HomeMy Public PortalAboutAll Citizens Access -- 2008-05-16 MinutesALL CITIZENS ACCESS COMMITTEL~'l~F ~$F~EWSTER
MAY 16, 2008 MEETING NOTES
'0~ JUN 12 ~~,? ~ ~`~ 6
Meeting began at 2pm
Members present: Brian Ladley, Robert Steinmann, Maureen Steinmann and
James Geisler, advocate
Members not present: Jean Sears, Heidi Geisler, Marge Geisler.
Maureen and Bob Steinmann reviewed their meeting with Brewster's town manager,
Charles Sumner. He reviewed our committee's survey and plans for its distribution. Was
going to have our survey reviewed by the Emergency Preparedness Team that following
Monday, Apri128, to see if they wanted anything else added to it. Also, we spoke about
the status of the automatic door opener on the Water Dept. building. The wiring will be
put in now, and the finish work will be done at a later date. The third item we discussed
was the COA side door with the ramp. Our committee felt that maybe this should have
an automatic door opener installed sooner rather than wait for the committee to develop a
master plan. Charlie said he would include our request in the fall town warrant.
Brian reported that he was very happy with the CART setup at town meeting. A few
glitches but nothing major and for the first time using it, it went very well. In the future,
we thought we might publicize the fact that it is being used at town meetings to make
more people aware of it.
Brian reported on the Emergency Preparedness Meeting re people with disabilities that he
attended May 6~'. Basically, this meeting was a starting point to developing a central plan
of organization which would establish guidelines for preparedness for those persons with
disabilities living on Cape Cod if we had a severe emergency.
The Steinmanns reported that they had printed up 1100 copies of the survey letter and
questionnaire. 700 will be sent out as an insert with the COA June newsletter. They have
also been distributed to the Brewster Housing Authority, the Library, and left at two
places at Town Hall. An announcement of the survey will be dropped off at the Orleans
offices of the Cape Codder and the Cape Cod Times for publication. The survey will also
be distributed to the local school principals at the Eddy, Stony Brook, Latham, and
Nauset schools along with an accompanying letter. Our committee is also sending the
survey to a randomly selected group of people, chosen with James Geisler's help. Brian
Ladley will be typing up the labels for us. He was given the street listing book with
chosen addresses highlighted and the needed labels. He will also type and print the home
address labels, i.e., All Citizens Access Committee. The Steinmanns will stuff the
envelopes with the survey letter and questionnaire and have town hall put the postage on
them. We expect to send about 150 of them.
It was suggested that our committee try to meet with Wendy Allegrone, Brewster's
Recreation Director. Maureen Steinmann will see if we can set up a Thursday meeting at
gam before our next and last meeting which is on June 20~'. The discussion will be
primarily focus on the beach wheelchair. Several issues re the beach wheelchair need to
be addressed. The most important question presently is where can the beach wheelchair
be kept so that it is available 7 days a week and under whose auspices is it? Presently, it
is available only on weekdays unless it is reserved for the weekend beforehand and
picked up on a Friday. Also the committee is wondering what, if any, recreational
programs for children with special needs and adults with disabilities are available.
Future meeting that might be of interest would be with Jillian Douglass. She mentioned
to the Steinmanns that the town had done an assessment many years ago and that she
would be happy to come to a meeting and go over those findings with our committee.
She had given copies to the committee of a "Checklist for Existing Facilities" re barrier
removal, which were distributed to the members today.
Jim had mentioned at our last meeting on April 18~', that the HP sign at Ardeo's was not
there anymore. Brian said that he stopped at Ardeo's after our April meeting and spoke
with the manager. The manager reported that their handicap sign for parking had been
vandalized and that they had ordered a new one. It was noticed later in the week that the
HP sign was restored to its proper place.
Brian also reviewed terminology: Always mention the "person" first such as a person
with disabilities rather than say `a handicapped person'; for a child, it is best to say a child
with special needs as opposed to a special needs child or a handicapped child. This
always puts the emphasis on the person, where it should be, rather than on that person's
disabilities.
Maureen was going to check with Jean Sears re results from Elizabeth Taylor's
conservation survey done last fall.
Meeting ended at 3:20pm.
Respectfully submitted,