10.16.2024 Commission on Disability

this is a meeting of the Fall River Commission on disability for Wednesday October 19th 20204 um pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this of this meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by this uh by this

present by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible do I need to read that all over again guys or is that going to be okay uh roll call chairman Dennis pelli present Vice chairwoman Debbie pachico present commissioner Dan robard president okay um next is public input is there any Y what the record reflect that we have two commissions absent since the roll call was not completed

uh commissioner Anon Susan and commissioner uh Lisa Silva are absent okay duly noted um I will ask uh two times for public input uh is there any public input is there any public input okay the next item is the approval for the minutes of the meeting for the meeting conference call meeting of September 11th 2024 motion to accept the minutes of the last meeting debie Pao second okay are there any

chair and any of our other colleagues that have questions regarding our finances the next item is worker group updates uh the only Adai update I have was a question raised by commissioner Rob robard at the last meeting about transition plans and how often are they you know should they be done and so on and and I reached out to Jeff Dugan um and he told me that there's no real there is no real

clear um St uh law as to when transition plans should be done but he did say that the Massachusetts office on disability mod recommends that they be um updated every two years and what he means by that is not not not doing the whole document but just going through the plan to decide what's to figure out what's been done and whatever's been done can be deleted from the transition plan and

if there are any new projects they should be added to the plan and if there are any changes in the services the delivery of programs and any changes in policies that should also be noted in a in a transition plan otherwise the whole thing doesn't have to be done over again it just has to be updated because the transition plan is meant to be a living document there any questions about that

Mr chairman yep very briefly I wonder if uh I know there's been some changes in the the um Staffing at City Hall regarding some of the uh people that we work with uh uh regarding the transition plan but I wonder if uh within the next say 60 to 90 days uh we could uh figure out uh who best to discuss the transition plan with and uh see see where we uh where we've uh completed

some of the stuff in some areas that uh we might want to focus on going forward uh as a means of maybe um uh not only updating and and revising the transition plan but also as a means in a sort of a uh sort of a uh living working document for the work group uh to see how best uh uh we can make improvements that are not yet done in the transition plan and maybe uh set

some of those to be um uh a focused on for Grants from the uh from the maass office on disability going forward well what I'd like to I'd like to make a suggestion if it's okay with the rest of the commission what I'd like to do is offline use our Ada work group in a conference call and maybe we can do it um you know pending on schedule and everything like that we can have a

conference call chat with our Ada coordinator to see what's the best way to go about undertaking something like that who we can work with as department heads and stuff like that how does that sound for the how does that sound to everybody that's perfect that's exactly what I was a little longwinded in saying but that's exactly what I my intent of my statement was to have happen because

we made may be able to get some Ada Improvement Grants for some of the areas uh that are not done I recall when I'm not sure if I was on the commission exactly at the time that the transition plan was undertaken because I've been on and off several times over the years um but I think I recall the center for human design indicating that they believe some some sort of a update some

sort of a review again not the whole plan but just to see where we are uh should take place every five years uh I could be wrong about that uh I will uh yield and go forth with uh Jeff Dugan's able suggestion of two years uh that may be a little that may be a little uh short but uh Jeff is certainly an expert and uh I I would uh I would want his expertise in

this matter as well as uh many others over the years so yeah it's kind of like um uh it's kind of like I remember he he said it doesn't have to be redone from you know it's it's just it's kind of like a charter you go through it not to make up yeah absolutely you're not you that's a great analogy that really it really is I'm you you hit a bullseye

man um so if it's okay I can I can I'll be in touch with um ATT I'll be in touch with attorney Hoak offline um and we can set up something with with the Ada work group um as a conference call meeting um and we can do that you know um and we can work it out according to at his schedule and things like that is there any are there any more uh

questions or concerns on that topic none none at this time okay the next item is policies I'm going to turn the uh the floor over to our vice chair Deputy Pico to um to lead us in um the policy that we have that we have come up with that we're putting before the commission for approval okay is everyone able to hear me okay yep I just want to make sure I had

unmuted myself um so do you want me to read the policy so it's um on record on what we're proposing would that be okay with everybody just so that it's on the record absolutely Mr chairman I think it should be on the record if it's before us for approval okay go for it K all right great thank you good afternoon um I think in working with um Mr Peli we

felt that it was a good time and opportunity to kind of put together some sort of policy and timeline regarding our um scholarship program so the fora Commission on disability comprehensive policy and timeline govering our scholarship program the for River Commission on disability conducts an annual scholarship program for residents of for River with disabilities who will be attending colleges universities

community colleges or tra schools upon graduation from Four's public and private high schools here is the timeline that was established is being recommended at this time first step the commission will reach out to guidance councelors in October to begin their process for determination of recipients from their schools second timeline the qualifications of this scholarship is the student must have a documented

disability resident of the city of for River and accepted to a college University Community College or trade school three list of recipients must be submitted to the chairperson by April 1st no extensions number four information required by the guidance councils of recipients include name address date of birth phone numbers including landline and cell numbers email addresses and

we're prosing that we'd prefer not their high school email address but their home email address so that we can be in touch with the recipients after after their High School graduation in name of Institutions they were accepted five the commission will host an event awarding the scholarships in the month of May six the chair and vice chair will be working on invitations to be sent to

appropriate City dignitaries beginning around mid-February and will send formal invitations to the recipients and their guests immediately after April 1st seven each recipient must provide to the commission the appropriate office for the scholarship to be mailed such as Bear's office student account office or financial aid office as well as the address of the institution they will be

attending no scholarship will be given to the individual recipients the scholarships will go directly to the institution eight the information from the recipient regarding the appropriate office to disperse the funds will be there's a word there missing will be provided to the Head Clerk of Health and Human Services who is the account manager as soon as possible after the event the last piece is scholarship

funds will be dispersed to each institution by June 15th and that is the recommendation of the current policy and timeline governing our scholarship program do we have any questions or let's let's put a motion on the floor first Mo motion to adopt the uh proposed policy for the for of a disability commission regarding its uh annual scholarship program and a war okay all right and I'll second that and now we

can go into now we can go into discussion yep okay so um so I mean of course Dennis you and I worked on this so Dan do you have any questions in regards to I I don't uh I don't i' I've received it uh and uh I'm in full support of it as it is okay all right so just for the um and I don't think we need to make any

changes or anything like that but just for the record the the the the rule about being a resident of Fall River with a documented disability that is our rule the school themselves make the determination as to who will qualify to be a scholarship recipient we don't get into any of the you know we don't get into that process so but I like I said I don't think that needs to be noted but it just just for

the record that's um you know that that's how we've been doing the program all right are there any more questions are we ready to are we ready to vote I think so yes okay roll call vote chairman Dennis pelli yes Vice chairwoman Debbie Pico yes commissioner Dan robard yes yeah Dennis I'm sorry I'm looking at the agenda was there any so when you have policy you know work group updates

there was nothing it wasn't specific to this right it was just any policy yes any any policy and I just happened to put the proposed scholarship under the policy work group because I thought that made sense to me but you know it did I I think my other piece as since we're still on that same line you know on the agenda is um is that we are working on also um

like buttoning up and and coming up with something also for the handicap enforcement program we're trying to gather information just so that the rest of the Commissioners are aware of that and Dan the only other thing that since the other other commissioner that's here today is um in talking with Dennis and you know just trying to really look at is there any other policies and procedures that we need to take a look

at as a commission that we need to not not at this time and I very very briefly um I I I I feel right now that our finances are in very good shape okay uh and I I I'll just speak for myself I don't know how the rest of the commission fields and we're not certainly not taking any action uh there's nothing before us right now but I I I'm not in a real hurry to enter

into another agreement with with any W with with any City agency or department at this time if there's something that comes forth that makes sense certainly we can entertain it as a body but I I I I feel we're in pretty good shape right now and I I'd like to just for myself as one member I hope we can take a a cooling off period of approximately uh six months to a year and then review it

uh and see where we are yep I we appreciate that um that feedback I think all I think with keeping that in mind um Mr vot I think it's just really putting something together so that way we're prepared for that next step I think so we're not um scrambling I think it's really coming up with something that makes sense and that we can um put together so I totally agree okay all

right yeah thank you I I think um you know from our meeting with the mayor on May 20th and all I think I whatever we come up with it needs to be something that the commission is more active um and more handson than it was in the past and I think that so I think that's what um that's what the policy work group is trying to come up with um where we've

been researching some things and we've been looking over some practices um some of which we didn't know about so this this has been a very interesting it's been a very interesting you know year looking back over things so you know before we enter into something we we just want to make sure that you know we have something that's in writing and something that we are willing to you know we are willing to be more

Hands-On than we were I think in the past I think that's all I want to say thank Mr chairman very briefly yep uh the uh the police department is in a major transition right now uh we we have an infim Chief and uh uh I believe that status is going to remain for at least six months if the news reports are correct uh and uh I look it's no secret I I

oppose a lot of the uh a lot of the uh agreements going forward uh in the past uh uh regarding the amount of money we paid I felt it was too high that it's no reflection on the for River Police Department or its offices uh the officers did a good job uh with what we charged them to do I I felt the amount of money we paid was too high I never

felt we got enough bang for our buck uh some might disagree that's fine that's democracy so uh uh you know as I say for myself as one member I'm not in a real hurry to go back and and uh and enter into another agreement when one comes before this body I will look at it evaluated as I'm sure other member will and then make my decision up or down based on what I believe uh makes sense

for this commission to do but right now I think our uh finances are in very good shape and uh I I think we should just let it ride right now thank you a all that is duly noted um is there any anything else on policies okay the next item is finance you all have the budget report um um and I think that's that's it for finances um and on Outreach I don't have

anything on Outreach um I don't know if commissioner robard if you have any questions or anything else that you want to add on the Outreach on this agenda just on the Outreach as you're aware because you you attended it uh we had an Outreach with the uh committee on Health and Human Services before the city council uh Mr ala was there and gave his semiannual update and uh I I imagine those will continue I'll

work with the uh uh one of the work groups in this uh this Commission going forward so y okay um the next item can I go back a little I want to go back to a which is Ada um and apologize to uh attorney Hoak um and again not to put you on the spot or anything but I just want to make sure that we're not overlooking anything is there anything that um you feel the

commission should know about regarding Ada and um developments anywhere no and perhaps before the next meeting I can try to see if there are any updates uh that are noteworthy to share with the commission but as of this point no I don't have anything off hand and that's not to put you on the spot by the way I hope you know I apologize but I just want to make sure that we're not ignoring you

either no uh thank you um that's it okay so any old business okay and uh is there any new business to come before this body our next meeting will be Wednesday November 13th will be Wednesday November 13th and I'm going to try to introduce we're going to hopefully introduce you to the new director of veteran services for the city of Fall River um I'm laughing because my device next to me reminded me of something I was

supposed to do and I'm hoping that it didn't come over the phone system so um so is there any other new business to come before this commission hearing none I will entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn that particular second all right roll call chairman Dennis Paul S yes Vice chairwoman Debbie Pacho yes commissioner Dan robard yes we are adjourned thank you everyone have a good day