NYSILC Full Council Meeting

September 10, 2004

Present:Doug Hovey, Chair; Mel Tanzman, Vice Chair; Mike Godino, Treasurer; Alexander Wood, Secretary; Sharon Shapiro-Lacks, Member-at-Large; Randy Black-Schantz, Dennis Boyd, Joe Bravo, Maria Dibble, Marguerite Haring, Gene Hughes, Amy LaShomb, Steve Lovi, Pratik, Patel, Michael Zich, Ron Bassman, Sharon Bradbury, Sharon Flom, Bob Gumson, Greg Jones, Brad Williams, Stephanie Slater..

Absent: Judy Avner, Iris Bannister, Michael Burgess, Mark Hernandez, Michael Kink.

Open Forum: VESID "Designing Our Future" interactive presentation.

Minutes: Approval of minutes of May 21, 2004. Motion by Joe Bravo, second by Mike Godino, to accept the minutes as written. Motion passes unanimously.

Executive Director’s Report: Brad Williams reporting.

• SPIL completed. Rick Anderson approved and sent on for final approval. Should hear within 2-3 weeks
• DEC Consent Decree - Approved 27 out of 55 sites. Remaining sites will be taken care of in October. Carol Frasier of DEC does good work, however, we must agree on format for final 3-year report to Judge. NYSILC has the option to re-submit or chose note to participate further. No further participation is our position due to the attitudinal barriers encountered, and lack of training progress.
• Gave keynote address on Voting at BIANYS conference in Albany.
• Still in need of filling the IL Net Region I and II Coordinator position.
• Scheduled to have paper published in National Campaign to Restore Civil Rights book (result of paper that came out of Columbia on Rollback of Civil Rights. Co-written by Julie Hyman of CIDNY, Tracie Crandell of CDR and Brad Williams of NYSILC.

Treasurer’s Report: Mike Godino reporting.

· NYSILC's year-end will come in under budget. Motion by Michael Zich, second by Joe Bravo, to accept the Treasurer's Report as presented. Motion passed unanimously

Committee Reports:

• Executive Committee Mel Tanzman reporting. NYSILC's search for Council members has been successful. Diversity is still needed, particularly Asian American and African-American..
• Public Policy - B. Williams reporting. Brad will coordinate Public Policy Committee during transition of SSAN to NYAIL. Chairs of Public Policy subcommittees can have 90 minutes worth of conference call time per quarter going forward.
• ADA Committee - No committee member present. Title II bill has passed the Senate and moved to the Rules Committee, where it remains stuck. Sharon Lacks will join ADA committee and provide future reports
• CDPAS - Met in August to discuss status of CDPAS regulations. Two years ago CDPAS Association submitted comments in first and second stages; no progress recently, stuck in DOH.
• State Plan - Joe Bravo reporting. See Executive Director's report above.
• Inclusive Education Committee - Pratek Patel reporting. Working on creating a strategy for implementation of action plan.
• Election Reform Committee - Sharon Shapiro-Lacks reporting. Not much legislatively regarding HAVA. Due diligence being performed for lawsuit on polling place access on advice from DOJ. HAVA Title II Project and NYSOAPD in line, problem remains the financials. Voting complaint form being developed. This form will be available on the web for completion by consumers on Election Day.
• Housing Committee - Alexander Wood reporting. Excellent committee work, started off in April 2003 with the leadership of Mel, who coordinated a meeting with DHCR to discuss their compliance with Section 504, 5%-2% set aside clearly not being met. This led to the writing of the Housing Policy Paper that outlines a very long and complex list of items for a housing advocacy agenda, including litigation, legislation, Housing Trust Fund development, statewide registry of accessible, affordable integrated housing, etc. DHCR 2005 Action Plan - Public hearings October 5-19 at 5 different locations. September 29-October 28 is the period for public comment. HFA meeting on October 29. Sharon Lacks will possibly join working group to be coordinated by Todd Vaarwerk to define "compliance" and "accessibility" and work on building relationships with agencies, developers and advocates.
• Transportation Committee - Randy Black-Schantz reporting. Summit is scheduled for 10/22. It will be a face-to-face meeting of the committee to work on its goals going forward. 135 items should be reduced to 10. Rob Davies facilitating.
• MISCC Committee - Mel Tanzman reporting. Passage of waiver bill in Assembly and Senate, waiting to be sent to Governor's office. How many slots over a 3-year period? 5,000 are acceptable. Executive Chamber is playing this close to the vest. CDR is negotiating with Senator regarding the number of slots. NYSILC and the committee have been represented at MISCC hearings and functions. Highlights were media event "Free Our People" at Syracuse and Buffalo. Frustration was the theme at NYC and Albany. What will MISCC do with results of hearings? There have been rumors that the MISCC is not dealing with housing. Committee has historically worked with various constituencies (seniors, etc), but this has dropped off. Need has arisen to meet with other coalition members that are all on the same page. Point-of-Entry: Long term care reform. DFTA (NYS) RFI, June 2004. P-o-E unbiased information and referral. Listening session around the state. 1115 Waiver - Community based services - This is of great concern, could lead to restrictions, caps on number of slots, waiting lists and other restrictions. Must be vigilant, looks like in order to save money, services will be cut.
• CBVH SRC - Todd Eggert. No report available.

VESID Report - Bob Gumson reporting. SSAN RFP's were due back on 9/7. 35 ILCs applied for funding at various levels. 25 applied to be SSAN Centers, 10 to be support sites. Applications must be reviewed and rated. Transition Independent Living/School project starting with less money, will have 5 instead of 6 next time around, unless Federal government funds IDEA at a higher level. Late fall, early winter - eligible groups would by any ILC's who have not already been funded through VESID (in order to build capacity in NYS). VESID scandal - Audit/internal control changes at VESID. Becky Court is the new leadership.

CBVH Report - Sharon Flom reporting. CBVH will hold State Plan public hearings October 14 in Watertown, October 20 in Buffalo and November 8 in NYC. Unable to attend MISCC hearings, but at least 2 people, according to Nick Rose of DDPC, had difficulty with CBVH upon release from nursing home. Support within CBVH to train staff regarding type of assistance available, i.e. partner groups, etc.

New Business: Dennis Boyd - COALITION BUILDING AGENDA of those affected by rollback of Civil Rights, etc. - NYSILC should think about ways to bridge associations between NYSILC and other groups with Civil Rights agendas (services, healthcare, etc.). Members should consider how to build bridges, get from others their main concerns, need to push items on others agendas, communication to Council, have members make introductions.
Disability Caucus: Next year's Disability Caucus may be better if there is more time, i.e. 2 days.
National Coalition on Rollback of Civil Rights is natural partner.

Motion by Mel Tanzman, second by Joe Bravo, to adjourn this meeting. Motion passed unanimously.