Minutes
SILC meeting
May 20, 2009
Greeley
Members present: Carol Hunter, Pat Going, Julia Beems, Billy Allen, Cindy Powell, Andy O’Riley, Hope Krause, Patricia Yeager, Larry Williams, Debbie Petersen, Linda Taylor, Judy Neal, Jan Ward, Faith Gross, and Linda LaPointe.
Guests: Nancy Smith, Sandy Pratt, Andrew Houtenville, various members of the public and CIL directors
Debbie called the meeting to order shortly after 9 AM. After introductions, Debbie as the chair person indicated that she would make her remarks at lunch. She will be reviewing the accomplishments of the Council over the past year.
Approval of Minutes
The minutes from March, 2009 were reviewed. Linda (which Linda?) moved that the minutes be approved as distributed and Hope seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously.
Committee Reports
Membership
Pat welcomed the two new members, Cindy Powell and Andy O’Riley, to the meeting. A nominating slate of officers has been produced. He reminded everyone that he would be stepping off the council at the end of September and that the committee needed new members. They are still looking for members of color and representing different disabilities.
Public Policy
Linda indicated that they were planning several briefs on topics such as housing and Medicaid and that the State Legislature would be reconvening on June ? to discuss the budget.
Finance Committee
Billy reported that he had just received an update on the SILC unexpended budget from Judy, who has been away from her office. Currently the SILC has $9,283 dollars left to spend before the end of the fiscal year. The executive officers’ retreat will take some of those dollars and the cost for the May meeting will come out of there as well. Patricia reported that the Emergency Prep training for consumers will be postponed until August along with that expenditure (approximately $1500). She reported that computer data storage for the SILC Coordinator had been purchased along with the additional pieces of the audio system. Pat updated the group on the progress with the SILC banner and called for any people with disabilities pictures (including release form) to be sent his way over the next 7 business days. Mark explained the information cards on the Coloraod IL system and the SILC that were to be developed and printed if there were funds left over. The banner and anything else we spend money on must be received and invoiced by June 30 at the latest. Sandy Pratt (DVR budget director) indicated that they would like to see it arrive as soon as practical in June so that it is processed in a timely manner. Later in the meeting the 2010 budget will be presented and voted upon.
State Plan Committee
Linda indicated that today’s speaker was a big part of the State Plan Committee’s work on the needs assessment. Dr. Andrew Houtenville will be presenting on the demographics of the Colorado disability community. An issue brief summarizing the findings would be developed later in the year. Next year the committee will be focused on developing the state plan through the needs assessment process. Patricia and Mark reported that the contractor pulling together contact information on all the statewide level disability focused organizations was proceeding. She provided names and emails that were used to distribute a press release about today’s meeting. This product should be done early in June.
Executive Committee
Debbie reviewed the work of the Executive Committee since the last full SILC meeting: conducting the vote for the bylaws change, accepting ACCIL’s invitation to have an Executive Committee member attend their monthly conference calls (this will be assigned to the past chair), reviewing next year’s budget, and developing and approving the May SILC agenda.
SILC Coordinator’s report
Mark reported that the bylaws change has been approved. Disability History week legislation was approved and he thanked Faith for her work. The House videotapes its session so if people want to see it, go back to April 30th (Day 114) of the tapes on the House’s website? There was discussion around what to do now with the day.
ACCIL report?
SRC report
Larry gave the SRC report and deferred a number of items to Nancy Smith who will be speaking later in the morning. He indicated that the federal RSA review of DVR, including the Centers and SILC will occur in November. He announced that “Schedule A” jobs through the federal government allowed people with disabilities to fast track into work with the government. Larry listed the four goals of the SILC this past year:
1. Increase membership by 4-5 people (accomplished)
2. Update website (accomplished)
3. Increase communication between DVR and SRC (on going)
4. Set up a meeting with the Governor (perhaps with the SILC?)
Larry indicated that it looked like the hiring freeze that DVR has been operating under will be lifted June 30. He reported on various Colorado Legislative bills that were of interest to DVR.
DVR Report
Director Nancy Smith reported that there were 2300 people on the wait list for services due to the order of selection status that the State is in due to budget constraints. About ½ are in the most significant category. She indicated that the 10 month cost containment plan had succeeded in getting everyone to be aware of what they are spending on consumers and services. It has been a rough year for the Legislature and the budget. First they had to come back and deal with this year’s deficit several times and then work on next year’s decreased state budget.
Current the Department has 29.5 vacancies and the majorityare counselors. Staff members in the state office who have the training and experience as counselors have been going out into the field 1-3 days a week to help fill in the staffing gaps as have support staff. All state employees will take four days in furlough. Next year there should be a normal increase in federal dollars. Using those dollars and the federal stimulus dollars, the department hopes to eliminate the wait list for services.
The ARRA (federal stimulus package) has arrived. There will be $7.3 million for DVR and half of that is in the state treasury now. The problem is in the accounting and reporting on the useage of the funds. The first report is due October 1 yet reporting guidelines have not been finalized. This is true at the federal and state level. Until that time, it will be difficult to give out the funds.
RSA has begun their monitoring process now. Nancy indicated that most, if not all of the paper monitoring will be completed before the RSA staff visit in November. She believes they will be here the first week of November and will want to meet with the SILC. We will be involved in teleconferences. The final report will be issued by June 30, 2011 and placed on RSA’s website. ACTION ITEM FOR SILC: Perhaps our fall meeting should be scheduled in Denver to coincide with RSA’s visit.
Nancy indicated that they are working on 2010 legislative session now. Personnel requests have already been submitted. She explained the process.
ACTION ITEM FOR SILC: Each January submit a request for a full time director and administrative assistant to DVR until this goal is accomplished one way or another. This must include a justification for the positions.
DVR IL Coordinator Report
Judy and Sandy Pratt spoke briefly to the clamping down on travel reimbursements by DVR accounting. It has been the rule for a while now that all travel reimbursements must be submitted within 60 days. Up until now, those submitted afterwards were still paid. That is no longer the case. The Accounting department will return all travel reimbursements back to the Department on or after the 61st day and there will be no recourse. Members have been lax about getting their reimbursements in so Judy and Rebecca have tried to make it easier by including a partially filled in form in each folder. It is critical to include the time you left and the time you returned on your form so that the correct per diem can be paid to you.
Old Business
Linda LaPointe and Mark Cloer attended the 3 week online training for SILC members offered by Independent Living Utilization Project (ILRU-Houston TX). It was rigorous but forced them to go through the State Plan and other sources so that they now both have a better understanding of the SILC, its purpose and our state plan. They both highly recommend the training particularly for new members.
New Business
Election of officers
Pat presented the slate of officers that had been nominated:
Chair elect: Julia Beems
Secretary: Patricia Yeager
Treasurer: Billy Allen
Linda LaPointe will move from chair elect to chair and Debbie Petersen will move from chair to past chair.
Pat called for nominations from the floor but none were offered. Pat moved that the slate be accepted as is. Carol seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously. After the vote it was announced that the elected officers (this year and next year’s officers) would attend a retreat on June 18th down in Colorado Springs from 1 PM to 8 PM. The purpose is to set up next year’s calendar, review committee membership and work assignments and generally “pass the baton” of leadership by sharing information between the current and next year’s officers. Judy and Rebecca will be working on the details of that retreat.
2010 Budget presentation and vote
Billy presented the budget through a budget narrative that Mark had prepared. He then electronically sent out the spread sheet for the 2010 budget to all SILC members. There was discussion as to whether enough had been allocated for the public hearing process for the state plan. $2000 was used the last time and that amount has been set aside. The group was reminded that the needs assessment will gather information for the state plan and then it would be posted on the website (with newspaper announcements) for comments. Activities for gathering needs information will certainly include all the CILs.
The issues of dues and travel were discussed in detail and are laid out more clearly on the spread sheet. Pat moved that the 2010 budget be accepted as presented. Julia seconded the motion. Linda Taylor abstained from the vote. Thirteen voted in favor and there were no nay votes. Motion carried.
Chairperson’s Remarks at Lunch:
Debbie thanked the Council for the opportunity to serve as chair. She learned a great deal and felt that the Council had achieved many of it’s goals. She reminded everyone of the retreat that was held at the end of last year where we worked on the mission and values statement for the SILC. That was completed in the fall of this fiscal year. The website is up and running. We successfully updated the bylaws when an issue came up with an officer who could not fulfill the terms of her office. We sent people to NCIL and to the SILC congress and have been invited to participate in ACCIL conference calls. The first issue brief came out and is having an impact on emergency planning around the state. The State Plan committee is working on a needs assessment and the first report (on demographics) will be given later today. There seems to be funding for the rest of the needs assessment which will make our next state plan much stronger. Finally, we are making a smooth transition into the next round of officers. Pat Going thanked Debbie for her leadership on behalf of the SILC.
Public Comment
We had 7 directors and or staff at the meeting. A number of people from the Greeley area spoke during the public comment area. Primarily individuals spoke about continuing to fund all of the CILs equitably, core services are very important including housing, and to continue to listen to consumers and the centers. Beth Danielson, Director of Connections for Independent Living, Greeley’s CIL, spoke about “The WAND” a consumer advocacy group that has been working on accessible transportation in Weld County for a number of years and is now seeing progress on the issue. A mother also spoke about employment discrimination that her son experienced as a person with a disability in Greeley. She was introduced to Beth Danielson and the Greeley Tribune reporter also spoke with her.
Presentation on Colorado Statistical Analysis Project
Andrew Houtenville, PhD, and associate director of the National Instititute on Disability Rehabilitation and Research (NIDRR) funded Disability Statistics Center presented a preliminary report on data from the Census and the American Community Survey on Coloradoans with disabilities. He presented information about people with disabilities at the federal, state and IL catchment area levels. A copy of his PowerPoint will be distributed electronically. He plans to have a report to the SILC around July 1 which will be put up on the SILC website. There will be tables of this information including individual counties that make up each catchment area. Information such as numbers and types of disabilities, income source, employment and poverty level as well as gender and ethnicity will be available. In addition, he will try to add information on people with disabilities and: voting, HUD housing and health status but this may only be available statewide, not by county. Information about nursing home census and the numbers of those who say they want out will be included, as well.
DVR presentation on proposal to expend IL stimulus dollars
Judy Neal recommended that the vote on the SILC recommendation be tabled as new information had come to light. On part B funds, RSA does not expect to have any more conversations with the Designated Service Unit (DSU which is Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) in Colorado). The Executive Committee was recommending two options for the Council to vote on that each included $20,000 coming to the SILC for the needs assessment out of the approximately $242,000 coming in part B funds. However, RSA just released approximate figures for stimulus funds coming to the Part C funded centers on April 24. There are 6 federally funded (Part C) Centers in Colorado and they will be sharing some $1.3 million dollars. These funds do not come through the SILC or DVR. In light of this, the SILC may want to consider using the Part B funds for the needs assessment and the four centers that are state funded only. All of these funds will probably not be available much before October 1. They must be spent by September 29, 2011.
Public Comment on the Proposal to disburse Part B funds
Evelyn Tileston, chair of the Association of Colorado Centers for Independent Living (ACCIL) read a statement that recognized that all of us in the room were here to do what is best for consumers of IL services. She asked that the state plan and the law about the distribution of the funds be followed and that the funds be distributed as soon as possible.
Adjournment
Debbie made several announcements and a motion was made to adjourn. The meeting finished around 3 PM and members were invited to a reception at the Greeley Center several blocks away.
Recorded by
Patricia Yeager, Secretary.