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HomeMy Public PortalAboutWCOD Minutes 12-16-20Watertown Commission on Disability 149 Main St. Watertown, MA. 02472 Meeting Minutes Wednesday, Dec. 16th, 2020 The meeting was held by Zoom online and called to order at 7:10 p.m. by Kim Charlson, Chair. ROLL CALL- Kim Charlson, Chair; Lisa Feltner, Town Councilor; John Hawes, Vice -Chair; Carol Menton; Megan O'Halloran; Naomi Ridge; Elan Rohde; Gayle Shattuck, Town Personnel Director and ADA Coordinator; and Carol Wilson -Braun. Absent: Lissa Gifford CHAIR'S REPORT - 1) Kim reported that Kathleen Desmarais, Director of Student Services in WPS, will be a guest at our meeting on Jan. 20th to talk about Special Ed. She asked Gayle to make sure that this date and time would be available to the Commission for a meeting via Zoom. 2) A brief summary was given for the November meeting of the Watertown Bicycle - Pedestrian Committee. Laura Wiener and Steve Magoon presented the park project at Galen and Water Streets. The WCOD can help prioritize goals and give input for way - finding signage. Lisa said there is a story map and link for public comments until Jan 11th. On the town website, go to Community Development and Planning, then Recent Projects, then Bicycle -Pedestrian Plan. Kim asked for feedback from the November meeting. Lisa was going to go before the planning board in January. The DCR and MBTA are involved. Lisa thanked Lissa for her involvement in the committee. 3) Watertown Housing Plan- The strategic plan has references about people with disabilities. Lisa was wondering how beneficial rental assistance was. Kim said that finding affordable housing is a problem for people with disabilities. It is good to have it as a part of the strategic plan. Lisa reported that Larry Field is a new planner and Kim mentioned that he has reached out about disabled people. She said he should be invited to our March meeting to talk about housing. Lisa mentioned that the Community Preservation Committee will be looking at the plan too. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES- It was moved, seconded and VOTED unanimously to accept the minutes from the October 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 Oct. 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 mentioned that the Tufts Building is being completely renovated, but there are no details yet. It appears compliant. Second, 23 Elm St, near Target will be a small R and D building. Third, Kim said that the How dog park still needs work (gravel, bench). Lisa said that there was a statement from a group of neighbors asking to enlarge the park. Gayle said there was no report back from DPW. Both of the staff they had working on it have left, and now it is winter. Kim said there is a new superintendant for the DPW. Maybe we could invite this person in April. Kim asked Gayle for biographical info before he comes. 2) Special Ed- Naomi said there was nothing else besides having Desmarais come in March. 3) Safety and Access- Kim said we had a long list of items for the DPW last January, and gave updates on many of the items, such as the audible signal at Warren and Lexington, which was fixed, and detectable warnings at Main and Lexington, which is a state road and needs to go through the state. There are numerous problems at the intersection of Lexington and Orchard, which need to be fixed. Naomi mentioned crumbling sidewalks. Church and Summer streets have no signal yet. Kim said we would give another list to DPW. She said Watertown needs a plan for a system upgrade. Lisa mentioned that "See -Click -Fix" has not been adequate. We had also thought about sending out a survey to the town, and that didn't happen. The Zoom meeting ended at 8 p.m. The next meeting of WCOD will take place via Zoom at 7 p.m. on Wed January 20th, 2021.