff Dougan from the Mass COD will come for an update. Susan
Welby from the Epilpsy Foundation was recommended. Carol M. wants BCIL to
come. The Council on Aging was suggested. She talked with Audrey Childs of the
Watertown Historical Commission about captioning a DVD on an oral history of
Watertown, and will ask her to come next month to present the project and
request funding. Kim said Gayle sent out an invitation to the Grousbeck
Technology building open house at Perkins on Dec 11th from 1-2:30. The annual
holiday concert will follow at 3 p.m. Kim said we need to think of ideas for using
our funds- perhaps one-time donations to community organizations or projects.
George said we'll rotate who we give to each year. The Watertown Food Pantry
was suggested. Gayle will talk to Carol Fox from the Food Pantry. We will suggest
that our donation should be targeted for people with disabled people in their
family. Kim suggested we give $1000. There are two pantries in Watertown, so we
will give $1000 to each. Other recipients could be Springwell or Beaver Brook
Step
It was MOVED, seconded, and passed unanimously to make donations of $1000
each to the Watertown Food Pantry and St Patrick's food pantry, to be used in as
much as is practicable to benefit individuals and families with disabilities.
Next meeting is Wed Dec 21st and will include food, which Gayle will arrange.
It was MOVED, seconded, and passed unanimously to adjourn at 8:38 p.m.
These minutes are recorded and respectfully submitted by Carol Wilson -Braun,
Secretary