The Fall River Commission on Disability convened on Wednesday, March 13th, 2024, with Chairman Dennis Pauli, Vice Chairman Debbie Pacho, and Commissioners Lisa Silva, Dan Robard, and Ann O'Neil Souza present. The meeting commenced with the approval of the minutes from February 14th, 2024, which passed with four affirmative votes, though Commissioner Lisa Silva's vote was not recorded at the time due to technical issues. No public input was received during the designated period.
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this is a meeting of the Fall River Commission on disability for Wednesday March 13th 2024 um and I will read that pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or 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 are
0:44deemed acknowledged and permissible roll call chairman Dennis Pauli uh pres Vice chairman debie Pacho presid commissioner Lisa Silva present commissioner Dan robard pres commissioner an O'Neal Souza present okay um the next item is public input I will ask three times if there's any public input so is there any public input is there any public input and is there any public input okay hearing none we will move on
1:39to approval of the minutes for the meeting of um February 14th 2024 I will motion to accept do I I need a second second Debbie Pico second okay thank you um is there any discussion okay roll call roll call chairman Dennis Pauli yes Vice chairwoman Debbie Pico yes commissioner Lisa
2:26Silva commissioner Lisa Silva I wonder if she's having trouble unmuting because I know she's
2:41here okay I think I think we have to move on commissioner Dan robard yes commissioner an O'Neil Souza yes okay um next item is updates next item is updates um under Ada um I don't I don't have all the details right now I think what I may do is um the Ada work group is going to meet with um with um Chris Paro and Al ala because we did get an ADA
3:25Improvement Grant um but off the top of my head I don't feel comfortable enough with giving some of the details so um um so I'll I'll um I'll update everybody on April 10th I will say that um uh Mr ala did appear um and I I I participated by phone in a committee on Health and Human Services Youth and veteran services which I think is the the new a
4:00on to our commission on Ada with the Ada work group and um they met um a couple of Mondays ago a couple of weeks ago and then that's where the grant um was was updated was at that meeting um the chair of that uh committee is Laura um I throwing up Samson I'm sorry guys I just drew a blank for a minute Laura Samson so we will will be probably updating her from time to
4:32time um there's also a development because this commission began dealing with this issue even before I came back to Fall River in 2009 commissioner Dan robelot our colleague has been dealing with the whole issue of accessible taxi service and um for the first time I would say since 2017 there's going to be there may be some movement because was um vice president Linda perea in her role as
5:03chair of the committee on ordinances and legislation is putting together a meeting to discuss the issue of new ordinances for taxi services including accessible taxi service so so we may have we may we may be getting some movement on that area too so um that's something that I'll keep everybody and I know commissioner robard will keep everybody informed with um right now the parties are just being put together um
5:35by the Vice President so I don't know if uh if if uh Dan wants to comment on that or no no that that's pretty accurate um it's kind of breaking news uh from from from time to time uh there's been informal discussions uh with me with members of the council uh one or two at a time uh you know but uh we we have had several meetings over the years with the
6:07ordinance committee uh this matter was tabled for a number of years uh I think the last meeting as you said Mr chairman was in 2017 uh maybe 15 maybe 19 I don't really remember but there is an awful lot of history uh that goes back uh to 2006 at the time this very commission was formally founded our first meeting formally was on August 1st of 2006 uh this commission was put together
6:46by the then honorable former mayor Edward mamit Jr and the city council played a role in that as well at the time when the Pereira uh was the chair of Health and Human Services so uh there's a lot of history a lot of discussion to be had and I hope uh within the next year or so we can have accessible taxi in for River because right now there is not a taxi in the city of
7:21for River that is able to carry an individual that is confined to a wheelchair and that has to change uh okay um okay so we'll we'll keep every thank you we'll keep everybody posted on that um as as as this issue moves on um policies any policies from um anything on that from that Debbie none at this time I'm sorry Vice chair that's you're all you're good no not at this time okay um
8:00Finance um I just want to uh say that um I'm hoping that things will be moving along um I know at our last meeting um we had voted to suspend um the the uh current police detail program while new memorandum is being ironed out I'm really hoping that within the next month or two we can um we can really move on this because I I just I just feel like I I need to say
8:31for the record that um although this is a little bump in the road I need to remind people that um I don't think we could have the community impact that we've had including the scholarship program without the partnership um that we've had with f frpd and I also learned during this process from Jeff Dugan who's the assistant director of community services for the Massachusetts office on
9:01disability that Fall River has been toted and publicized at every single Regional Commission training that Jeff has done he always has held up fall River's partnership with the police department as an example of what Commissioners can of what different Municipal commissions can do to not only enforce disability parking laws in the in their municipalities but also um but also um you know assist with with um finances
9:37for their accounts so that commissions on disabilities can have the kind of impact on the communities that they that they need to have so I'm I'm really hoping that we can resolve this um um as quickly as possible um but I think it's a on the whole I think it's a partnership that for the most part has benefited yes um Mr chairman yep go ahead thank you uh the vote that we took last month
10:08I need to say very clearly in no way reflects any member of the Fall River Police Department in any way shape fashion or form whatsoever uh we we entered into a memorandum uh there's some issues with the memorandum we felt as a body it was in the best interest of this commission uh to suspend until we work out the details of a new agreement which will come before this full commission before anything is
10:47is resolved but the vote we took should not have any negative reflection in any way shaped fashion or form on any member of the for River Police Department uh because uh as far as that goes uh they they've done an outstanding jobs um managing the the program the the issues that we have have nothing to do with the members of the fpd okay so that's and then you've all got the budget report for February um so
11:24you should all you should all have gotten that the next item is Outreach so next month we will be voting on um the allocation of money for the scholarship program there are eight schools this year wait there's not eight schools guys there are four schools there were five Bishop Conley's closed so there are four eight students that's where the number eight came in so there are eight students um two from
11:52each school um that will be selected and they have to be students with disabilities who reside in the city of River um and the appropriate School staff faculty and guidance Department um will be provide will will will provide us with the recipients so next month um we will vote on an allocation and um I I think we'll be um and some other items regarding the scholarship program and
12:20that that vote will take place at our April 10th meeting so are there any questions about that okay hearing none is there any old business okay is there any new business let me see if Mr chairman one brief comment based on one of the updates that was given earlier as councilor Samson been named uh the commission WEA um no I think the person that I that has been in touch with me is Laura Samson um
13:06and the last time around I think it it's never been formally communicated to me but it appears as if the liaison to this Council on the Ada workg group to this commission's Ada workg group appears to be the chair of the commun committee on Health and Human Services Youth and veteran services that's what it was when Andrew uh raposo chaired that committee and now it appears to be that way under
13:35Laura Samson but it's it's never been formally communicated to me as such I see thank you very much I y y um I do I do have one item under new business um and I did list it on the agenda that's been publicly um posted and and that is I want to just spend a few seconds and I want to ask the the commission's permission for me to write on behalf of
14:03the commission to our Fall River legislative delegation um a letter urging that they not support budget cuts to the PCA program because many of our constituents use PCA services for those who are not familiar PCA Services um uh provide provide Serv services for people with disabilities that may need help with with various daily activities such as bathing and and um um I think Dan you can probably explain it even
14:41better than I can even though I've participated in protest marches to help the program the the PCA uh program is a consumer driven consumer fully directed uh CARE program and in which uh individuals get to hire their own pcas and and basically run their own a program if they're able if not then you have a con a a surrogate or some other person to do it for you and you get help
15:16with uh uh all all kinds of activities of Da living a and there's a whole a whole gamut of services that fall under the range of the Massachusetts uh PCA program uh it's it's one of the better things that happens in the state of Massachusetts uh that there are there may be one other state in the country that has a similar program but there are not many so I did I did share with
15:49everybody um the fact sheet that that the Boston Center for Independent Living and I can resend that if people want me to um but the Boston Center for Independent Living has put together a good fact sheet that that can be drawn from for um individualized advocacy but I'm asking I think it it it has a little more um clout to it if we could go on record as a commission as as something
16:16that um as as um something that we are in full support of and we would not not we would not like to see any Cuts in this program so motion Mo motion to allow pwi to write to the state delegation regarding opposing any cuts to the Massachusetts Personal Care attendance program second okay are there any questions okay I'll entertain a roll call vote chairman Dennis Pauli yes chairwoman deby
16:57Pico yes commissioner Lisa Sila yes commissioner Dan robard yes commissioner an O'Neil Souza yes I will make sure that each commissioner gets a copy of the letter as well um and thank you for thank you for um allowing me to do that I appreciate it very much so our next meeting will be Wednesday April 10th at 3M um we will we will be voting on a couple of items um
17:32as of right this minute there are no guests that are scheduled but we will be voting on on a couple of allocations just to give you a heads up so um is there any other new business that anyone would like to bring up okay I will entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second all right I will roll call chairman Dennis Pauli yes Vice chairwoman Debbie pachico yes commissioner Alisa
18:14Silva yes commissioner Dan roard yes commissioner Ann O'Neal Souza yes okay we areed thank you have a good night oh wait a minute wait a minute isn't it