The Fall River Commission on Disability convened on October 5th, 2022. A significant portion of the meeting focused on an ADA Improvement Grant application for the Veterans Center, presented by ADA Coordinator Tammy Martino. The city is applying for approximately $75,000 to fund various accessibility upgrades, including lowering mirrors, installing access buttons, replacing a wooden ramp, and adding ADA picnic tables. The total project cost is estimated at $97,000, with the city committing $22,000 for designer fees. Martino indicated that a decision on the grant is expected in December. The Commission also discussed an article on autism but decided against circulating or posting it on their website due to its sponsorship by a mattress company, citing concerns about commercialization. Looking ahead, the Commission announced that Renate Bertram from Hamilton Relay Services would deliver a presentation on relay services for the Deaf at their November 9th meeting. The minutes from the September 14th, 2022 meeting were unanimously approved, and the meeting was subsequently adjourned.
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City Officials
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this is a meeting of the Fall River Commission on disability on Wednesday October 5th 2022.
0:11and I'm going to read the open meeting law statement from the open meeting law guide pursuant to the open meeting of law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or we transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those by those present and are deemed
0:51acknowledged and permissible um roll call Sandy Tim and Dennis Paul Sally present commissioner Lisa Silva foreign
1:16okay um I hope this gets better but I'm hearing an inordinate amount of echo but we're gonna afford your head um yes so the record advice to the woman Debbie Pacheco is currently absent thank you okay I'm going to make three calls for public input so the first is there any public input is there any public input and last call is there any public input next item on our agenda is the approval
2:07of the minutes for the meeting of September 14th 2022.
2:13emotionally accept the minutes of the form of a disability Commission meeting of September 14 2022.
2:23I'll second that thank you that oh thank you um is there any further discussion or is there any I'm sorry is there any discussion okay roll call Tim and Dennis Paul Sally yes commissioner Lisa Silva yes commissioner Dan robillard yes commissioner Anne O'Neal Souza yes foreign next item is work group updates and we start with the Ada update and Tammy Martino has agreed to come on and just
3:01kind of give us some updates on any Ada related things including whatever approvement grants we may have applied for so Tammy you have the floor floor for the mod project Grant we are applying for around 75 000 I believe and all the work is going to be geared towards the Veterans Center uh what we're trying to do here is just tackle anything and everything that is in the transition plan
3:43to take care of this one whole location um the actual estimated project cost is ninety seven thousand dollars so that 22 000 offset will be the cities portion to the project for designer fees because designer fees are not covered under the grants so the type of work that we're looking to do is um it's all little stuff um like yeah lowering mirrors um checking the threshold uh the Ada signage the access button
4:38we're looking to install and or replace those uh looking to replace the wooden ramp and also I kicked in a couple of Ada picnic tables as well so um there's some bathroom upgrades which would be I think in the bathrooms it's mostly just lowering the mirrors and replacing I believe a faucet set up but the as far as I know the sinks are all at Ada level I believe there may be like
5:23some toilet paper dispensers that need to be moved down as well but those are the types of items that we will be addressing hopefully if we get this grant that's about it some of their issues are just internal where they have to Square Pathways because they have so much stuff in there um but I think the biggest thing is that ramp in the back and the push buttons for the doors any questions Mr chairman very briefly
6:07go ahead thank you uh Tammy how do these Labs work does the city have to put up the money and then if we obtain the grant uh it's a reimbursement um this grant the money has to be used so quickly that we can usually hold off paying the invoices until we get the grant money the turnaround is pretty quick we have to utilize the money by like all our invoices have to be dated and submitted
6:41by the beginning of July and dated for the end of June so um usually we will kind of hold off until we get the money if we can and if not we'll just pay them and reimburse the account okay uh has the city committed the money for the design fees since it's mine quoted in the in the amount of the grant yes sir they have very good thank you Mr chairman thank you Tammy you're welcome
7:19any other questions for Tammy okay um anything else Tammy that you wish to update us on uh now I know we discussed the polling places uh why I didn't choose that particular project because a lot of it is just signage so which I think we can handle internally and we've had some concerns with the Veterans Center and that is you know a good Target caution of the transition plans so that
8:00we can check off if we get this money okay um well thank you very very much and thanks for taking your time to um to to update us I think the deadline for the Ada Improvement Grant has come and gone I think for submissions that correct I think yes it has yeah so we'll probably find out in December if that's when they usually make the announcement so thank you very very much um for yourself
8:37and take care thanks you too have a good long weekend you also um uh the next item is policies and the commission Vice chairs is not um is not here today so we'll go on to Finance which we just got the budget report today so um you can find out where we stand um by checking the uh the budget report Outreach at least was there anything on your end for outreach no new update
9:21no I don't I I really don't have anything either um um I I do have an update about an item there was an article on autism and that we were going to I was going to circulate to Commissioners um and um the reason why we're not going to go with it is because it's sponsored by a mattress company and we felt that we didn't want to get into commercializing so
9:56um I I do have the information if anybody wants to see it but I don't think we're going to put it on our website because it's we don't want to get into the business of endorsing any companies or commercializing so um does anybody have any comments about that foreign okay um any old business
10:27okay new business the only new business is really not new business is just to tell you that next month we're going to have a a presentation from uh um an individual named renate Bertram he works for a company called Hamilton Relay Services it is a relay company that um is contracted by many States including Massachusetts for Relay services for the Deaf and he's going to come in and talk to us
11:04about relay Services how to access relay Services what it is how you can access it on smartphones and what kind of equipment they have available because the meetings are recorded um because the meetings are recorded um I I thought this would be a good opportunity good opportunity to get some information out and um I I think we will be able to provide on our website on our resource sections a link to
11:40uh to that company because that company is being used by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and other states it's not of Aurora Colorado so that would be at our November I think it's November 9th meeting um wow is there any other any other new business okay um do I hear it do I hear a motion to adjourn welcome towards are second okay roll call Kevin Dennis Paul Sally yes commissioner Lisa Silva
12:24yes commissioner Dan robard yes commissioner and O'Neill Souza yes okay we're adjourned hey