Minutes
Statewide Independent Living Council Meeting
Friday, June 15,2007
Boulder, Colorado
Present: Terrance Turner, David Foster, Mike Rooney, Bill Aceves, Debbie Petersen, Brent Belisle, Amy Allred, Judy Neal, Kristie Braaten.
Guest: Nancy Smith
Excused: Larry Williams, Pat Going, Faith Gross, Carol Reynolds
Prior to the meeting members met at the Center for People with Disabilities (CPWD) in Boulder for breakfast, a presentation and meeting with consumers. This was very helpful in the ongoing orientation of SILC members to the ILC movement.
The meeting was called to order at the hotel around 11:00 AM. Terrance called for any additions to the agenda and there were none. Next he called for a motion to approve the March minutes. Several spelling corrections were made. Brent moved to approve the minutes with the corrections and Bill seconded the motion, which then carried unanimously.
DVR Report
Next was the DVR report. Judy reported that 54 people from the CILS and SILC would be at the networking dinner. All the paperwork seems to be in order. The SILC and DVR are each donating $2,000 to support the conference. She indicated that this was a busy time of the year because she is working on CIL contracts for the Core Services, older blind and employment programs.
Nancy Smith, Director of DVR also spoke. She also indicated that it was a busy time for the Department who not only needed to submit the State IL Plan but the State Vocational Rehabilitation Services plan as well. Nancy indicated that the Department would be doing a needs assessment this next year and would be hiring a consultant for that project. She reported that ten Employer Community Outreach positions were being added to the department to assist with job development. Also the Workforce Development “Disability Program Navigators” would be coming to the DVR from the One Stops as their federal funding had ended. Nancy was very pleased to report these additions to the Department. The Disability Program Navigators provide a link between the One-Stops and the DVR that has been very helpful.
Resource Development Committee
Judy requested that Patricia give the finance report that she had prepared. There is just under $36,000 left in this year’s budget. After factoring in all the expenses (Casper conference, public hearings, the Boulder meeting and the bags that have been ordered), we will have a little more that $3000 left, which could be used to purchase the PA system without going over budget. Next year’s budget is set at $48,500, which is the same amount for this year.
There was a discussion about which public address system to purchase. A member had located a system that cost about $1500 and had two speakers. It was double the weight of another system that had been considered, was not as easy to put together and the warranty plan was not clear. The other system being considered was the Anchor Explorer which weighed 23 pounds, has a 6 year warranty and was touted as being very easy to set up. However, it cost about $2900. After much discussion, Bill moved that the Anchor equipment be purchased, Debbie seconded it and it passed 8 to 1.
State Plan
Judy presented the State Plan in Larry’s absence. She reported on the Public hearings which were held in 4 locations across the state. The Denver hearing seemed to be more of a rehearsal as few people spoke and most of the attendees were from the local CILs and the SILC. Fort Collins had about 50 people and most did speak. They did not address the plan directly but spoke of the problems they encountered. Pueblo’s hearing had about 30 people and the majority was deaf. Their issue was effective communication. Grand Junction did not have a large group in attendance but youth transition was brought up as an issue. Judy indicated that one suggestion was to have a calendar with all the various disability months identified so that people could be made aware. She also indicated that it may be time to create a Committee on Effective Communication to define it and talk about how to get there. The issues raised by consumers followed the ones raised by the Directors and SILC members (housing, transportation, etc.) which confirms our plan’s direction.
Patricia then ran through the four goals, the activities and the budget for the state plan. The Plan was emailed to everyone prior to the meeting and Judy had a few copies to hand out. Brent asked about 121 Programs for Native Americans and wondered if we had a representative to sign the plan. Patricia indicated that Larry had tried to do get representation from the Southern Utes with little success. Nancy indicated she had some contacts as did Georgeanna with the 121 Native American Rehabilitation programs. Bill moved to approve the State Plan and Brent seconded it. The motion carried unanimously.
Membership Committee
The Membership committee met the day before the full SILC meeting and distributed minutes from that meeting. Mike gave the report as the chair person. He reviewed the activities of the committee including getting a membership brochure completed, an internal recruitment and application process and networking with the Governor’s office, which Judy has already started. As a result of Judy’s work with the Boards and Commissions office, Kristie Braaten’s appointment was finalized the day before the SILC meeting. Mike also announced the slate of officers for whom he had received nominations: Faith Gross as chair-elect, Debbie Petersen as secretary and Kristie Braaten as treasurer. Nominations from the floor were opened and no one else was nominated. Mike called for a motion to accept the officers’ slate as submitted. Amy made the motion and David seconded it. The slate was accepted by acclamation (no NO votes).
Advocacy Committee
Brent Belisle made the Advocacy Committee Report. He indicated that the SILC had sent a letter to Nancy Smith about the IL employment program. There had been a conference call with the directors and DVR staff. Brent asked what had come of that. Nancy responded that it was never the intent for this program to become a grant. It was a pilot project to see if and where the CILS could work with their local VR counselors to provide needed employment services in that area. So there were several programs that were getting contracts, several new programs getting ready to join the contract and several who would not be continuing.
Brent also indicated that the SILC had sent a letter to HCPF about their failure to certify any new programs to provide services under the Community Transition Services program. He was pleased to report that DCIL and Connections were about to be certified so the program is starting to unfold.
Patricia mentioned a letter to Nancy Smith from the Executive Committee asking for a meeting around the relationship between the two organizations and fiscal issues. Nancy has responded and several meeting dates are being considered. Patricia indicated that it might be best if the current officers and newly elected officers were the ones to attend this meeting given the historical context of the issues.
Process for developing job description
Patricia wanted to inform the group that she will be working on drafting a job description for the new contract to staff the SILC. The SILC Coordinator position will have to be bid this summer in order to have that person in place by October 1. The Executive Committee decided to be the committee working with Patricia on this project. She will send drafts out to the full SILC so that everyone was kept up to date on the task. She hopes to have it done by late July early August.
Terrance raised an issue here and asked that if SILC members are requesting funds to attend training, they needed to send their request to the entire Executive Committee and not just the chair.
Lunch was served so the group took a break.
Announcements
After lunch several announcements were made. There will be an Employment Fair on August 13 at the Grand Hyatt in Denver. We have received a solicitation to have a booth at the fair at a cost of $200. Everyone seemed to think this was a good idea as it would give us a chance to recruit for the SILC. (We have too many members from the Metro area.) Brent volunteered to staff the booth. The fair is from 8:30 to 11:30 on Monday, August 13.
Brent announced that DCIL had moved and gave their new address:
4831 E. 38th Ave, Denver, and that they had opened a new satellite office co-located with a mental health facility.
Patricia announced that Larry Williams had had very serious surgery about a month ago that may keep him flat on his back for 4-6 months or longer. He requested that the new chair elect become acting chair until he was up and around again. Faith knew this going into the elections and is comfortable with the requestl.
Training
Patricia handed out a one page (front and back) document on the roles of the SILC and the ILCs. It is an easy reference sheet that Faith had given Patricia last winter. The document had been written for the website. She reminded everyone of the training they had received as they reviewed the document.
Terrrance thanked Nancy for coming and adjourned the meeting at 1:45 P.M.
Recorded by Patricia Yeager