Colorado SILC Meeting
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Denver, Colorado
Present: Julia Beems, Cindy Powell, Andy O’Riley, Linda Taylor, Jan Ward, Hope Krause, Patricia Yeager, Billy Allen, Judy Neal, Carol Hunter, Debbie Petersen.
Staff: Mark Cloer
Guests: Nancy Smith, DVR Director, Center directors: David Bolin, Nancy Jackson, Beth Danielson, Tim Thornton, Larry Williams, Carol Reynolds
Excused: Linda LaPointe, Ana French
The Council meeting started promptly at 9 AM with a quorum present. Julia Beems chaired the meeting as Linda LaPointe was out of town. Julia welcomed everyone and set the ground rules for the meeting. She indicated there was a signup sheet at the front of the room for those who want to speak during the Public Comment portion of the agenda. She indicated that was the only place where public comments would be taken. She also encouraged everyone to follow the agenda.
Minutes
Julia asked for any changes to the minutes of the November SILC meeting. Linda Taylor asked about the policy/process for calling in. Judy Neal explained that the SILC operating procedures specified that calling into a SILC meeting was only done for a health issue as the SILC wanted everyone to attend the face to face meeting rather than participate by phone call. She also indicated that the request for calling in came after the meeting started and the SILC was meeting in a hotel room that did not allow for conferencing in.
Hearing no other comments, Julia called for a vote to accept the minutes by acclamation. The minutes were approved with 10 voting yes and one abstention (Linda Taylor).
Committee Reports
Membership: Cindy Powell, chair distributed a recruitment piece for new SILC members and requested assistance with distributing the information. She will be submitting it to disability organizations’ newsletters that she is aware of from her work with the RMDBTAC. Patricia suggested that everyone be looking for persons to represent mental health consumers, youth with disabilities, other physical disabilities (not mobility) as it takes a personal contact to draw in candidates.
Public Policy: Carol Hunter, chair, reported that the committee was hard at work on 7 mini-issue briefs. Information gleaned from Andrew Houtenville provided through the Colorado Disability Stats report was an important resource. There will be a SILC vote on three of them later in the day. The next project the committee will tackle is a legislative check list for good hallmarks of disability legislation.
Finance Committee: Billy Allen, chair, reported that the Council had spent 16% of its budget at the half year mark. The Finance committee was working to identify possible ways to expend the funds.
This will be discussed under the Finance Report.
State Plan Committee: Julia Beems, chair talked about the needs assessment process and that the committee would soon be going to twice monthly calls as it ramped up to write the actual goals. Judy indicated that RSA has not sent out the paper work nor a deadline, although the approved state plan is generally due in Washington by June 30 and takes effect October 1, 2010. More information will be presented later in the day.
Executive Committee: On behalf of Linda LaPointe, Julia presented the Executive Committee report. The committee which meets monthly worked on getting this meeting together, ARRA funds issues and membership issues.
Finance Report
The original budget was very conservative in case there were cuts to the SILC budge but none seem to be on tap for this fiscal year. Patricia gave information on the average cost of meetings ($3300 not including interpreters), and what had been expended to date. There appears to be around $23000 that could be reallocated. Judy talked about doing a 5th meeting as a retreat with the DSU and ACCIL. This was suggested by the RSA reviewers who felt that none of the three groups had a good understanding of the roles each played. ACCIL and the DSU would be asked to contribute. Billy talked about a software license that would allow people to come to the SILC website and take a survey on the state plan or other issues. An FM listening system was mentioned; costs for public hearings on both the State Plan amendment and the new state plan, and printing up a nice report on the under-funding of the ILC system were also suggested. In March, the committee will come back with a plan and priorities. The funds must be expended by June 30.
SILC Coordinator’s report:
Mark reported that he had been engaged in lots of committee support work which includes helping to develop the meeting announcement and agenda as well as writing up notes from the meeting and following up on details. The Public Policy committee was very busy with its issue briefs and getting feedback for example. Mark has been contacted by a movie producer who is trying to get non profits to show his film about a person with a disability making a life in a different country. He mentioned that James Tucker had distributed the SILC rack cards in a major event celebrating the life of Martin Luther King.
ACCIL Report:
Linda Taylor, ACCIL rep to the SILC reported on the new officers that are now in place for the new year. David Bolin is chair; Beth Danielson is Secretary-Treasurer and Jonathon Alpert, ACCIL coordinator has retired. ACCIL is working on a new job description and will be seeking someone to assist them with their work. Linda also mentioned that Ian Engle, director of the Durango Center will be starting February 1st as the new executive director for Boulder’s Center for People with Disabilities. Linda indicated that the there was no sign that the Legislature was going to cut the CILs’ funding in the current fiscal year but that all state funded projects and agencies were looking at a 2% cut come July and the new fiscal year. The home health and persona assistance programs have experienced cuts and expect more to come. While 2% may not seem like much, often hourly workers drop out of the program and consumers lose hours of support service as a result. Linda indicated that ACCIL might be able to help with the financial support of a workshop with the DSU and SILC. She asked if the SILC could pay for the directors’ costs to attend. The SILC is glad to pay for food for everyone but that travel costs should be borne by the centers. After the budget is developed for this activity, all three sponsors (the DSU, ACCIL and the SILC) will sit down and see who can pay for what.
State Rehabilitation Council Report:
Debbie Petersen is the SILC rep to the SRC. She indicated that they had only met once since the last SILC meeting. At this meeting they reviewed the goals of the SRC for the year and intend to do that each meeting. Debbie suggested that the SILC might want to do the same with its goals. A new, simplified referral form for VR services has been developed and is in use. A new simplified VR application form as also been developed. The wait list for persons with severe disabilities has been significantly reduced to 500 people. Debbied indicated that DVR wants people to get on the list right away so that they can receive services in the order that they signed up. There is no advantage to not getting on the wait list. It was discovered that the #1 referral source was family and friends. DVR has hired 25 new counselors. Finally, the Colorado Medicaid Buy In program was in development. As one of the last states to introduce this program it will allow people with disabilities to work and keep their health benefits. As they increase their income, they can pay a share of cost for the health care on a sliding fee scale. Patricia suggested that a speaker from the new program be invited to present to the SILC at the next meeting.
DVR Report:
Judy indicated that the appointments of the three new members from Colorado Springs was hung up in Karen Bye’s office. As director of the Health and Human Services Department she felt she could deny these appointments on the grounds that they were all from Colorado Springs. Judy felt that Ms. Bye did not understand the federal designation and independence that the SILC has. She is continuing to work on the issue as is Nancy Smith. Next she reported on where RSA was with our State Plan amendments. After much badgering, Sean Barrett, our RSA rep indicated that both he and David Esquith had given their “pre-approval” of the draft language but demanded that the SILC vote on Part C distribution regarding going out to competition for a new Part C funded center. This will be voted on later in the day. Once that vote is taken, Judy will convey that information, put in the decision for Part C funds and send the entire amendment ( part B, C and OIB) for pre-approval by RSA before putting it out to public hearing. Once that legal requirement is met, the amendment goes back to RSA for final approval. It is anticipated to take two weeks for that approval from RSA. Judy unhappily indicated that it may be 8 weeks before the Centers see their ARRA funds given all the hoops she needed to go through.
Funding Formula Presentation:
Patricia Yeager and CJ McKinney presented a funding formula in use by two mid-western states that graphically demonstrated how under-funded the entire IL system is in Colorado. The census numbers based formula, developed by an economist in Illinois some years ago has been replicated in Indiana and Colorado used their template with Colorado numbers. The upshot of the presentation was that to provide the four core services to 505,400 people with disabilities between the ages of 16 and 64 and who are not institutionalized will cost $12 million dollars. Current the system is funded at 24% ($2.9 million) and a breakdown by county and by CIL catchment area was provided. There seems to be some dispute on several counties as to which center serves them so as soon as that is resolved, the document will be available on the SILC website. This information was used to decide where a new center might go (Colorado Springs area and east) and whether to do that or fund just the existing Part C centers. The formula could be used to show the legislature in more graphic detail how underserved the state and their counties actually are. The Centers asked a number of questions but in general seemed to be ok with the results. The SILC members found it quite helpful. When the time comes to develop a formula for distributing IL funds in Colorado (which must be a part of the new state plan) this may be a good starting point.
Public Comment Period:
Billy Allen, representing the Colorado Communication Access Coalition (?) presented information on a proposed deaf access to IL services process for the State Plan committee to consider. A handout was provided.
David Bolin as chair of ACCIL testified that the association recommended that the vote on the Part C portion of the ARRA funds be to not create a new center given that after the ARRA funds were gone, the 6 part C centers would lose funds to accommodate a 7th center. He also expressed their dismay and distrust of the needs assessment process as being rushed and did not include enough people. He questioned how the research was going to be used in the development of the needs assessment.
Jan Ward, speaking as a person with visual impairments talked about the needs of persons with visual impairments in Glenwood and asked that a new CIL be established in Glenwood Springs. She also asked to be included as an interviewee in the needs assessment process.
Presentation by State Plan Committee:
Julia indicated that the presentation by the consultants has been postponed because of the problems with getting all the key informants interviews done in time. Two of the 4 focus groups did not occur because of poor weather on the western slope so the key informants’ interviews were being expanded to include deaf/hard of hearing individuals and youth with disabilities. The consultants should have a draft of the report to the committee by mid February and a final report by March 4th. The committee is getting ready to start meeting twice a month to create new goals for the next 3 year SPIL. As a review, Patricia was asked to review the current SPIL goals since she worked with the State Plan committee to create them. She indicated where progress had been made. While a great deal of progress had been made, there were several goals that could carry over or be expanded.
Presentation by Public Policy Committee:
Carol reviewed the process that the committee went through to get feedback on the three issue briefs which included comments from SILC members and CIL directors. She asked that each author review their brief and ask for a vote of approval. Each author did so:
- Andy wrote and reviewed the employment brief and moved for acceptance. Linda Taylor seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
- Debbie wrote and reviewed the health care brief and moved for acceptance. Billy seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
- Carol wrote and reviewed the transportation brief and moved for acceptance. Jan Ward seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
Next Carol reviewed the process for the next four briefs and indicated that Linda Taylor’s brief on poverty would be up next. All four would be out over the next month with a call for feedback rather quickly. Everyone was asked to send Mark their feedback by the deadline and to only comment on one brief in one email so that he could gather up all the feedback on a specific brief and email it to the author. The SILC will then vote electronically to approve the finished products. The goal here is to deliver a new brief every week to the legislature during the session. Finally, the committee will use a paid professional writer to produce a summary brief on the seven previously approved briefs written by the committee. Andy reminded everyone that the theme here is “What it’s like to be a Coloradoan with a disability”.
Carol indicated that when they finished this process they were going to expand on the Governor’s Council’s disability legislative checklist.
Old Business:
Judy began the discussion on the use of the Part C funds by laying out the two options:
No new center and the funds would be split between the 6 Part C funded centers using their usual percentage of the total amount.
Create a 7th Center in the Colorado Springs/Eastern Plains area and bumping up the Pueblo Catchment area funds. At the end of the ARRA funds, the original Part C allocation of nearly a million dollars would include $107,318 for the 7th Center and the additional $19,326 for Pueblo then be divided among the existing centers. This would result in a cut of anywhere between $29,000 to $36,000 for 5 of the centers and one center would receive a $4000 increase.
Judy called for the question and SILC members voted unanimously for the first option-no new center and divide the funds among the 6 existing centers.
Next Judy shared the text of the state plan amendment concerning the Part B and OIB funding. This had been voted on last year. Now she will go back and add the recommendation for the Part C funds before submitting to RSA for “pre-approval,” then put it out for public comment before sending to RSA for final approval. The amendment will be put on the website and newspaper ads will be taken out to alert the community to the amendment and how they may comment.
New Business:
Julia asked Patricia to report on the SILC sub contracts. The SILC Coordinator and webmaster contracts are set to expire September 30 of this year with the end of the current SPIL. So a committee (Debbie Petersen, Julia Beems and Patricia Yeager) was appointed by Linda LaPointe to review the bid/quote documents and initiate the procurement process through the State. As RSA had recently remarked on the potential conflict of interest in having the CILs staff the SILC subcontracts, Patricia indicated that this time, the CILs will not be allowed to apply. Larry Williams expressed concern as the SILC usually wanted to support the Centers by using their services. Patricia indicated that the poor and often antagonistic communications between the ACCIL and the SILC suggested that it was time that the SILC become independent of the CILs as well as maintaining its independence from the DSU.
Mark brought up the old SILC laptop and inquired as to what to do with it. As a consultant, he expects to supply his own laptop and doesn’t use it. The equipment is outdated with no wireless Internet capacity. After a discussion, it was decided that the laptop should go back to DVR as surplus equipment. DVR will dispose of it in accordance with state rules.
That being the end of the business of the Council, Jan moved to adjourn the meeting and Hope seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 2:15 PM.
The next meeting will be March 17th in Colorado Springs.
Recorded by
Patricia Yeager
Patricia Yeager
Secretary for the SILC