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HomeMy Public PortalAboutWCOD Minutes 10-17-18_1 Watertown Commission on Disability 149 Main St. Watertown, MA. 02472 Meeting Minutes Wednesday, October 17th, 2018 The meeting was called to order at 7:04 p.m. by Kim Charlson, Chair. ROLL CALL- Kim Charlson, Chair; Lissa Gifford; John Hawes; Carol Menton; Megan O'Halloran; Elan Rohde; Gayle Shattuck, Town Personnel Director and ADA Coordinator; and Carol Wilson-Braun. Absent- Lisa Feltner, Town Councilor CHAIR'S REPORT- a) How Dog Park- John said the work was completed from the dog park to the street. Mr Forte's daughter and our former member Moh Sayed thought it was acceptable. John said what we asked them to do was done. But, we still want a handicapped parking space on Bacon St, and there is a transition strip that doesn't lead anywhere. John suggested contacting the Traffic Dept to put striping on the pavement at the tactile strip, and to place a handicapped space adjacent. It was moved, seconded and VOTED to have John write a letter as noted above. Kim will also have input into the letter, and cc it to Police, DPW, Planning and Fire Depts. b) Post Office Automatic Door- Elan mailed our letter to Mr Whitney who has read it but not responded yet. c) Invitation to the launch of Mt Auburn St bus priority lane project on 10/26 from 8-9 a.m. John said the lanes are for right turns and buses. The separate lane allows buses to continue across an intersection to the bus stop without going into the travel lane. d) New date for the November meeting of WCOD. Agreed by all present to change the date to Mon 11/26 at 7 p.m. due to proximity to Thanksgiving for our regular date. e) Regarding the New Repertory funding request to help with audio for the December performance of 1776, including tickets for community members. It was moved, seconded and VOTED to fund the New Rep request for$4000. Carol M would like for WCOD to be mentioned as a funder for this on New Rep literature. This brought up a request from John to have the TV screen in the room show captioning for the meeting, as it has at times in the past. Gayle said it is now hooked up to cable access and it might be complicated to get captioning on it for our purposes. Lissa brought up the problem of the handicapped automatic button that opens the door to our meeting room from the outside. Gayle said it hasn't worked for a long time, but that the main door at this level is automatic and can be used. She has put in a ticket about it to the DPW, and George the custodian says it needs a computer chip. He will talk to the property and building supervisor. f) Hamilton Place Railing Request Concern- John said the outside walk wasn't smooth, and the entrance is not w/c accessible as there are 2 steps with minimal railings in the lobby leading to the elevator. It is privately owned and unless they do $1 OOK work, they don't have to make it accessible. This was confirmed by the building inspector. Apparently the parties have been talking to the town social worker and may be working toward getting railings put up,which Mr. Mourad is willing to pay for. It was the consensus of the commission that we will continue to gather more information,but otherwise let it play out on its own through negotiations that are in progress. g) Fair on the Square summary- Message from Lisa that noise was a problem. There was discussion about location-near food trucks, whether the new location was a good spot, whether a tent was needed(the day was hot), and if there was enough foot traffic. Gayle said that 2 people left email addresses. She will contact them to see what they wanted. h) WCOD re-appointments. Gayle will look up specifically who is up for renewal. Those folks will need to send an email expressing the willingness to continue. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES- It was moved, seconded and VOTED unanimously to accept the minutes from the Sept meeting. Copies of the minutes may be requested from the Town Clerk's Office. TREASURER'S REPORT- It was moved, seconded and VOTED unanimously to accept the Treasurer's Report for Sept. Copies of the Treasurer's report may be requested from the town's ADA Coordinator in the Personnel Office. COMMITTEE REPORTS- No updates from Plans, Special Ed, Safety and Access. Closed Captioning- Carol M mentioned that Caption First recently celebrated its 20ffi anniversary. She will start talking about sponsors at their next meeting in 2 weeks. NEW BUSINESS- 1) Kim requested our annual holiday donation for the Watertown food pantries. It was moved, seconded and VOTED to give $1500 to each of the 2 Watertown food pantries. 2) Lissa said she had been talking to Bank Of America for 7 years to make the bank more accessible, and they have gotten a ramp and handicapped spaces. Now she is pushing them on w/c accessibility to the front door, and has a tracking number to deal with the problem-Progress! 3) John mentioned the PBS show on the opioid epidemic. Megan stated that the police have said overdoses and deaths have increased just in the last 2 days and want people to reach out to friends and family with addictions. 4) Kim announced she will send out a press release about the settlement she and her husband Brian reached on behalf of the American Council of the Blind and the Bay State Council of the Blind with Hulu in the US Circuit Court for accessibility for the blind. It is similar to the case against Netflix 2 years ago. The next meeting will take place on Monday Nov 26th at 7 p.m. Note different day and week. It was moved, seconded and VOTED to adjourn the meeting at 8:07 p.m. These minutes are recorded and respectfully submitted by Carol Wilson-Braun, Secretary.