The Fall River Commission on Disability held a meeting on Wednesday, August 14th, 2024. The meeting began with a roll call, confirming the presence of Chairman Dennis Pauli and Commissioners Lisa Silva, Dan Robard, and Ann O'Neil Souza. Vice Chair Debbie Pico joined later in the meeting. The minutes from the June 12th, 2024 meeting were unanimously approved by a 4-0 vote.
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this is a meeting of the Fall River Commission on disability for Wednesday August 14th 2024 um just 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 deemed acknowledged and
0:58permissible an O'Neal sus hello commissioner O'Neal how are you fine thank you next is R call chairman Dennis Pauli president commissioner Lisa Silva pres Comm commissioner Dan roard president commissioner Ann O'Neal Souza pres okay um next item is public input are there any public input is there any public input okay hearing none I will go on to the approval of the minutes for the meeting of June 12th
1:502024 motion motion to approve the minutes of June 12th of 2024 for the fall of the disability Commission second okay are there any comments discussion questions roll call chairman Dennis Paul Sali yes commissioner Lisa Silva yes commissioner Dan robard yes commissioner Ann O'Neal Souza yes okay next item um um I've asked officer Rachel Sy of the Fall River silver I'm syvia I'm sorry of the Fall River Police
2:35Department um Vice chair Debbie Pico who should who will be joining us uh Vice chair Debbie pachico had forwarded me an article from the Fall River Herald News uh concerning a program that the F frpd has started um for seniors and persons with disabilities it's a lockbox program um and I asked if if she could come and just kind of uh give some information of what the program is since
3:07our meetings are both posted on our website and on channel 18 um this would give some a little bit of an Outreach um for officer Sylvia so I'm going to turn the um I'm going to turn the floor over to officer Sylvia and thank her for coming thank you um so the pro um the program we borrowed from I guess a lot of areas in Rhode Island does it and it's been successful for them it's very
3:38simple we go to somebody's house um whether they're elderly disabled or vulnerable for some reason we collect their information emergency contact information from them and we then use spare keys we put them in a lock box um that we'll we'll find a location to kind of dangle it outside the home and then if they're an eer situation if they call for us if they maybe press a Life Alert
4:03button um or there's a a real need for a a welfare check on them instead of going to the house and having to cause any damage kicking in the door we'll be able to use the keys um and it'll be easier for and quicker for everyone involved um if somebody's interested they can either call the non-emergency line 508 67 68511 and then use extension 4048 or they can email at locks frrpd
4:42dog okay now does this program work um now would this be for private dwellings or would this program work in in um say for example Housing Authority facilities and and Facilities that have other management companies or is this just for um say uh tenant dwellers who are not in um public and private housing facilities so far we've um we've installed them on like single family homes and uh apartment buildings with a
5:19um only a few apartments in them just because if a manager can come by or a property maintenance can come by quickly um we tend to call them so for instance like anyone in the Housing Authority um any of the high-rise complexes we have access to a lot of um keys that will open up all the doors if there's an emergency and if you live in a different apartment building with a good amount of Apartments we
5:47normally work with that manager who will install their own box um so is there some kind of a registration program or how could if if someone say people might who who either are listening to this meeting later on um how could they get in touch if they wanted to be part of this program so if they want they can come right into the station if they don't want to do that they can email at locks frrpd
6:26toorgle go to me okay um are there any questions from other
6:41Commissioners and if anyone has any questions oh I'm sorry if anyone has any questions for me um I don't mind you give me a call and I can talk to people oneon-one if they're not sure if it'll work on their house I can make time and swing by and check it out and give them more information in purpose um I'm sorry in person um but so if if they'd rather just do that that's an option
7:04too okay thank you very very much um and the article was was uh was well written as well um but thank you so much for for taking your time to explain it to us um and if there are any further qu if there's no further questions um um we will we'll we'll be moving on with our agenda but thank you all right thank you very much thank you okay um next item is
7:36updates um I don't have any Ada Updates this month um so we'll go on to policies is vice chair W Pico here okay um then the next item is financial update and this is the disability parking enforcement program of which I have no updates this month um we're just going to we'll just carry this item under Finance um but right now we're just we're just um just kind of we're just kind of going along
8:22Ando okay Vice chair Debbie Pico we just um we just finished hearing from officer Sylvia and um I can I can um I can um uh go I can go over it with you offline sure thank you Mr yep uh so we'll just carry this item um and this is the item dealing with disability pocking enforcement but there's nothing there's nothing right now we're we're just we'll just carry this item until such times as we decide
8:56on something um um and you all got the budget report for the month of July and the last the next item under this is Outreach um I I I will just say that the scholarships went out except for three and those three persons um those three individual recipients um I'll just say for the record for the commission that no money will go out until we get either a date of birth from them or their student ID
9:35number that's the policy so um you know the the the money is there it's just up to them to follow up i' I've need I can't tell you how many attempts I've made to contact three individuals um but um having spoken to relle is or corresponded with her as recently as yesterday we are still missing three scholarship recipients who have not contacted us so their monies will not go out until they've contacted
10:06us with either a date of birth or a student ID number are there any questions about that Mr chairman very briefly not not not about the policy of the student ID number or or the date of birth I think that's completely proper I just had uh one additional question yep so uh let's assume one one year goes by and we hear nothing meaning two cood semesters uh would that mean that they
10:38would then forfeit the money I think that that's happened in the past correct yes I I may have answered it too quickly I I'm inclined to say yes but you know what let me let me ask the rest of the commission is if we if we don't hear from any of the three in the upcoming two semesters um is it is is it appropriate that they forfeit their scholarships this is W Pico I would say
11:08yes okay I think we keep it within the fiscal year I think it that just makes sense okay um anybody else I would agree with commissioner P okay thank you um do we I'm just going I'm just going to ask an opinion oh go ahead I'm sorry commissioner go ahead Mr chairman very briefly uh not only do I think it's appropriate I think we should have a codified policy that says such around
11:41Scout okay that was that was going to be my next question um can we put this in a form of a motion so that it's on the record and it's part of the policy I will entertain a motion you go ahead I'm sorry go ahead Vice chair did you want to say something I didn't know if we wanted to have the policy subcommittee um the working out sub policy working group take a look at
12:07that policy and then present um an update at the next meeting we could do that I I mean we could simply put the policy says that if any person does not claim their scholarship money for any reason within one year two coward semesters they forfeit the money that that's very simple we've had that happen already uh without a policy so I I think we should make a motion to have it on the record
12:40and then if we wanna uh we want to draft a formal policy at the next meeting and vote on that formal policy that's fine but I'd like to have a motion at this meeting if it's amendable to the rest of the commission are you okay with that Vice chair absolutely I think that makes sense and then I can definitely um we'll take a look at the written policy and just
13:05button it up and then have it ready for the next meeting okay that sounds good so I will I will entertain a motion so basically I make a motion that says uh if any student does not claim their po uh their scholarship funds uh within the first two semesters after uh they received the award they forfeit the money okay do I hear a second to that second motion okay we had we had two seconds so
13:42it's definitely seconded is there any further discussion okay roll call chman Dennis Pauli yes Vice chairwoman Debbie Pico yes commissioner Lisa Silva yes commissioner Dan roard yes commissioner an O'Neil Souza yes it's unanimous okay um next item is old business do we have any old
14:24business okay um new business I don't have any new business just just that the next meeting will be on September 11th Wednesday September 11th is there any other new business no at this time okay I enter I will entertain a motion to adourn
14:56um okay so there there was a motion okay okay um roll call chairman Dennis Pauli yes Vice chairwoman Debbie Pico yes commissioner Lisa Silva yes commissioner Dan robard yes commissioner an O'Neil Souza yes okay we are adjourned okay thank you everyone care what