Minutes

 

Date:               Thursday, March 12, 2009

Time:              12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Place:             1060 Emeline, Solarium, Santa Cruz, CA 95060

 

1.0       Call to Order

Commissioner Heylin called the meeting to order at 12:35 p.m.

 

2.0       Roll Call

Present:                      Peter Heylin, Aaron Spencer, Robert McGaw, Doug Patrick, Jeanette Cosentino, Paul Ticknor, Laura Stuart

Absent:                       Michael Bush          

Absent Excused:     Charles Stone

Staff:                           Mary Thuerwachter, Commission Coordinator

Guests:                       Jessica Ramirez, CCCIL; Jennifer Hutchinson, County Planning Department

 

3.0 Minutes

Minutes of the February meeting were approved as amended to include Charles Stone. Msp DP/BM

 

4.0 Oral Communication

 

Patty Talbot from Seniors’ Council could not attend today’s meeting but conveyed to the coordinator that the Caregiver University was a rousing success with 200 attendees.

 

5.0 Community Presentations

None

 

Coordinators Report

 

6.21   Twin Lakes - The Attorney General sent a letter declining to render an opinion on the issue of disabled parking under the RV ban.

 

6.22   Salvation Army - A member of the public called about lack of accessibility to the “balcony” of the Salvation Army store.  Chair Heylin will talk to the store.  Jennifer Hutchinson said that this was an ADA violation but would need civil enforcement.  Otherwise the California Building code is triggered when the owner applies for a building permit.

 

6.23   Santa Cruz City parking – Daniel Garr reported that he has again been cited for parking is van with disabled license plates.  Garr said he will send a letter to the City and copy to the commission.

 

6.31  Collaboration - Commissioner Patrick reported that Community Bridges, Central Coast Center for Independent Living, Community Action Board, Senior network Services, Seniors’ Council and the Commission are working to put together a presentation to the Board of Supervisors on the survey conducted by Commissioner Patrick and the impact of anticipated funding reduction on people with disabilities.  This will be scheduled for an April meeting. 

 

Survey Assessment Report – Commissioner Patrick reported a final draft of the report is now available.  It will be about 36 pages with an Executive Summary summarizing the highlights of the report.  Commission funds will be used to print 100 copies of a bound version of the report.

Msp DP/PT

 

6.32  District Representation  - There is a concern that there are no commissioners from South County and that South County interests are not being represented on the Commission.

 

6.33  EDTAC – They are reviewing origins and destinations from paratransit recors to identify accessibility problems with locations.

 

6.4.2  Blog – Any website supported by the County of Santa Cruz cannot contain a blog.  However, there are currently links to activist sites on the Commission web page.  There can be links to blogs.  There must be a disclaimer about accuracy and not the opinion of the County of Santa Cruz. 

 

6.4.3     Porter Library – Commissioner Patrick will contact Joe Quigg and Jeff Talmadge about trying to get volunteer help to put in accessibility ramp.

 

6.44 Website Accessibility Commissioner Tichnor looked at the City of Santa Cruz website and ran evaluation tests.  The site was had a low accessibility score.  Paul will write a letter to the City of Santa Cruz informing them of the results of the evaluation.

 

6.45 Disaster Preparedness – Commissioner Stone was involved in the local Emergency Planning process which was a 2 year project.  It is now 1 ˝  years into the process and it has stalled.   The Chair  will write a letter of concern.  Msp DP/LS  Commissioner Stuart will contact Commissioner Stone for more information.

 

7.0  Bylaw Revisions – All grammar changes set forth in red in Commissioner Patrick’s version of the bylaws were accepted.  Changes in 1. H. were not accepted as it would change the language of the County Code.  Msp JCW/PT The additional change to change the wording in 1. to read: the Commission may (instead of shall) exercise the following responsibilities to acknowledge that the list is far more extensive than a volunteer commission can regularly complete.  Msp JCW/LS  Staff will

prepare a summary of proposed bylaw changes remaining for discussion.

 

Meeting adjourned 2:05 p.m.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Mary Thuerwachter, Commission Coordinator