5.13.2026 Commission on Disability

Hey, so this is the meeting of the Fall River Commission on Disability for Wednesday, May 13th, 2026.

Is Cindy here? I'm sorry. I am. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. All right.

Pursuant to the open meeting law, any person may make an audio or...

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 deemed acknowledged and permissible.

Roll. Chairman Dennis Paul Telly. Present.

Commissioner Lisa Silva? Present. Commissioner Dan Robillard? Present.

Commissioner Ann O'Neill Sousa? Yes. Commissioner Katie Driscoll?

Present. Okay. And we have one absent who notified me that. Okay, the next item is public input.

Are there any public input? Is there any public input?

Is there any public input? Hearing none, I will go on to the approval of the minutes for April 8th. Yeah, for April 8th. Motion to approve the minutes of April 8th, 2026.

The Fall Reverted Disability Commission. Second.

Okay. Is there any discussion? Okay. Hearing none. Roll call. Chairman Dennis Paulselli. Yes. Commissioner Lisa Silva.

Commissioner Lisa Silva. Yes. Commissioner Dan Roblard. Yes.

Commissioner Ann O'Neill Sousa? Yes. Commissioner Katie Driscoll?

Yes. Okay.

I'm going to go through the work groups quickly. There are items that we'll be voting on. The first one is under ADA. And there will be an item that I will be asking for your permission to vote on for me to do something.

The ADA work group, Dan and I surveyed several polling places between the hours of 8 a.m. and 2.30 on May 5th.

And there will be some recommendations which are going to go before the city council on June 9th. And because this was a work group of this commission, I will share this ahead of time. I'll make sure I get permission from ryan lions but this is this is uh... of representative of this commission dan and i we were doing it on behalf of the commission too so i really feel

that that i should that i'd like to share the information with the rest of the group but it is coming on june ninth uh... before the city council so that there are going to be some changes um... moving some of the polling places for example from housing authority places to uh... and elementary schools to places like St. Anthony's of the Desert, which is very accessible.

I lost my train of thought. The highlight of the trip, Mr. Chairman, is we are getting out of the Candace fire.

That's right. That's going to go to, you'll see all the places that the changes that are going to be made. And some of the, yeah, some of the high rise places as well. One of the places that we would like to see become a polling place because of its accessibility is to replace, I guess, a number of polling places that aren't very accessible, whether we're talking about parking

or whether we're talking about push pads being on the inside only for residents and not really accessible for the public who are using wheelchairs and so on, or crutches or canes to go and vote, is the liberal club, which is closing. And The issue appears to be that there is still part of the place where they serve alcohol. The state is going to come down and look at it. And what

we're trying to do is trying to put a rush on the state coming down here so that it can be converted into a polling place. So Mr.

Lyons and I are going to be working on a letter to the city council to write to the secretary of state. I would like from this commission an okay for me to participate in writing this letter.

We'll make sure that it's on commission stationary as well so that the state knows that it's also coming from the commission. So I don't know if there's any questions or if you want to put the motion on the floor and then ask questions.

Mr. Chairman. Yep. I'm... I'm prepared to make a motion in one second, but I'd just like to say we had a very productive day on the trip with Ryan Wyans, his executive assistant Lisa, Director McCarthy from the traffic department joined us for a period of time, executive director of the Four River Housing Authority joined us for a period of time, And we all had a very productive, cohesive discussion about the

issues. And to me, and I don't want to put words in the chairman's mouth, to me, the biggest hindrance is parking and accessibility. And there's a fine line with the accessibility piece because although years ago, I was very much in favor of polling places being in senior and disabled housing. I've since did a 180 on my viewpoint about that because I think that there's a sort of a

hindrance and a double standard between accessibility for the public to get in to vote and accessibility for a person accessing their home.

So this proposal that... Ryan Lyons is going to draft for the city council to change some of these polling places is a very good start. Particularly, I'm elated that we will be out of the most disastrous polling place we've ever had in Florida history, which is the Candace Fire Station, which is just an abomination and should have been condemned as a polling place. years ago for safety,

accessibility, and a thousand other reasons. So I would actually like to make two motions, Mr. Chairman, for two separate letters. First, I'd like to make a motion for you to work with Mr. Lyons on making the, getting the state down here to approve the Liberal Club as a polling place to replace some of the existing polling places. That's one.

But my second motion would be to, because Ryan Lyons has a plan going before the city council on June 7th, and I would like this commission to, to get on board endorsing that plan, especially because Dennis and I took the time on a six and a half hour trip day to go and inspect. And this plan is much more viable and clearly in the best interest of

disabled residents, in my opinion. And I believe Mr. Posoi believes the same.

So therefore I'd like to see two separate letters requiring two separate motions and votes to that effect. Thank you, Wael.

I don't think I could have said it any better. In fact, I didn't. So that was a good summary too. It really was a good day and I think it's important. that the whole commission as a whole be on record.

The city council meetings is June 9th, so we can get it, we can get this, we can get letters, both letters before the city council before the June 9th meeting. But I think it's good for the commission as a whole to be on record about this. So we'll take these motions. Yeah, could you,

Let's take the first motion first, Dan. Okay. Motion number one would be for Mr. Perselle to work with the elections director, Mr. Ryan Lyons, in drafting a letter to, I guess, the city council, encouraging the city council to write its own letter, asking the state to come down here and evaluate and approve the liberal club as a polling place.

Okay. Do I hear a second to the motion? I'll second that, Lisa.

Thank you. Any discussion, questions?

Okay, I'll entertain a roll call vote. Chairman Dennis Paul Zelley. Yes.

Commissioner Lisa Silva? Yes. Commissioner Dan Robillard? Yes.

Commissioner Anne O'Neill Souza? Yes. Commissioner Kay Driscoll? Yes.

Okay. So that's the first motion. And now I'll entertain the second motion.

My second motion would be to have...

Chairman Dennis Paselli, on behalf of the Florida Disability Commission, write a letter to the Florida City Council endorsing what I believe will be the first in a series of changes over the next couple of election cycles, basically endorsing and fully supporting Ryan Lyon's plan.

as the director of elections to move some polling places. And the first leg of that is gonna be on the city council agenda on June 9th. So I'd like to have this commission go on record with a letter written by Dennis Paselli as chair on behalf of the full commission, endorsing the first leg of the plan. Okay, do I hear a second to that motion?

Second. I will second Katie Driscoll. Okay. Are there any questions or discussion to this motion? Very briefly, Mr.

Chairman. Go ahead. This is good because I can think of three places where we will definitely be out once this plan passes. and that is the two high-rises on Pleasant Street and, of course, the Candace Fire Station, which you and I have been working on probably for 10 years since former Chairman Bill Fontaine, who was a firefighter as well, although he was retired at the time he served here. That's how far back we've

been trying to get out of 10 days. So I'm pleased as punch that these three are going to be included in the first leg of the list. It would be my hope as one member of this commission that sooner or later we will be out of all schools, and all high rises going full.

So we'll see how that shakes off, but I am elated with the first part of this plan. And also, I'm also elated that we're out of Bristol Community College and we'll be using the lobby area of the former Nagle Auditorium, which is a very, very big space and we'll serve the people of that area well.

So thank you, Aiel. Okay, are there any other questions?

By the way, the Candela's polling place was in a garage.

Are there any other questions or comments or discussion? I'll entertain a roll call vote Chairman Dennis Paulselli yes Commissioner Lisa Silva yes Commissioner Dan Robillard yes Commissioner Ann O'Neill Souza yes Commissioner Kay Driscoll yes okay

the only other item the only other item is I think I'm going to, yeah, is the CAM training, just to let everybody know that, by the way, everybody, almost everybody who participated in the day with us in polling places are also registering for the Community Access Monitor training.

But it is on Wednesday, June 10th. and Wednesday, June 17th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the Community Access Monitor training. And I think because it's under this topic right now, we're going to have to reschedule the June 10th meeting. Mr. Chairman? Yes.

Thank you. Could I make a motion? In light of the camp training and in light of the conflict, I would move that we reschedule our June meeting to June 24, 2026. Okay.

Do I hear a second to that motion? Second, Ian O'Neill, Susan. Thank you. Are there any questions or discussion? I just want to make note, this is Commissioner Katie Driscoll. I am traveling during that date, so I will not be able to attend. Okay.

Are there any other questions? Katie, are you traveling on the prior day? I'm traveling between the 19th and the 27th, so really that whole...

That whole week. Yeah. Okay. Very well. Thank you.

Are there any other questions or comments? Discussion?

Is everyone else okay for June 24th?

Does anybody have a problem with June 24th? Besides Katie, who's going to be on traveling? Okay, hearing none, I'll call for a roll call vote. Chairman Dennis Paulselli?

Yes. Commissioner Lisa Silva?

Yes. Commissioner Dan Roblard? Yes. Commissioner Ann O'Neill Sousa?

Yes. Commissioner Katie Driscoll? Yes. Okay, motion passes. The next item is under policies.

Did everybody get the policy proposal that was proposed by Commissioner Dan Robillard, written by Vice Chair Debbie Pichico concerning having our city representative, having our work group, the ADA work group, and if I'm getting this wrong, can somebody correct me, but having our ADA work group meet with the city representative on a quarterly basis. I think

that's, am I getting this right? Mr. Chairman? Go ahead. Thank you.

Yeah, that's essentially right. There is language as put in there by Vice Chair Pacheco, which I believe was an inadvertent error on her part. As I drafted the policy, the policy is only to speak and only to deal with this commission through its ADA work group or through its outreach work group, whichever one is available, only to meet with whoever the MAJ representative

is to this commission on a quarterly basis. Okay?

There's a line in there that says having to do with other department heads. Okay? This policy, as I intended it, has nothing to do with any department head within the city of Fall River except a mayor's appointed representative to this commission as specified by Chapter 40, Section 8J of the Massachusetts General Laws. So what I would like to do is I would ask our court, Sandy, to read the entire policy

as it was written by Vice Chair Debbie Pacheco, and then I'm going to, once it's fully read, I'm going to seek an amendment to strike out the part that was not intended to be in there.

Wait a minute.

Sandy, I'm going to email this to you. Okay. I'm just going to email this proposed policy to you. And it's a straight email. It's not going to be an attachment. Okay.

it's gone it should be heading your way momentarily

in the whole policy all I'm saying is the same thing that's on the agenda so if it's that one sentence okay So basically, if I could just sum it up in a nutshell since it's on the agenda, this policy is only to deal with the commission through either the ADA workgroup or the outreach workgroup to have a quarterly meeting with whoever the mayor's appointed representative is to

this commission. That's all. Yeah, it's a very short, it's a very short, I mean, I can let Jaws read it to you, but it's a very short. I did sum that up, Mr. Chairman. Okay, that's good. I can read what was sent. It was very basic on the fall over commission on disability or the ADA work group will meet at least

quarterly with the mayor's appointed member to the commission or department heads regarding accessibility issues throughout the city. That's exactly what it is. Yeah, that's, that's, yeah, no, that's exactly what it is. I'm like, Oh my God, did I mess up? Okay. Well, exactly what it is. That's what the vice chair. The only thing is Mr.

Tim, as I proposed it and I should have written it myself probably, but this, the way, the way that reads right now, The way I read that, it says we could only meet with department heads on a quarterly basis. So I'm going to move to strike the words of the department heads because this policy is only to apply with meetings between the ADA and or the outreach workgroup and the a mayor's appointed

representative to the commission. It has nothing to do with us meeting with, say, the veterans agent or the director of planning or the director of community maintenance or the director of buildings or any other department.

It is strictly so that either work group of this commission can meet with whoever the appointed member of this commission is appointed by whoever the mayor is. So that it's a standing thing. But it does not affect any other department head within the city of Fall River. It's only, this policy is only applicable to the mayor's representative to this commission.

Okay, so here's what we're gonna do. I will entertain a motion then to reject this policy and then we will vote on a separate motion for your proposed policy. Is that? Okay. I think that's a clean, that's the clean way to do it. Okay, so I will entertain the motion. Go ahead, go ahead. Motion to reject the current policy as written.

Okay. Do I hear a second to that?

Second by Anna O'Neill Sousa. Okay. So just to be clear folks, if you want to reject this part, if you want to scrap this policy, we are voting yes to reject it. That's a good clarification. Okay.

Roll call. Are there any other questions?

go ahead I'm sorry Jim and Dennis Paul tell it yes Commissioner Lisa Silva yes Commissioner Dan Robloard yes Commissioner Anna O'Neill Sousa yes Commissioner Katie Driscoll yes okay now I will entertain a motion to accept Commissioner Dan Robelard's proposed policy meeting with the city, the mayor's representative on a quarterly basis through the ADA work group or outreach group.

And did I get that right? Yep. Yep. And this policy is exclusively for meetings with the mayor's representative to this commission, which is allowed on the chapter 40 of section eight J of the Massachusetts general laws. This policy does not apply or obtain or have any bearing or any other effect on any other department head within the city of Florida. Okay.

Are there any questions or discussion? Okay. I'll entertain a roll call vote. I need a second motion.

Motion to have the ADA work group or the outreach work group meet on a quarterly basis with the mayoral appointee to the commission as outlined and specified under Chapter 40, Section 8J of the Massachusetts General Law.

All right, and this motion has already been seconded. So I will go for a roll call vote. Chairman Dennis Palaselli? Yes. Commissioner Lisa Silva?

Yes. Commissioner Dan Robillard? Yes. Commissioner Anne O'Neal Souza? Yes. Commissioner Katie Driscoll? Yes.

Okay, thank you. You've all received the budget report for the month of April.

Is it April? No. Yes, it's April. The next is the outreach. Saturday is our scholarship day brunch. Just so that we're all clear, arrival time is at 10 a.m., serving at 10.15 a.m., with scholarships being presented at 10.45 a.m.

You all received the recipients from each school and what institution they're attending. I think you all received that.

So is there any questions about Saturday at McGovern's Restaurant?

I can tell you that Diamond, pending the vote of this commission, has agreed to manage the website. However, I'm a little – I don't know if I'm wording this right, but I'll do my best with it – There are some details that I feel that we need to patch up or we need to really kind of lock up before I can put this to a vote.

It's going to be much less expensive. And even under the current webmaster, it wasn't that expensive. But this is going to be even less expensive.

But there's still some little... details that I don't feel comfortable putting it to a book today that I would like to put off until our June 24th meeting so that I can so that the web accessibility the website work group can meet again with both Sam and with the head of the Diamond Web Development Department so Motion to table? Yeah, that's good. That's what I'm looking for. Okay. So

I will entertain a motion to table. Mr. Chairman, just for the record, if anybody has any questions, I will withhold my motion to table because once a motion to table is made, we need an amendment. We need an immediate second and then we need to immediately proceed to a roll call vote because the motion to table is non-debatable. Okay.

So let me see. Are there any questions on the concept of diamond man? The motion to table questions would be appropriate. Okay. Are there any questions on the concept of Diamond managing our website beginning next year, beginning in the fall?

The content of the website or the way it's being managed is not going to change. In fact, I think we're using the same hosting company. So there's not going to be any really changes in the way. It's just the management is going to change from Sam to who has a full-time teaching job in one of our schools in Fall River, to Diamond Regional Vocational Technical High School.

So that's the only change. It's going to be who manages the website. So are there any questions before we move to the table?

Okay, Dan, go ahead with your motion. Motion to the table. The website item regarding Diamond Regional Technical Vocational History. Do I hear a second?

Second. Okay, that's Lisa. Okay. Roll call, please. Roll call, right away. Chairman Dennis Paulselli?

Yes. Commissioner Lisa Silva? Yes. Commissioner Dan Roblard? Yes. Commissioner Anne O'Neal Souza? Yes. Yes. Commissioner Kay Driscoll? Yes. Okay. Next item is old businesses.

Is there any old business? New business and announcements and items from the commission. I have an item. It's kind of a breaking news, but I would, and I might need some guidance with this. But I do think this is an important issue because many of our constituents use PCA services. So let me tell you what I just received this afternoon from the Boston Center for Independent Living, which I quickly emailed

everybody, but it was before this meeting. So there was an amendment to restore $68 million from the budget in cuts to the PCA service. Many of our constituents use PCA services, people with disabilities. These are people that assist with the daily independence for people with disabilities, bathing, cooking, all kinds of things that PCAs assist with. And there's been a $68

million cut. I think this was in the House budget. Last year, the governor tried to cut the budget and the legislature killed that idea. This year, it's the House of Representatives that made the cuts. So we need to get in touch with legislators, we need to get in touch with the Senate by late tomorrow afternoon. And I sent everybody an email with the

link to how you can do that, but I would like, and I may need some guidance on this because of the open meeting laws, although I'll be very honest with you, I'm willing to take the heat on this because I would like the commission to go on record opposing this cut. We are representing our constituents. We just found out about this this afternoon. Our next meeting isn't until June 24th, and

the deadline for comments or for advocating for this amendment is tomorrow afternoon at 5 o'clock. So I will see if there's an open meeting complaint. Mr. Jimmy, can I help you with this? Because I know exactly how we can handle this. Okay.

This is an item that came to our attention that was unforeseen and could not have been put on the agenda. So we have every right to act on this as an emergency item and as something that came to us earlier After the 48-hour open meeting law requirement had passed, there was no way we could have known it was going to come.

And so based on a parliamentary class that I took years ago when I was elected to the Charter Commission, and I have seen the Fall River City Council do this on numerous occasions when they have items that come in that are not foreseen within the 48 hours of the open meeting law. So I believe we are free to act on this matter any way we choose. If we get an open meeting law

complaint, we would immediately refer it to Corporation Counsel, Rumsey or Gary Howey Act, the ADA coordinator. either of whom would be capable of handling this, and we would just say exactly what I'm saying now. So what I'd like to do is I would like to write to Senator Roderick on behalf of the commission, who is the chair of the Ways and Means Committee, but this is going to the floor so he can vote

because this amendment is of the budget debate which is already on the floor of the Senate. I think the Ways and Means Committee has already released their budget. So this is gonna be on the floor of the Senate. So I'd like the commission's permission and I'll do it.

Before I make the motion and I'm in full support of the letter and in full support of opposing any cuts to the PCA program,

Has the House voted on this already? Yeah, this is the House. No, I think this is the Senate Ways and Means. This may be the Senate Ways and Means budget already. I don't think the House already passed its budget. So this may be the Senate Ways and Means budget. I've been trying to... Well, if the House has passed the full budget, then it goes to the Senate.

There's a number of committees that the budget will go to on the Senate side, and then the Senate will come out with a full budget and pass their budget. If there's any changes, it'll end up in what's known as a conference committee, and the two houses will have to reconcile the budget. Okay.

But if you guys read the email, there was a specific amendment and an amendment number. So this is already an amendment. This amendment is to restore the 68 million. So this is already an amendment. So it should all be in the email that I sent just before the meeting started. Yep. So my motion would be to have Chairman Dennis Pasewe... on behalf of the

Foreign Disability Commission, write to Senator Roderick and whomever else is appropriate to have the commission go on record opposing the cuts to the PCA program and asking the Senate to restore the $68 million or whatever the exact number of funding cuts are.

Commissioner, Chairman, this is Katie Driscoll. Can I add a couple of comments? Yes.

So I actually, I spent my morning right up until now at the State House for some advocacy and, you know, discussed some of the workforce challenges. And, you know, right now, as stated, things have moved through, you know, the House and now we're at the Senate. So it really is the time to act now. I know one of the items, and I was, you know, with some

of our team and many others, we were passing out, again, specifically some of the support to co-sponsor, some of the budget amendments, which includes the peel back of things like PCA, also AFC is another one that's at risk. And also, so aren't the workforce wages of the direct support because of some of the benchmark studies were referenced were actually a bit of a backslide. There is some

language already, too, if I know we had added on our website the Arc of Massachusetts in terms of resources, and they have action alerts that are already prepared that can support some of this language as well. So, you know, the public listen-in, if they want to get involved, and commissioners, again, from a personal standpoint, you can send one of those action alerts. They go right to your senator

as well. So I wanted to highlight that. And then if there's any support needed in terms of that letter to Senator Roderick, I support that. But Dennis, if I could be helpful in all in that, please let me know. I will. I had a little incident, you guys, before the meeting because they set up a QR code, which is not accessible to blind people.

And I had to remind Boston Center for Independent Living that from a blindness perspective, sending us an email with QR codes was totally unacceptable. If you want, this is a cross-disability organization, and asking us to use a QR code, which blind people are not able to access, was totally unacceptable. And that's why What you guys got was an updated email apologizing for the

incident, but also a link that you can contact your senators. There's a link and there's the exact information about exactly what the amendment is.

And I think there's even a number to it. So that's the update on that.

So all disabilities need to be heard. That's how that works.

So there's a motion on the floor. Has it been seconded?

Can I hear a second? I will second. Katie Driscoll will second. Thank you. All right. Are there any further questions and discussion? Okay. I'll entertain a roll call vote. Chairman Dennis Paul Selle. Yes. Commissioner Lisa Silva. Yes.

Commissioner Lisa Silva. She might have to drop off. Yeah. There's a lot of work-related issues that come up in Lisa's case due to her job.

Commissioner Dan. We still have a quorum, so we're good. Yeah.

Commissioner Dan Rollard. Yes.

Commissioner Anne O'Neill Sousa. Yes. Commissioner Kay Driscoll. Yes. Katie, I'll be in touch with you, too. Yeah.

I don't know if we can work it out then, but it would be nice.

I just have to get this by tomorrow afternoon. And I just got all the info today. So

I can do something tonight or... or at the latest probably tomorrow morning, but I can reach out to you tonight and if you can get some input to me by tomorrow morning, I can compose the letter, then we can get it on our commission stationery and I can get it to Senator Roderick's. Okay.

Is there any other new business or announcements? Chairman, this is Katie Driscoll again. I just want to highlight that we, Community Connections, is again offering for the city accessible and inclusive yoga in Bicentennial Park, a series that we partner with Heron Yoga, and it's for people of all abilities. It's free, and that begins next Tuesday, and it will be another six-week series,

Bicentennial Park at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays. Very good. Anyone else?

Okay, hearing none, I will entertain a motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn. And then we need a second.

Do I hear a second? Second, second. I thought we were going to be stuck here for another month. Okay. Yeah. All right.

Roll call vote. Chairman Dennis Paul Telly. Yes. Commissioner Dan Roblard?

Yes. Commissioner Anne O'Neill Sousa? Yes. Commissioner Katie Driscoll? Yes. Okay, we are adjourned. Thank you all.