New York State
Independent Living Council

Full Council Meeting
Albany Marriott
April 22, 1998

Present:

Members:Douglas Usiak (Chair); Marianne Williams (Vice Chair), Barbara "Bobbi" Linn (Treasurer); Ralph William Shields (Member at Large); Chris Rosa (Secretary); Michele Greene, Anne Pavlak; Cheryl Pivorunas; Frances Pizzola; Sally Johnston, Charles McGrady, James Billy, Myrta Cuadra, Bob Shepherd, T. K. Small, Gisela Distel, Jack White.

Ex-officio: Sharon Flom, Bob Gumson, Bob Boehlert, Patricia Bruno.

Staff: David Arocho, NYSILC Executive Director, Alyssa Pfleging (NYSILC Communications Outreach Coordinator); Stephanie Lawton (NYSILC Office Manager).

Guests: Patty Arocho, Denise Figueroa, Joe Bravo, Doug Hovey, Teena Willard, Aileen Geiling.

Absent:

Members: A. Georg Fleischer

The minutes for the November Full Council meeting were approved, as presented, by unanimous vote.

Director’s Report: David Arocho reported on the follow-up efforts regarding Congress .98, a national meeting of representatives of Independent Living Councils held in Houston in January. A Congress issue paper called on SILCs to put an advocacy agenda in the State Plan for Independent Living (SPIL). NYSILC has included appropriate language in the proposed SPIL, and VESID committed to specific action to implement this objective. CBVH did not oppose the inclusion of the objective, but did not commit to take action on its implementation.

Most of the office alterations have been completed. The automatic door opener will be installed later this spring.

VESID and IL Program Report. Mr. Robert Gumson provided an update on the activities of VESID and the IL program. A Spanish version of the brochure on the State Program for Independent Living is now available. Council member Myrta Cuadra did the translation. Copies of the brochure were distributed.

Three Federal on-site reviews of centers are scheduled, and a NYSILC member will participate in each. The Glens Falls Independent Living Center, Action Toward Independence and the Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley will be reviewed. VESID also will conduct site reviews of state centers which do not require participation from NYSILC. These reviews will be the Catskill Center for Independence, Rockland Independent Living Center, Options for Independence and Westchester Disabled on the Move.

A VESID Request for Proposal distributed in February made available grant opportunities for partnerships between independent living centers and local school districts. This funding is provided under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA.) Thirteen applications were submitted in response to the RFP. AILCNY and COIL collaborated with VESID to design and implement the RFP process.

VESID, in cooperation with COIL, AILCNY and NYSILC, is exploring avenues to improve data reporting and analysis in the IL Program. VESID wants to focus on outcomes and results oriented criteria to show the effectiveness of the Independent Living program.

CBVH Report: Sharon Flom reported the agency is focusing heavily on expanding opportunities for employment for Blind and Visually Impaired. CBVH participated in an employment expo in Harlem in May. The agency wants to expand its network of employers who assist the agency in its mission. CBVH is examining its services for children; in this regard a survey has been sent to Centers for Independent Living requesting their input. The contracting methodology will now focus on outcome based contracts. Contracts with several IL centers will not be renewed. CBVH felt consolidating core services in one single contract was more effective and therefore some of the contracts with small centers will not be renewed. CBVH will be meeting with these centers to seek other ways to work together with the IL community.

Executive Committee Report: Marianne R. Williams reviewed the minutes for the last two Executive Committee meetings. Among the issues covered were:

A. Update on conference sponsorship

B. Personnel Policy review in progress

Public Policy Committee concerns with accessibility, especially at the Marriott;

development of a NYSILC position on the Hudson River Valley Care Center

controversy; and pending national legislation on health care and Social Security.

D. Site Reviews

E. State Plan

F. Termination of contract with auditor, Eileen Kilday

G. Nominations for new Executive Committee positions

Financial Report: Budget modifications approved by the Executive Committee were presented to the Full Council. The breakdown of the modifications were not distributed to the Full Council but Mr. Arocho explained the basic assumptions and reasons for the adjustments. Clarifications were made between the budget modifications for the current year and the projected budget for the new fiscal year. Bobby Linn took the opportunity to thank the staff for their thoroughness in reporting the financial activities of the office.

There was discussion regarding the documentation for the modifications and the reasoning behind each. Charles McGrady moved that the Council wait until the material was provided before approving the report, although he felt that he could trust the Executive Committee. Second by Bobbi Linn. Motion failed. Motion was then made by T. K. Small to accept the budget modification contained in the financial report as presented by the Executive Director and agreed upon by the Executive Committee. Gisela Distel seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

The Proposed Budget for FFY 1998-99. The Executive Director presented the budget of $230,000. VESID’s plan to discontinue Part C program administration would not affect the first year funding. Both VESID and CBVH have made a commitment to fund NYSILC at least at current levels for the three years covered by the new plan. The proposed budget does not preclude a cost of living increase that would raise the total budget to over the $230,000 amount.

There was discussion regarding Part C monies and whether a 2.9% COLA which the federal program provides would be made available to NYSILC, pro-rated to its share of Part C funds. It was the consensus of the Council that if such moneys were made available, it should be added to the training part of the budget. A motion was made and seconded to accept the Budget Guidelines which would accompany Attachment 4 of the SPIL. Motion passed with Gisela Distel abstaining.

Elections. The nominating committee presented its slate of nominees for Executive Committee posts. No nominations were made from the floor. The slate was elected unanimously. The officers elected are as follows:

Barbara "Bobbi" Linn - Chair

Christopher Rosa - Vice Chair

Anne Pavlak - Secretary

Charles McGrady - Treasurer

Frances Pizzola - Member-at-Large

Annual Meeting Committee Report: Anne Pavlak reported on the progress of the annual meeting/conference to be held June 14, 15 and 16, 1998. The contents of the program, as developed by April 22, was presented and the list of sponsoring agencies was reviewed. COIL, AILCNY, VESID, CBVH, OMRDD and DDPC are cosponsors.

Public Policy Committee Report: Fran Pizzola gave an update of the activities of the committee. As stated in the monthly reports and Executive Committee minutes, she emphasized the benefits of members’ participation in on-site reviews. The Hudson River Valley Care Center was proceeding with plans to build an institutional facility in Poughkeepsie which was supposed to house persons with traumatic brain injury. The New York Health Department had given its approval to this construction without soliciting input from the TBI Council. NYSILC will convey its dismay at the approval of such plans for institutional care to all the public officials and representatives that it feels need to be educated on this subject.

A motion was adopted that NYSILC would support the position taken by NCIL on the Social Security amendments currently before Congress and that the Public Policy Committee would advise the Executive Committee about letter writing or other action to move forward those amendments recommended by NCIL.

The State Plan Approval: The draft SPIL was presented. It was decided to vote on each attachment. There was discussion as to whether the council and its State Plan Committee were sufficiently informed on the SPIL. Many Council members felt that they had not been adequately consulted. Involved in the plan development were the Chair, the Treasurer and member Sally Johnston. However, the final document was completed by the Executive Director, David Arocho, Mr. Robert Gumson of VESID and Ms. Sharon Flom of CBVH. The process was complicated because the Federal Rehabilitation Services Administration had made changes at the last minute which required a response on such a short timeline that full consultation with the committee did not become practical. Postponement of approval was considered. However, action was required now and failure to act might render the Council’s input ineffective. The Council members recognized that both the staff and the Part B Funds Committee had worked hard to ensure that the goals and objectives of the Council were carried out.

A. Attachment III: The instructions for this part only require that public comment be summarized. Responses from the attachment were removed, leaving only the summary. The motion to delete the comments passed by majority vote with three members abstaining.

B. Attachment IV: A motion was made by Robert Shepherd and seconded by Ralph William Shields that the budget be clearly labeled Guide to the Budget. This passed unanimously. Attachment IV was then approved by a majority of the Council members.

C. Attachment IX: This attachment outlines the goals and objectives of the plan, describes the actions to be taken and the timelines to be observed. After some minor language corrections, a motion was made to instruct the Executive Committee to devise language for a new set of goals and objectives which would call for reserving some amount of Part B funds for targeted outreach and development competitive grants. This motion passed unanimously and the attachment was approved as amended. Discussion on setting a specific percentage of Part B funds aside for competitive grants did not bring consensus so it was not included as an amendment.

D. Attachment XVI is complementary to Attachment IX; therefore it too was amended to indicate the action to be taken, the outcomes expected and the measures selected to evaluate the implementation.

E. The rest of the SPIL: The other attachments were discuss and passed as presented.

After recognizing the work of Alyssa Pfleging and congratulating her on the revamping of the newsletter, Vice Chair Marianne Williams accepted a motion for adjournment. Meeting concluded at 3:00 PM.