11.21.2023 Committee on Human Services, Housing, Youth, Elder & Veterans Affairs

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good afternoon everyone city council committee on Human Services housing youth Elder and Veterans Affairs so now be called to order Madam clerk call a rooll please councelor here coun here pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio video recording of this public 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 those present and deemed acknowledged and permissible first item on the agenda is Citizens input do we have any citizens input no fair enough second item on the agenda is the minutes from the July 25th 2023 meeting motion to approve motion made I will second all in favor I opposed that has it item number three on the agenda is a resolution to continue discussion on the

American Disabilities Act needs and improvements need a motion to lift from the table motion to lift from the table motion so made I will second all in favor I I okay we can call down our representatives from City Hall and also on the phone this afternoon is Mr pelli from our forer disabilities commission hello Mr pelli hello and I believe commissioner uh Dan robard is also in the chamber um

hi Dan Dan do you want to come down as well so we have Mr pelli on the phone Mr Robot is heading down here with us and then if our two friends at the table can names and titles please good evening councilors my name is Al Oliver I'm the uh director of City operations Stephanie MacArthur and Trum traffic and Parking Clerk excellent thank you both for being here um so I

have a we have a presentation this afternoon on an update on completed Ada projects and where we stand with that um I don't know who would like to start Mr olera would you like to begin absolutely okay you may so some of the things that we've been um working on since 2018 and we were uh updating as we go we have the second floor the city clerks the traffic the collectors Treasures uh everything's

listed in the uh by floors um and I just I added a quick little sample of what what it would look like that was that's bringing counter down uh up to 36 in um that allows for some uh access at that point so these all these items have been completed since 2018 uh through various grants another one is the uh just a quick sample of the before and after what a the city clerk's offices would

close to about 15 to 16 years um and now the uh these are the ones that are left so we in in September 15 we did apply for um for a gr a grant um and that was to complete the the other three floors and do we have any update on that Grant so far or just not yet not yet okay it is ada8 Grant Massachusetts Municipal ada8

Grant water pill stations we added water fill stations we we did have uh bubblers um but we added the fill stations and I will say that they're uh they highly used at this point and that's what a typical um waterfill station looks like again this would was a another Ada grant that we we utilized signage Braille signage has been been added there is we are betting the lobby sign um it's a little

confusing but we just want to we want to make sure we get that that right to uh mirror some of some of these signs the council chambers that was done in uh 20120 uh we initially had a uh uh temporary ramp that has been added in 2020 the hearing room 2022 the floor was level it used to be a theater style um arrangement we are uh working on some of the restrooms very shortly that uh we'll

bring those up to up to uh ADA compliance Pin Street Veteran Center we completed this this phase in August of this year we added a new ramp I I will say that this is the third ramp uh when I was here 10 years ago we we added a ramp that was um replaced uh due due to Prior deterioration with the other ramp um and when they replaced that uh ramp

we needed to uh bring this uh ramp up to a proper pitch um so that's been completed metal railings we had the parking lot striped uh a lot of ADA signage that we added uh new fence was fabricated bids and then restroom uh mirrors were lowered we're currently planning uh another um project with the with another 88 Grant and we're looking at rear door buttons uh push push pads refurbish the

decking um on the rear ramp pour a concrete pad uh a path to the rear uh Green Space they have a beautiful space in the back uh we'll pour a pad there for an ADA picnic table we'll repair some of the uh the ramp with some uh TRS uh leading into the green space and then we'll install some ADA Compliant signs and then some bathroom signage and will that be through the same ada8 Grant

you've applied for that will be through the same Grant yes um what I did not add to this was that we did apply uh Chris pirano the assistant planner did apply for $150,000 Municipal Ada grant for an assessment of the streets and sidewalks so we're waiting on all those grants at this point in time Council Kad have any questions just um in regard to the I know we did that

ADA plan which allows us to get the Ada grants or apply for the Ada grants corre um and I think we saw that at the last uh subcommittee meeting in terms of of major projects that we have what's I guess still outstanding for ma major I know there's a ton of ADA work that lot of ADA work but I mean right now we're we're we're with the funds uh that's what we're capturing right now with the

funds that we're we're able to apply I can come back and and bring you up to speed on full plan I'm just yeah I would be looking for if you can identify major Ada projects that that we need to to look at I know again like I said there's there's a a lot that needs to be um improved and that's going to take some some time with the various grants but

I'm just curious to see you know the major projects and how we're making progress on that absolutely yeah um and then the other thing is in terms of the senior centers I know um none of those are our our buildings right they're all rented so they're all rented did was the Ada plan that we did they look at those centers as well or I don't believe so but I I will check yeah

and because I would just be curious to see where we stand with the uh the senior centers especially with a lot of um you know the elderly and you know Wheelchairs and things like that to make sure that they're they are accessible I know in the past we've uh the Maplewood area I know we replaced some type of a ramp there years ago I just okay I'll get up to speed on that y I appreciate

that that's all I have Mr chair Mr pelli yeah um they did look at the senior centers and I know that I think one of them was being moved or something like that but um in the 201829 transition plan they did look at the senior sectors okay um I don't have off the top of my head what they found but yep no I appreciate that and I think in in that ada8 plan it talked about

some other municipal buildings as well like firehouses schools that use for voting UMES polling places the police station can you also get an update on where we stand on those other municipal buildings absolutely so we can then again kind of make a Target list of what needs to be addressed going forward we do Mr pelli would you like to speak your piece no I think that's what I think um

I think Mr ala has you know has really updated everybody very well we meet our work group meets with them about every three months or so um with Chris Pano and with Mr aloa um the only other thing that um that I would bring to your attention is the new City website being consulted on that pretty pretty regularly by the IT department um I don't know when the roll

out is supposed to be but we are meeting with with the IT department next week um we had them work with a vendor that did the transition plan um in 201829 on the city website so they have been working with the IT department so um I think we're going to have a good um ADA Compliant web site once it's ready to be rolled out okay so are you aware um as far as the new city websites

up now is it up to compliance because it is live do we know my impression is it's still in progress at least that's what I've been told it's still being it's still being worked on yeah I think we're in the middle meeting with oh I'm sorry no I was just saying I think I think we're in the middle of a transition between the old website and the new one still but I

guess it is live so it's my only concern right there will be there will be continuous tweaks to that there will be fair enough Mr prelli anything else You' like to add no okay Mr Rob yeah uh Mr

roblot is this Micah yes thank you uh the only thing I'd like to say is I'm looking forward to seeing what the uh streets and sidewalk part of the plan is I think that's vital as well as The Pedestrian signals and not for this committee but I think uh in in the new year I'd like to discuss uh the accessibility of taxi service in the city because uh there isn't we have

about two companies that I'm aware of in the city and there's still not uh any any accessible taxi that can carry a resident that is confined to a wheelchair I know where there's a lot of discussion about Uber and wh uh really hurting the taxi business as We Know It uh I'd like this this Council to look at the regulations around uber and Wii because right now uh Uber and whiff drivers uh basically

use their private vehicles to transport uh uh customers in which case if they're using a private vehicle it would be impossible uh to expect that they would have a vehicle that could in fact uh carry a passenger that's confined to a wheelchair so at some point if Uber and whift are going to be the new sort of uh taxi services at some point we're going to have to have some Reg valuation that

mandates that they have some ability to carry a person that's confined to a wheelchair because uh and I understand that the current taxi uh companies are not even going 24 hours I understand that but uh this count not this committee but this Council does have jurisdiction over the taxi White licenses so a at some point uh whether it's Uber whether it's lift whether it's one of the taxi

companies doesn't matter in my opinion if uh the service is a 24 hours at some point if they're going to do business in the city they ought to there ought to be some mechanism where a person that's confined to a wheelchair can have access to a taxi when they're in business H how that takes effect I don't know I know there's a lot of opposition at least from one taxi

company uh on on this very idea uh Mr yum has made it clear going all the way back to uh 2017 that he's not in favor of it but again uh the the council is the the issuing authority of the licenses at some some point I think people that are confined to wheelchairs should have a right to access a taxi thank you very much thank you Mr Robot and I think it should be the due

dilig of this committee to research the situation with the taxi taxi um companies and also I'll probably file a resolution to get them invited here to a meeting to discuss that um and bring that back up to the table I believe there's something tabled an ordinance right now Mr chairman I will speak to the chairman of ordinance and we'll see we can get that figured out thank you very much thank you Mr Robot Mr chairman

yes sir go ahead I I do have some documents and some court cases and things like that if the committee is um when and if the committee decides to research this issue um EXC so I I we've done this it's it's been in Council since 2017 I've been able to gather some court cases and things like that so when when you're ready to do that I can provide that excellent thank you Mr

prelli so the next part of this conversation is about um streets and traffic signals and it's some of the conversations I've had with Mr pelli um in recent history so I'm I'll let you speak a little bit on that and then we have questions so I've actually been in contact with Chris Hathaway in regards to this um being with the signal division um so as of right now we have

13 intersections in the city um with the aps pedestrian traffic signals um I have a list here of those um same thing he's working on those with the grants um he did say that he has four more intersections he didn't give me the intersections that he is awaiting for um but I do have a list of the 13 right now that are active okay can you share that with the public so they're please uh so

intersection number one is 15 South Main Street at dwell Street um intersection number two is North Main Street and Beford Street um intersection number three is President Avenue at North Main Street intersection number four is Ws Canon Boulevard at Newton uh number five bordon Street at Second Street number six WS canning Boulevard at Tucker seven South Main Street at Columbia eight South Main Street at the

courthouse nine is Brighton Avenue at the bike path 10 is Beford Street and Rock Street 11 is South Main and pic casset 12 is Ws kenning Boulevard and um Mario Bishop Boulevard and the last one is salivan Drive in Third Street okay and those signals are Voice or they just noise what how do they it's noise noise okay okay and and they said there were four you're waiting you don't have that

I don't have that one now that's CH didn't give me those fair enough so going back Mr Oliver to the to the larger plan streets are included in that plan for my understanding so in that major plan will put together and you're going to kind of research will include some of the intersection I'm sure Mr pelli probably has some feedback as well as Mr Robot about intersections that would be uh need some some attention

when it comes to um pedestrians and where those signals you know the next set of signals may be considered to be put okay Mr pelli if I can go back to you for one second um if you can just remind me for a minute I know we talked about pedestrian audio signals was there something else that we had had mentioned that may want to consider when it comes to streets and

signs I'm trying to think um other than other than curb cuts and I think that's all going to be that may all be part of the um the new grant for the transition plan of taking a looks at streets and sidewalks I'm not sure I know we've talked about cracks and sidewalks which makes it difficult for people in crutches and curb cuts on one side of the street and not on the other which

for wheelchair users but I'm not and I guess the AUD audible pedestrian signals are being worked on and so I can't I don't I can't think anything off the top of my head right now okay anything else did you want to add no does that cover everything you had y okay Council so quick question so I know all the New Roads that are going in and sidewalks I should say are meeting the

standards of ADA right with the contractors as they go up to bid um what about the traffic lights in the pedestrians like when we have to replace them if there's somebody hits a pole or anything like that are those getting replaced as well so as Chris is updating they are updating modernizing at okay that's that's the last conversation all right perfect because I know obviously with the if there were road projects

that included new traffic lights going in that was that would be included I'm just curious of you know we every once in a while we get those lights that get hit and knocked down um just want to make sure that we're replacing them with Ada equipment so can okay yes do you you thank you okay um so it will be the intention of of this committee to probably schedule a meeting

in the next month or so to get an update on um that those major plants within reason of course maybe January we'll see but I'd like to get you know i' like to get this as soon as because as we go into the spring season if there's something we can immediately address once the weather breaks then we should probably go go forward on that um all right so we're going to continue

this discussion so I'm going to ask for a motion to table so moved motion made I will second all in favor I motion to adjourn motion to adjourn I seconded all in favor I motion is approved city council committee on Human Services housing youth Elder and Veterans Affairs is now adjourned hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey

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