it is what it is home either what what's that work from home either good evening we are uh now this is the Rev commission disabilities March 12th commission meeting uh if we could please um salute the flag I greatly appreciate it I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all um if we could do a roll call of the members I greatly appreciate it certainly can so Ralph too is present paen perno is present Mario ganis present Jason Veron present Ellie Vargas she's supposed to be Ellie supposed to be joining us um but I haven't heard if there's any situation with the internet um so hopefully Ellie would be joining us shortly okay I also wanted to acknowledge that Council Bobby Hass is uh is joining us on our meeting so thank you thank you Council hat for for joining us hi everyone thanks for having me hi Bob so once El join Ellie joins us I will let you know in case you don't see okay that notification um so item one item one um is a motion to approve the meeting minutes from our February 13th meeting I had sent everyone out uh the the meeting notes from last month's agenda uh last Friday so if everyone had a chance to take a look at it um if anybody had any questions or if anything is missing on it please let me know um if there's no questions or any issues with it if uh someone could kindly make a motion to accept motion to accept Okay okay so Jason made the motion to accept and Mario second it okay uh as you seen on the agenda item number two um we don't have a guest speaker for for this month um so we're just going to go over to item number three and item number three on our agenda is updates and next steps from our February 13th meeting um the first thing on that is updates from Pauline regarding calendar future monthly guest speakers and if she has any information on that if you want to just let us know I do have updates so I'm still waiting on Camp Arrow had I have yet reached out to them again um because I really would like them to join us on one of these um so I'm waiting to hear back I also reached out to the New Balance adaptive Sports at Franciscan um I emailed him and I got an auto generated that said that it was received so I'm waiting to hear back from them as well um I did a little bit more investigation and I was going to reach out to these two women but I'd like everybody's opinion because I'm almost wondering if it should be bumped over to in conjunction with CPAC um it's two women their sisters Gina Gallagher and Patricia terasi and they wrote a book called shut up a about your perfect kid and it's a survival guide for ordinary parents of special children um they both have special needs children one has two children one has one um and I was watching Snippets and clipp itss and they do have they they do like Global guest speaking but it kind of didn't fit in with what we would do here I think it's they're much more involved than the time frame that we have not that we don't get involved but that the time frame so I'm wondering um if anyone would like I can I will put in I don't have the link I can't do it I don't have a computer yet um but it's called shut up about your perfect kid and if you Google search that it will come right up and there's they have a couple of things on YouTube uh they're quite Dynamic I don't know if there's a fee involved but people kind of listen to that if we could maybe regroup next month um and get your opinion I think that it would be worth reaching out to these two women so that's where I'm at I do also have a couple of other leads that I'm looking at so I will keep you guys prized and hopefully everybody keep your fingers crossed that we can either get one Andor two of these folks from Camp Arrowhead and New Balance uh to join us as we're approaching the lovely spring season and those I appreciate it next on it it's coincidentally uh Council H is on the call right now so the next the next item was if there was any update on a communication Council has regarding uh the summable noow program and the ideas we mentioned at our last meeting yes we've been in communication and as I explained to Council of house my my internet I've I've 567 emails backlogged so I ended up texting and we've had a preliminary text and we'll go from there but I also have other investigative information so Council H if you'd like to chime in and um we can join forces and move on with this thanks Pauline um I'm really looking forward to working with you and Ralph and I hope that we this is a program that we can get going for next winter hopefully and um or for just the cold weather months for our senior and disabled residents and I'm looking forward to meeting with you Ralph and Council SAA and um you know like you said joining forces and hopefully bringing this this program to light yeah like like you said there is there's a lot of um like the snow angels program is great we really want to see how sumerville if we find out how sumerville works it because you know there are people of needs and what it's what the program should do is if there's an able-bodied person in that house that those are the ones that should be the ones that are cleaning the snow if there's a tenant in the house this these programs should be for someone that does not have anybody in that house uh at all to to do it um and not to say that you know things have slipped through the cracks or whatnot but it's it's good to see how other cities such as some of all have have have done that that program that they that they have started um if we want to try and do something like that because we want to make sure that the people that really do need it and don't have anyone are the people that we want to reach out to um you know they don't have the money and they don't have the abled body person in their home to do it um because those are the people that we want to do it and that are here year round um um you know you don't want to assume anything but that's you know that's needless to say that sometimes can happen so uh we want to make sure we do and we do it right totally agree Ralph thanks so much and this is something I I thought about when I started working at the senior center three and a half years ago I'm no longer employed there but this is a something that I had thought about and I know you had you and Pauline had said that you guys have both been talking about this and working on this for some time but it wasn't really until I saw that Somerville launched this that I thought this would be something that we could actually see see to um see through because um a city that size and you know it was it was inspiring that they implemented that and I look look forward to hearing more about that from what Pauline found out yeah because I believe it's Grant funded um you know it's it it doesn't take uh it's not paid for by any city services or any any any taxpayer money there that's why some of it would be the great the great asset to talk to um because it is gr it is a grant funded program and like I said there's other cities and towns that do other programs that that you know are wanted to if we can get something after ground more than just for the winter time um they have programs to get the community the the young adults the teenagers to be more involved with their Community with their seniors um there's to be a partnership with the high school um there's a bunch of different things that can be done I was surprised um I looked into how many other communities are doing something such as the snow removal and the the seasonal and I found out there's quite a few communities in this area in the North Shore that are doing some form of the partnership between the youth centers and the elderly slash disabled Community um but I'm also seeing that it they are doing more than just the winter seasonal it's um the summertime getting or the springtime getting yard cleanups done um some communities I was reading and I don't remember whether it was it was one of the smaller communities further up north that they have their students doing once a week you know on the trash day making sure that the barrels are put out making sure that they're all set up um you know things such as that and that again comes and it's going to start stemming from you know maybe doing once we really get this solidified on the ground maybe looking into transitioning it as well into a smaller scale at the younger level um you know there's no reason that your elementary and middle school students couldn't get involved as well you know and then you kick it off into the beautify Riv and roll it into that piece of it we might be talking eventually down the road going a for seasonal and not just the winter time and I would like to see that eventually come out of all this if possible I know that you know we do have the snow angels and I think that we do have to at some point sit down with jrc that we're not treading on their feet as well um to delineate you know what their program entails and I do know more about their program than the other um but something such as that as we go forth so it it sounds exciting and it sounds like something that is very very doable so looking forward to moving ahead yeah totally agree on me I totally agree on on the season the Four Seasons um approach as well because when I was at the senior center that was another huge issue for seniors that lived alone and that was lawn bags and raking leaves and things like yard cleanups and things like that yeah and it's not only it's not only to do work it's also for social social engagement for for seniors that are by themselves and and disables and and disabled residents um that are by themselves to get them so get them social interaction with with young adults um so it' be beneficial for both the young adult and both for the senior or or the disabled resident mfic engagement for both parties system you know a a check-in system I know that years ago when my kids were very very small now they're out of high school and everything but um there were a few elderly people in my neighborhood and that was kind of my way on of checking on them just to make sure that they were okay as I was you know shoveling my driveway shoveling their driveway their walkway that sort of thing so it's also a good check-in it's also you know helping to solidify the whole thing about regardless of where you live whether it's a town of 200 or a city of 200,000 that you can know your neighbor you can know someone in your community um you can still care about people people aren't going to look at you differently because you do care and so I think that's important to try to reins that into generation and the main thing is it's not doesn't have to be because to doing it for to get paid you know that's the main thing it's has it's not to get paid it's it's just for the interaction um that's that's the main thing I see it as all positive so I think we're going for right direction and I'm excited right okay thank you I appreciate it and uh councelor H I've had conversations with some of the past and he will he will make sure that we are included in any any uh any meetings or Communications with the administration on that great happy to hear that Ralph thank you I appreciate it um item number uh item number three uh we just went so we will go to uh actually just if I just want to make sure that Mario or Jason don't have have any comments on that or any questions or anything before I move on no I think we're good just keep us close yeah definitely um item number four um is just a is a is a reminder regarding the Serv surve uh as part of the grant received by the ad by the Ada corner and Public Health Department we're asking for your help to fill out a survey regarding the George B kalala Community Center at the Garfield School uh we're looking at Target seniors people and families with disabilities and people with with people within the Garfield School that the George col Center is located within the Garfield School at 176 gothfield a and is operated by the pox and Recreation Department uh the community center uh features a swimming pool and many more programs and activities if you are a re resident we need your help in completing the survey to understand your needs your feedback is greatly appre appreciated and matters to us the survey is going to be open until the end of the day on March 18th which is next Monday um I have the links uh and there are now QR codes um that can be scanned and they can be found on the meeting agenda uh which was posted on the City calendar and is also the meeting agenda is also posted on the city of R uh disability page uh today's agenda it's there I was going to try and pull it up on our meeting tonight but I I have a different laptop with me now so I don't have a screenshot of it um and if I was to put the paper in front of my camera it wouldn't look wouldn't look good right now so I do not have um PDF of it on this on this laptop to be able to share it um but there are uh QR codes that can now be scanned for all four languages for the survey to be filled out um there's there's basically um 16 questions most of them are fill in the blank there's just two questions at the end that you can fill in any information if you wanted to um so we're just moving along on that survey and there's just another about another week for that and it will be completed um we also moving along on that project to find try and find some um areas of of Need For That by what we find in the surveys uh that people think of accessibility issues or any other issues that they see with the community center um from a lot of the responses that we are getting back a lot of the people don't really realize that there there is a community center in the geld school nonetheless that there is a pool um at the Garfield school so it was great to do this Outreach uh to let people even though if they don't want to fill out the survey we're still telling them about it um so that's beneficial in that way um so item number five is the Kota Commission on disabilities Alliance um that's put on by the Disability Policy consortiums uh monthly Zoom meeting which happened on uh last Wednesday March 6th there was just a couple of a couple of things that were discussed various C commissions discussed the mod grant program specifically if anyone knew why a city or town is awarded or denied um a couple of things that did come out of that is usually the mod which stands for the mass office and disabilities every year in the beginning of the Fall they offer uh cities and towns to apply for a for a for a grant uh it's two things it's either what they call a planning Grant or a pro project Grant the project Grant has to be a shovel ready project that you're applying for and it's usually the the grant applications open usually at the in sometime in September um and they do um usually sometime in October or beginning of November the issue with that Grant processes is they usually not awarded until the end of December like after after the holiday and the if you are fortunate to be granted uh a grants no pun intended you only have till the end of the fiscal year to have your project completed done in money spent which means that is June 30th of that fiscal year so there's a lot of time constraint in trying to get it done as um people may or may not know it takes a lot of time if you're doing a project that you have to get uh especially in the municipality uh the the process that you have to put things out to bid rfps and whatnot um so it's a it's a lengthy process and it's very tough to to get something done in that time frame um and also what had happened this past year is they still had the same time straints that the grant applications were due um I I want to say sometime October November but unfortunately the grants weren't awarded until almost the middle to the middle to the end of January this year so the cities and town and they do not offer extensions so the cities and towns that awarded th those grants now had less than five months to have that money allocated so what came out of that is that they the state now has is looking to change that process and the grant applications are going to be coming out um I believe a in April um and they're going to try and award the grants in the beginning of the Fall um we hope because when I said that when I seen that they were going to be awarding doing that application uh Grant application process in April I said well hopefully uh it's still not going to be awarded in the late fall again um because that wouldn't do any good if you get the application and it's still not awarded the best thing is the sooner that they can let them cities and town know if they're awarded the grant the better it is because it gives you more time it is very very tough to to try and spend the funds and get a project off the ground and completed in that time frame um so it's going to be a pro that's gonna that's going to be a a little bit of a a help to to municipalities um so I don't know if anybody has any questions on that or if anybody to elaborate on that I wonder if we can uh I wonder away through the leg somewhere just temporary because that's unreasonable expectation uh granted that we so late something [Music] done you know right away um it's uh you know something was definitely done way late um you know at this point so I don't there's got to be it's probably not a typical situation there's a way to well the the main reason the main reason too is that that money that they have in that Grant is allocated in the state's fiscal Year's budget right but that's but you can't ask somebody when in you and I know that contractors get invol especially when you're talking about something of that nature uh and there's multiple levels involved that is unreasonable it it's hard enough when you own a home in getting contractors straightened out and getting approvals from a city to do something if it goes beyond the norm of you know especially to get up to code so I it's there are ways to get around things like that they have a way to keep the budget so they can you know it would require I'm I'm guessing it's some sort of special passage you know of some sort just to because now they've cut you guys with the knees so to speak because now we're talking look at where we're at right now there's no way I can guarantee you unless this gets on the ground right now and you have contractors that are willing to jump to the part and then you're going to have to push and I mean push these city folks that have to approve each step uh when you build a house is the same way but the difference in the house level is this is a you know a contractor that is putting out their own money you're talking grants here and you need this done so I would be prepared you're probably going to be pushing people I'm just there's got to be a way to do something about that I just I find that very diff that and they purposely it's like they waited too long to do that and it just seems like somebody dropped the ball somewhere is what it sounds like to me yeah because they should have been already done they they're held to standards these people work they are state employees so there is a a process for their job as it is evaluated each year so if that's part of their job then somebody failed and needs to be reprimanded I'm not normally want to say that but this is right you know um somebody fell very short I'm you know Robert I'm sure can do more digging than I could at the moment I'm a state employee but I I don't have the patience to call them I can't even get the governor office to call me back so um legitimately and I need it um it's it it it it takes a while to get stuff done but that that just seems unreasonable unreasonable expectation and I think there could be an exception granted somewhere oh yeah definitely that's that's why I we have there's a there's a there's a meeting in um within the next couple of weeks about the whole new procurement process for the applications that I'm I'm having so I'm hoping a lot of these questions are going to be coming up with them with the with that about the the whole new process and if they're gonna be putting any anything into it if anything like this happens again yeah Robert can is there any way that you could check on the senate or house side and see if there's a way they can put something in temporary I just think there's I the chances of getting this done by June 30th and I'm just being straight up and honest way that things are starting to pick up for spring contractors get very busy and then the city you know how it is when it comes to inspectors I'm just trying to be polite but very straight and this is this isn't it's unfortunately it's not going to be a problem that we have because we didn't apply for a grant this year but a lot of the cities and towns that did um depending upon um if it's a small grant that it depends on what type of a grant they're going after too A lot of the cities and towns what what they would do is they would get a planning Grant first for this year uh so that they can hire the architect to do the drawings or whatnot and then they will go for in the shovel Grant uh is what they try and do they try and do it as a I thought you went for but I thought that was the whole point of what we just did no mine's a different mine's different mine's different one this is this is an mod this is a this a mass offic and disability yearly grant that they have this is a totally different Grant my grant dph it's totally different so least sure okay better mine's all set yeah but this is something totally different that's still bad for that teams but that's still bad yeah yeah yeah it's just for the people that just were awarded that Grant from mod that was supposed to be awarded um late last year they just didn't get it till the beginning of this year and because of the fiscal year they have to have those funds um allocated and spent by the end of the fiscal year that's why we were discussing it at the at the uh the the monthly Coda because some of the pounds that were awarded it figure out how are they gon to get it done so that was there um the next issue that we um we had uh at the uh Kota was uh Cod Commission members had questions at along with some discussions regarding if cities and towns offer Transportation per services for people with disabilities to the polls on election days along with why and why not um we a couple of us members that uh brought up that we did discuss this at a past uh Coda meeting and it was brought up that um cities and towns do not personally offer rides to to the polls but candidates usually do um because what happens is if you cities and towns number one and um it you would have to offer it to to everyone and it can get costly and not only costly just the uh the logistics of it um can be difficult so um like what that's is what a couple of the towns would said about it and that's why they said usually political campaigns are are C are candidates usually for a ride to the PO for free you call their number and they usually handle it and that was done mostly through a lot of municipalities uh and that's what it was done so that's what discussion was that and we uh and the members said that we had a Lely discussion with this a few meetings ago um so that's basically um what was said at the uh on that for for Kota um item number six was the CPAC February March events uh update was provided by Julie Brown who's the president of CPAC um at their last CPAC meeting discussions weree uh on the start of the document archive list that re uh that list resources available in our community for CPAC members and other households dealing with disabilities and uh they also provided a link that I have in the meeting agenda which will also be in the meeting note as just as a point of uh information when the um I believe I this was done in time I was I got the uh this a little late but I think I did get this out in time for to go out on the agenda um so the um link for for that uh for that information is provided in the agenda and it will also be on the meeting notes at the end uh also the next CPAC meeting is on March 28th at 6 pm at the riv learning Commons and we'll have a zoom Link Link option flies will be distributed shortly um as soon as they get them I believe they will be probably sending them out to the school Liaisons um and uh if if I get the information um time for well actually won't be in time for our next meeting but if I get it I will try and disseminate it to my commission on disability members um so that they can give it to anyone that they feel would benefit from it um the meeting is going to focus on inclusion opportunities within our community also they're working on scheduling the April April June trainings and will include no year rights training the new I the new IEP process and con conservatorships so that's what they'll be working on um and I thank Julie for uh getting this information uh to us so that we can continue updating um the residents in r on the goings goings and happenings of uh the seatack group uh if anyone has any questions on that or um pretty much Pauline all the information I believe should be there on that which makes it easier yes I think yeah now that it's there remember I got it right before I was able to post this so I got it in time right um item number seven is uh we applied for through the through the commission disabilities Ada um my Ada rule uh we applied for a grant to save the hob or save the bay um and if we awarded this grant we were planning an event called all abilities day at the beach uh this will take take place one day in the summer at River Beach this event would be similar to the one that triangle Inc has held for the past several years a constitution beach in East Boston um unfortunately triangle triangle Inc is not going to be able to uh run this event themselves but they are they are willing to be a consultant on it with me um to help and offer anything that is needed um so I I'm looking forward that hopefully we will be awarded this grant I've also been in communication with um with DCR um and the the the correct departments um to talk about um getting equipment to the beach Mobility chairs Mobility mats and so forth um I believe the grants a awardees will be notified um I believe it's the first week of April so hopefully by time of our next uh commission meeting I will know if we are awarded this Grant and then I can start the process of moving forward to uh to get this done so I'm not sure if anyone um on this commission knows about that event that triangle puts on every year at Constitution Beach but it's a it's a really great time um I've I've had uh discussions with the Parx and wreck department if we're awarded this grant they're going to partner with us and help us on that uh give us some of their summer youth workers um to to help us with it and uh we can go from there the main part is done the initial uh work on it but the big planning will come after if I if we are awarded the grant so if anybody has any questions on that and I will be looking to counselor counselor has to help out with that uh in his new role um uh with his pres current role and his new role um anyone else have any questions or comments or is anyone familiar with that event that takes place at Constitution beach in East Boston every year I've seen the writeups on it and everything I've never been to one but um I'm hoping I'll keep everything crossed that we do get that I think that that would be a huge huge event to bring to the city and it may be something that you know we could work off of after that but I I will keep everything cross and yeah my big my big thing in in in the grant is we Riv Beach is the is is is recognized as the first national Beach why not put an event like this at the first national Beach uh it would be a great event to have here in Rivier at the nation's first first public National Beach um and what it is is people have to register in advance for it um to be able to part partake in it and um you know we would have to have get permits through DCR and all that but I'm willing to to get all that done once I get if I get the approval to the grant um if I don't get through the approval to the grant I'll see about other Avenues and what can be but this just just a couple of the things that I've been working on um number eight is commission members late items or information I'm not sure if any commission members have any uh late items or any information that they want to pass on seeing none hearing none um I'll move on to item number nine number item number nine is any residents concerns or issues I haven't gotten any residents concerns or issues um I don't know if any other members have received any concerns or issues from anyone I received any concerns um but I and I was not I did not visualize this firsthand this was secondary knowledge to me uh just a reminder um there's an individual who utilizes a wheelchair uh she has a service dog that is trained and is identifiable um we've had some issues of dogs getting loed in our neighborhood uh one puppy it was a puppy but it's a larger sized puppy uh tried to pick a fight with the service dog service dog stayed in control um my concern was you know if that puppy starts jumping I mean the individual in the wheelchair is a smaller individual not a child but a smaller adult you know we need to really be aware out there that if you own a dog if you know M mind where your dog is um because this could have really been an incident that this individual could have ended up on the ground service dog again stayed in control but that puppy was certainly out of control it escaped from its yard was not properly fenced in so just as a reminder um if you are a dog owner and I am a dog owner I have a very large dog I know where she is at all times because of that very big potential of of a problem Brewing so um again it didn't come to my attention by a person but I was given the information secondhand thank you and if I if if I'm not mistaken too a service analyst trains not to fight back and to stay with their with their with their their person um so they won't fight back and they won't escalate so um that this particular service dog did stay in control yeah because that could have been a very bad situation yeah especially you know you've got someone crossing a street especially a very busy street that you know we do have sidewalks we do have crosswalks but you know people aren't always kind so yeah bear in mind people thank you for that I appreciate it appreciate for that that information hopefully that resonates with a lot of uh a lot of residents both um people that have service animals and people that don't have service animals uh because it's the it's for the benefit of everyone okay anyone else have anything um item number 10 is next steps the the only Next Step that I have is to uh keep everyone updated as to if we receive any grants uh I just lost my zoom for a minute second um also I'll keep you updated if I hear back from anybody yes speaking I'm trying to work ahead uh to get people lined up so if I find anything very near future I will let you know ASAP okay all right um item number 11 is our monthly reminder if uh Vice coair coair uh M perno would like to read that for me I would be happy too so the commission on disabilities office number is 781 286 8267 residents can also call Rivia 311 directly and speak to their staff Monday through Friday they will answer most questions but if they are unable to or if you want to speak to our department directly or schedule an appointment please ask to be transferred to the disability office if we are unavailable please leave a detailed message and someone will get back to you as soon as possible as always please tell us if you want something discussed or added to our monthly meeting agenda you can let us know if you would like to speak on any issue or concern the commission is here to help you and assist all the disabled residents and families of rier thank you um before we ask for a motion to adjourn our next meeting via Zoom will be Tuesday April 9th um 2024 uh at 6m I neglected to say I believe we are in um is it when is the holiday that we're in right now is Ramadan yes we are so we want to wish all the community that celebrates Ramadan and happy Ramadan also um Easter will be coming so we want to wish that Community a happy Easter if forgetting anything Paulie I do not believe so I'm not sure when Passover yeah it doesn't fall the same time as Easter this year I think it's actually coincidental with the Orthodox Easter which for anyone who celebrates that will be happy happening in May yeah yeah it's later this year right Mario yeah I think it is I'm not really sure I think it is we also have to remember St Patrick's Day don't forget that that's oh can't forget that can't that St Patrick's Day I changed my name to OD Chico you go we to make sure that we include everyone at our at our meetings so I forgot to mention that at the beginning of meeting and I'm kicking myself for that I also want to thank counselor um H for joining us at our meeting uh we really appreciate it and know that we're here for any questions or concerns or if you know any residents um that have any need any um have any questions to please feel free to reach out to us anytime absolutely thanks so much have a good night everyone everyone have a good night now night bye motion to adjourn and that motion oh motion to adjourn so sorry I I'll Mo thank you my apologies that's I thought I did the motion to adjourn my my S sorry