HomeMy Public PortalAboutWCOD Meeting Minutes September 2009_201401101412118283Watertown Commission on Disability
September 16, 2009Revised Minutes
Attendees: George Donahue, Chair; Marilyn Devaney; Kim Charlson; Anne Doughty;
Bob Hall; Fred Isaacs; Alex Liazos, Chair -for -the -meeting; Carol Menton, Gayle
Shattuck
Meeting called to order at 7:00 pm by Chair George Donahue.
Roll Call
Guests were Bob Kaprielian from the Cable Access Board; Tamarah Green, Director
of the Cable Access Center; and Shannon Fitzpatrick, an ASL interpreting student.
Cable Access Discussion .
There was a meeting in August of our Cable Captioning Subcommittee with
representatives from the Cable Access Board.
Captioning can be done either on -site or off -site. On -site the captioner can
actually see the participants; this would be better for Town Council meetings. Off -
site is better for scripted things.
The Cable Access Board will purchase 2 digital encoders at approximately $2300
each. They will also get 2 dedicated phone lines which we would need for either
on-line or off-line captioning. There is a delay of a couple of seconds between the
speaker and the captioning.
The captioner is a lot like a CART provider. Tamarah Green has gotten some
estimates from them. One is a remote captioning business run by Phil Hysong. His
business would charge $97 per hour with a 1 hour minimum. A 4 -hour meeting
would be $388. This seems to be typical. The cost for 26 4 -hour meetings would
be $10,088.00 per year.
The Cable Access Board would be responsible for updating and maintaining the
encoders.
It is proposed that we try captioning Town Council Meetings for a one-year trial
period with the Cable Access Board providing the hardware and with the
Commission providing the captioner. During this period we will try to attract
sponsors. At the end of this period we will invite the Town Council to join in the
funding. Since the Cable Access Board will own the equipment, they are welcome
to ask others if there are programs that they would like to have closed captioned.
We will ask Stephanie what the cost and terms would be for having her service
provide a CART reporter for captioning. We should also ask the Town Manager to
review what we are doing and present it to the Town Council. Once we approve
this the Cable Access Board will need to fund their part. The Cable Access Board
will make the arrangements and we will pay the bills for our share.
It was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously for the Watertown Commission
on Disability to spend a maximum of $15,000 to fund a CART reporter as a
captioner for a one year project to closed caption Town Council meetings. During
this period we will search for sponsors. We would also like to see other programs
closed captioned such as the new disability program and the weekly Watertown
news.
Bob Kaprielian suggested that our meetings should be closed captioned.
We will need regular progress reports from the Cable Access Board, either written
or delivered in person.
Chair's report - George Donahue
The website is being freshened up.
George's term as Chair is coming to an end. The Chair has to have a disability.
George doesn't want to be the chair while doing his cable show. George's term is
up November 1. So is Carol Menton's. It is a 2 year term. We think it is now
November to November due to the Town Council's decision on when Boards and
Commission staffing is approved.. It used to be April to April.
E911 forms will be available at our booth at Faire on the Square,
Future guests will include the Chair of the Waltham Commission on Disability and
Representative Hecht.
We will move the dining guide on-line. There was some discussion and we
concluded that we still needed some number of print and Braille copies. However,
we can cut down on the number of hard copies. We can keep the on-line version
up to date and update the hard copies as needed.
Should we move our Holiday Celebration off -site?
The Chair will write our annual report to the Town Council.
Closed Captioning —Carol Menton
Thank you.
Terms
George, Carol, and the unfilled term all expire Nov 1.
Chairmanship.
Before the Town Council realigned appointments, we had a time line and an
election procedure. Candidates should prepare a statement about their strengths
and weaknesses. The Nominating Committee would get letters of interest in the
December - January time frame for an election in April - May. The Nominating
Committee should come up with a slate and report to us at the next meeting.
There is a straw man proposal to make the Chairmanship a three-year term
starting in November.
Meetings.
It was moved and seconded [but not passed] to stay with our current ten meetings
per year meeting schedule.
It was noted that we can always call a special meeting if we need to. Executive
session was discussed; that doesn't affect our meeting schedule or special
meetings. Under the public meetings law we must meet and then go into
executive session.
Minutes.
Councilor Marilyn Devaney submitted an amendment to the minutes of the July 15
2009 meeting.
It was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously to approve the minutes of the
July 15 2009 meeting as amended.
Councilor Devaney then complimented Mr. Isaacs on the minutes.
Faire on the Square.
We have our banner. We will find out if George the custodian will be working.
Do we have freebies to give out? Pens? We will have the SPEDPAC calendar. We
will also have the updated business -friendly brochure. The Faire opens at 10:00
AM. We would like to have teenage help for tear down. What about ASL
interpreters?
It was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously to appropriate no more than
$500 to provide ASL interpreters for the Faire on the Square.
Treasurers Report - Gayle Shattuck
FY10 started July 10. $129,400.01 was carried over on our budget. Our current
balance is $131,211.45 After we pay for the newsline service for the Watertown
Tab it will be $120,961.45.
It was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously to accept the treasurer's report.
Safety and Access - Kim Charlson
The audible pedestrian signal at Galen St. and Nonantum Rd. is not functional. The
town website has a tracker program for reported problems. You can monitor your
requests.
Special Ed Report —Fred Isaacs
Our new calendar will be available shortly.
We have new officers: Laine Tulipano, co-chair; Elan Rohde, co-chair; Myrto
Flessas, vice -chair; Brenda Manning, secretary; Fred Isaacs, treasurer.
Our April Awards Ceremony meeting will be at the Arsenal Center for the Arts
again and we will have Charlie Applestein as a speaker.
The SPEDPAC has formed a committee to explore and implement disability
awareness education and would like to work together with the commission on this.
It was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously to adjourn at 9:04 PM
These minutes are respectfully submitted by Fred P. Isaacs.