NYSILC Full Council Meeting

May 16, 2003

Attendees: Doug Hovey, Vice-Chair; Mike Godino, Treasurer; Amy LaShomb, Secretary; Frieda Zames, Member-at-Large; Judy Avner, Randy Black-Schantz, Dennis Boyd, Joe Bravo, Marguerite Haring, Mark Hernandez, Steve Lovi, Sharon Shapiro-Lacks, Mel Tanzman, Alex Wood, Ron Bassman; Sharon Flom; Bob Gumson; Brad Williams, Stephanie Slater.

Absent: Maria Dibble, Chair; Iris Banister, Michael Burgess, Michael Kink, Rosemarie McCaffery, M.G. Power, Greg Jones; Anne Marie Vadney.

Guests: Rick Anderson, Fred Ayers, Sylvia Bunce, Susan Dooha, Denise Figueroa, Karen Garofallou, Bill Herkins, Laurie Lichtel, Nina Lutz, Tom McKeown, Todd Vaarwerk, Dawn Werner.

Open Forum: This time slot was given to RSA Region II Office for a 704 Presentation.

Minutes: Motion by Mel Tanzman, second by Joe Bravo, to approve the September 13, 2002 and March 21, 2003 minutes as presented. Motion passed unanimously.

Executive Director’s Report: Brad Williams reporting.

• February/March 2003 – The network stepped up its efforts to give written testimony and in-person testimony at the hearings. The SSAN has proven to be invaluable in accomplishing this. Coalition building remains a key effective element in this regard.
• NYS Budget – Prioritized, WHAT WAS RESTORED: $25.7 million for SSI COLA; $1.2 million for IL state appropriation and $5.5 million to VR case services to avoid an "order of selection." WHAT WAS REJECTED: Damaging language to the new MIS law (Olmstead implementation); Proposal to move VR and IL to labor; and Proposal to move CBVH to Labor and Aging. ADDITIONAL: Restoration of home care provider COLA; and Rejection of 0.06% assessment on home care providers.

Treasurer’s Report: Mike Godino reporting. To go back to an area where there were questions at the last Council meeting, Sponsorships - Originally it was felt that NYSILC wouldn't do any sponsorships; therefore no funds were allocated to this category. In retrospect, there are a minimal number of sponsorships that it is felt we MUST do. Identified below are those sponsorships.

Check #3187 on 10/02/2002, payable to Dayle McIntosh Center - sponsorships of SILC Congress 2003; $1,950.00. NYSILC's sponsorship covered the cost of printing materials in alternate formats.

Check #3195 on 10/02/2002, payable to Western New York Independent Living Ctr. - sponsorship of six (6) Points of View shows for 2003; $1,000.00.

Check #3196 on 10/02/2002 was VOIDED after being lost in the mail. Check #3244 replaces it.

Check #3244 on 12/17/2002, payable to Island Talk 540/WLUX - sponsorship of the Ability Magazine radio talk show, replaces Check #3196; $2,400. Brad Williams, TK Small and Bruce Darling all had guest spots.

February's numbers are relatively normal with the exception of the Insurance payment. This is the annual Directors and Officers Liability Insurance policy payment. This year's premium is up $77.00 or 3% over last year.

March's numbers again are relative normal with one exception under Training. The $5,000 in training goes hand in hand with our obligations under the Federal Consent Decree to provide training to the ILCs in the geographic territory covered by the Consent Decree. These funds assure the ILCs will have 10 slots for people to attend trainings. The first training was scheduled for April, however, due to the DOB (Dept. of Budget) constraints it had to be postponed and is now slated for the early Fall.

Not all of April's information had been received when the Council packets were prepared, so a printed report was not available. However, I'd like to give you some highlights:

- On 4/17, NYSILC received its 6 month payment from ILRU under the contract for the ILRU Regional Coordinator for Regions I and II; $30,000.

- On 4/21, NYSILC received its first quarter voucher payment from VESID; $95,900.00. This allowed us to pay down $50,000 on the Revolving Line of Credit.

-On 5/1, NYSILC received its second quarter voucher payment from VESID; $95,901.00. This allowed us to pay down the Revolving Line of Credit to a zero balance.

- All accounts payable are up-to-date and NYSILC is in a solvent position. For the first half of the year, NYSILC is under budget by 12.65% or $60,263.00.

Motion by Alexander Wood, second by Frieda Zames, to accept the Treasurer’s report as presented. Motion passed unanimously.

Executive Committee Report – D. Hovey reporting.

• SPIL Committee – Joe Bravo, Chair of this subcommittee. First meeting/kick-off for the next SPIL will begin at the fall "Back to Our Roots" conference. Part B Fund usage will be included in SPIL Committee discussions.
• Executive Committee slate of officers will be voted on at the September Full Council meeting. Candidates are needed for Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and Member-at-Large, term is for two years.

Committee Reports:

• Public Policy Committee: Mel Tanzman reporting. This committee will be meeting to review its purpose and prioritize its goals as needed. Changes in chairs and committee members have made this a transition period. Regular committee meetings and reports will be forth coming.
• Inclusive Education: No report available.
• Most Integrated Setting: Mel Tanzman reporting. The MIS Committee has been meeting monthly. The Committee to Implement Olmstead in New York (CTIONY) has a policy paper; its an extensive piece that deals with all issues related to getting people out of nursing homes, including some housing issues. The paper is available on the Coalition for Aging website, www.coalitionforaging.org. People are able to sign on to this document at the website as well.
• CDPANYS (Consumer Directed Personal Assistance in New York State): Doug Hovey reporting. This group is growing strong with over 40 organizations as members. Conference #2 is being planned. On 4/9 the Annual Meeting will be held in Albany. This is another Advisory Committee of NYSILC’s Public Policy.
• Housing Committee: Alexander Wood reporting. Statewide registry of accessible affordable housing will be discussed at a meeting with DHCR on Monday and better enforcement of the Fair Housing Act. In NYC the Mayor’s office is establishing a Disability Advisory Board to address housing concerns. Barrier Free Living is a not-for-profit that serves the homeless in NYC, out of 1,500 beds in the shelter system only 13 are wheelchair accessible. Largest barrier for people in nursing homes wanting to get out is the lack of affordable accessible housing.
• Election Reform Committee: Sharon Shapiro-Lacks reporting. On June 23, the Election Commissioners Association will give a presentation on HAVA. The full-face ballot requirement is still a major prohibitive factor in determining the most accessible voting machines. Two voting technology fairs have been conducted, one downstate and one upstate. Sequoia and ES&S are still the most promising at this point in time, but by no means are the 100%. Brad Williams was the only person on the NYS HAVA Implementation Committee who represented people with disabilities. Brad had others accompany him to meetings to add their views. The committee was mainly a 16 member white male committee.
• Transportation Committee: Frieda Zames reporting. The committee has many very active. Only 40% of the 465 subway stations are accessible, the "gap" problem presents a great barrier for use of this system. Politicians have begun to pay a bit of attention to transportation issues.

VESID Report – Bob Gumson reporting.

• Consumer Satisfaction Survey – 7 questions survey, sent out to over 11,000 consumers, received 1,700 responses, overall level of satisfaction is 90%, minimum acceptable satisfaction level is 80%. Some areas (rural) were extremely high or significantly low. These will be addressed one on one. Each ILC will receive their results along with the statewide results. In April, Ron Bassman and I coordinated the first, hopefully of a series, of meetings between IL and MH providers and recipients. Utica hosted this first forum. Issues discussed included overcoming barriers to services and ways that IL and MH communities can collaborate on systems advocacy.
• Legislation – S.6412 with companion Assembly bill, Accessible Education Information Act, to amend the public service law to create a telephone based 800-toll free line, speech synthesized delivery service of newspapers and other magazines and pertinent and timely media, geared towards blind and print disabled people. Dial up and read materials with a touch-tone phone. All telephone users would be charged a $0.01 surcharge to have adequate funding for this service.
• Workgroup – Cost savings of an ILC being involved in deferring a nursing home placement or transitioning someone out. Starting to really show and prove costs savings. 13 ILC submitted information that has been used to generate the report. Reported reviewed in detail.

CBVH Report – Sharon Flom reporting. It looks official that CBVH is not moving from the Office of Children and Family Services to Dept. of Labor. The Governor still supports this move, however the veto overrode this.

New Business/Open Forum:

• Council Members – Recruitment, the need still exists for more diversity on the NYSILC council. Potential candidates materials need to be submitted, in particular African-American, Asian and youth candidates are needed. The vacancy classifications are: one Advocate of and for individuals with disabilities, one Representative from organizations that provide services for individuals with disabilities; one Other and one Youth (16-25 yrs.).
• New Slate for Executive Committee – Nominations were taken and the following slate has been suggested and will be voted on at the September 2003 meeting and take seat at the November meeting. Mel Tanzman nominated, Dennis Boyd seconded, Doug Hovey for the position of Chair. Steve Lovi nominated, Mike Godino seconded, Mel Tanzman for the position of Vice-Chair. Amy LaShomb nominated, Mel Tanzman seconded, Mike Godino for the position of Treasurer. Sharon Shapiro-Lacks nominated, Marguerite Haring seconded, Alexander Wood for the position of Secretary. Alexander Wood nominated, Mike Godino seconded, Sharon Shapiro-Lacks for the position of Member-at-Large. All nominees accepted. The slate will be presented and voted on at the next Full Council meeting.
• The NYS Association of ILC’s has been asked by Commissioner Mills to talk about State Ed’s role with ILC, where is it headed and what is the future of ILC’s (vision).
• Fall Conference – September 23-25, 2003, "Back to Our Roots."

Meeting adjourned.