DLEG - June 2002 Commission Meeting Minutes

The Committee of the Whole was called to order at 9:20 a.m. Commissioner Bowman began the committee reports by saying that he had attended two meetings of the Structure and Placement Design Team. He said that a wide range of strong, positive input was being received from the blindness community. Two possible directions for the agency are being discussed. One has to do with the possibility of moving the agency to another state department and the other concept being discussed is changing the agency to better meet the needs of the consumers.

Ms. Greene said that she had also attended one of the Structure and Placement Design Team meetings. Further, she had attended a meeting of the Outreach Committee and indicated that approval had been received from the Family Independence Agency (FIA) to go forward with the acquisition of fans to increase awareness about blindness in the African-American community.

Ms. Thomas said that she had been fortunate to attend part of the Mini Adjustment Program in Pontiac and had enjoyed it very much.

Vice Chair Greene began the new open dialogue process by having those present introduce themselves. Mr. Tony VanStaveren said that he was glad to see Commissioners taking part in the focus design teams that have been created.

During the open dialogue part of the meeting, various issues and ideas were discussed which deal with the impending loss of staff through the early retirement program and how services will be maintained. The creative use of volunteers was discussed and also competition for funding with other entities wishing to provide the same services.

The regular meeting was called to order at 10:15 a.m. Roll call was taken and a quorum was present.

MS. PILARSKI MOVED, SUPPORTED BY MS. THOMAS, TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE MAY 20, 2002 COMMISSION MEETING AS SUBMITTED. THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

Ms. Kreiner read a letter to the Commissioners from the Consumer Involvement Council (CIC) in which they voiced concern about the status of the Youth Low Vision Program and advocating for the continuation of centralized services. The Commissioners felt that this was a staff issue, not dealing with policy, and, therefore, the decision should be left to staff. Director Cannon noted that with the reduction in staff due to early retirement, there are many challenges ahead to maintain current services. A letter will be written to the CIC expressing the Board’s thoughts.

Mr. Cannon called attention to the written MCB report for more detail. He reported that a draft of the proposed guidelines for public rights-of-way accessibility was being released on the U.S. ACCESS Board website. Further, he said that next month, the MCB DeafBlind unit would be participating in a deafblind camp that will take place at Michigan State University.

Also, Mr. Cannon reported that a Mini-Adjustment Program had been conducted earlier in the month in Pontiac where about forty people received services. He said the feasibility of a special mini-adjustment program for youth is being discussed.

Mr. Cannon noted that there were two people who had received recognition for thirty years of services to the State of Michigan. They are Ken Smedley, mobility instructor at the Training Center, and Sue Wilson, Administrative Assistant in the Consumer Services Division. Neither were present to receive their awards. Present to receive his recognition for twenty-five years of service was Mr. Bob Robertson who coordinates evaluation and training activities.

MS. THOMAS MOVED, SUPPORTED BY MS. PILARSKI, TO ACCEPT THE DIRECTOR’S REPORT AS PRESENTED. THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

Mr. Buscetta reported that the Ticket to Work is still scheduled to rollout in Michigan in November. The contractor hired to coordinate the program is Maximus and Mr. Buscetta said that the Commission would be requesting training from Maximus.

Mr. Buscetta also presented the results of a study in Indiana comparing sheltered employment to supported employment. The study concluded that the client earns more per hour in supported employment positions as opposed to sheltered employment. The results were even more significant for blind individuals.

MS. PILARSKI MOVED, SUPPORTED BY MS. THOMAS, TO ACCEPT THE CONSUMER SERVICES DIVISION REPORT AS PRESENTED. THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

Mr. Tony VanStaveren introduced Ms. Julie Haase, Special Education Vision Consultant with the Intermediate School District covering Cheboygan, Presque Isle and Otsego Counties, Mr. Bill Marshall, Director of Cross Roads Industries, and Ms. Marina LaBelle, also of Cross Roads Industries who was the recipient of the Employee Achiever of the Year Award in northern Michigan. Vice Chair Green commended Ms. LaBelle on her award.

Mr. VanStaveren noted that Cross Roads Industries has provided work experience programs, vocational evaluation services, job coaching services for supported employment clients, and job development services in addition to providing jobs for some MCB clients. Mr. Marshall spoke of the great working relationship with Mr. VanStaveren and Mr. Kramer and also of Ms. LaBelle’s contributions to Cross Roads.

Mr. VanStaveren also noted the good working relationship between Ms. Julie Haase and the Commission and encouraged the vision consultants to become involved in the visioning process for the Youth Low Vision Program. Ms. Haase indicated that the Youth Low Vision Program has been a tremendous asset for her students and said that she has enjoyed working with Mr. VanStaveren very much.

Mr. Bob Utrup introduced Ms. Rosalind Byers-Lang and said that Ms. Rose Dunlap-Gist was unable to address Commissioners at this time. Mr. Utrup provided information from the 2000 census that indicates that the 21 counties with the oldest populations are above Clare, and said that this is an indication of how important IL services are for the northern counties.

Ms. Byers-Lang said that the IL program originally started in three counties and is now statewide. She said she enjoys working to help people maintain or gain employment and spoke of two cases she is working on with Ray Kirkland. She currently has a caseload of 186 people.

Director Cannon presented Mr. Utrup, in honor of his retirement, with a plaque expressing appreciation for his thirty years of service to the blind citizens of Michigan.

Ms. Lindsey reported that a training on the Braille Note had been conducted at the Center with sixteen participants consisting of consumers and staff. She also reported that a College Assessment Team has been assembled for the purpose of updating and changing the college evaluation process.

Ms. Lindsey said that five staff from the Training Center had participated in the Discovery Learning Training and had found it to be a very worthwhile and beneficial training.

Finally, Ms. Lindsey said that she had been contacted in May by the local Kalamazoo television station to do a feature on one aspect of the Center. They featured the industrial arts program and Ms. Lindsey played a videotape of the segment which was aired on June 6. The station has plans to return and do another segment on the entire Center.

MR. BOWMAN MOVED, SUPPORTED BY MS. PILARSKI, TO ACCEPT THE TRAINING CENTER REPORT AS PRESENTED. THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

Ms. Rose Dunlap-Gist presented her portion of the IL report at this time. Ms. Dunlap-Gist said that she has been focusing on developing group teaching outlets in conjunction with the senior centers in such places as Traverse City, Sault Ste. Marie, and Cheboygan. She said she is grateful that the case services budget has been increased for the program which allows her to broaden services for people who are not able to go to the Training Center. Another project she is working on as a member of the Transportation Team is a regional conference in Detroit with the purpose of exploring ways to overcome transportation barriers.

Mr. Best reported that he had just completed an analysis of expenditures. The budget year is 66.7% complete and 60.8% of the budget has been spent.

Mr. Best also reported that, as a follow-up to the discussion at the last Commission meeting regarding concerns about the technology contractor for the BEP telephony system, a letter was sent to the firm which resulted in a productive response. The technology vendor promised a finished product by July 15.

MR. BOWMAN MOVED, SUPPORTED BY MS. PILARSKI, TO ACCEPT THE ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES REPORT AS PRESENTED. THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

Mr. Wurtzel said that the first item of his report was not about the Business Enterprise Program, but rather had to do with the Vision 2020 Technology Design Team. He said that one of the main issues that the Team is focusing on is improving the technology capacity at the Training Center and the Team also experimented with video-conferencing as a way to improve use of technology by the Agency.

Mr. Wurtzel reported that most of the BEP staff have participated in the Discovery Learning Training and feels that it has been quite beneficial to the program.

Mr. Wurtzel also reported that a former BEP operator has been hired on a contract to manage repairs for the highway vending operators. This is a new arrangement that seems to be going well.

Mr. Wurtzel introduced Ms. Carol Osmar, Vice Chair of the Elected Operator’s Committee (EOC), to provide the EOC report. Mr. Wurtzel also noted that the Chair of the EOC, Mr. Casey Dutmer, would be taking advantage of the early retirement program and would be leaving in April. Ms. Osmar presented the motions from the June 1, 2002 meeting.

Motion three required board action. The motion stated "that if someone takes a cafeteria and they are not certified to operate the facility, they have three years to take the appropriate courses. The operator shall take a minimum of three courses a year for cafeteria certification and the Locations and Repairs Subcommittee Chairperson shall monitor the operator’s progress. A list of operators will be provided for the subcommittee Chairperson at the beginning of each EOC year. When changes in chairmanship come, this responsibility will be assigned to the elected Location and Repairs Subcommittee chairperson. If a vendor does not take the three required classes in a given year, the agency shall conduct a Compliance Review to determine hardship and whether or not an extension is granted, or whether license revocation shall commence."

MS. THOMAS MOVED, SUPPORTED BY MS. PILARSKI, TO ACCEPT THE ELECTED OPERATOR COMMITTEE MOTION TO CHANGE THE POLICY. THE MOTION CARRIED WITH ONE DISSENTING VOTE.

The next motion by the EOC requested that the position paper presented at the April 27 EOC teleconference be endorsed by the Board officially. Ms. Pilarski suggested that staff provide an analysis of the position paper and also that Ms. Kimberly Wells be invited to the next Commission meeting to provide an update and reaction to the position paper on behalf of the Governor’s Office. Mr. Wurtzel suggested, and Ms. Osmar agreed, that perhaps the Commissioners and the EOC could work on the position paper together to fine tune the paper so that it would more closely reflect the Commission Board position. Ms. Pilarski volunteered to work with the EOC on such a paper. Director Cannon said that he would invite the Governor’s liaison and Ms. Vanda to represent the FIA to the August Commission meeting.

MS. THOMAS MOVED, SUPPORTED BY MR. BOWMAN, TO ACCEPT THE BUSINESS ENTERPRISE PROGRAM REPORT AS PRESENTED. THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

Ms. Greene noted that the Commission had suffered a great loss in losing the Chairperson, Mr. Earl Steenstra, and she said that she had enjoyed the opportunity to serve as the Vice Chair.

MR. BOWMAN MOVED, SUPPORTED BY MS. THOMAS, TO ADJOURN THE MEETING. THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:32 p.m. The next meeting will be on Monday, August 19, 2002 at the Victor Office Center in Lansing. The Committee of the Whole meeting will begin at 9:00 a.m. and the regular meeting will start at 10:00 a.m.