Watertown Commission on Disability

Watertown Commission on Disability
Meeting Minutes
January 20, 2010

Attendees: Carol Menton, Acting Chair; George Donahue; Kim Charlson; Fred Isaacs; Alex Liazos; Gayle Shattuck.

Meeting called to order at 7:10 pm by Acting Chair Carol Menton.

Roll Call. Al Gayzagian has passed on but he is here in spirit tonight.

It was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously to accept the December minutes as amended.

Carol Menton disclosed that she is on the DPC board. This organization sponsored the Disability Consortium meeting reported on in last month’s report from the Chair..

Treasurers Report – Gayle Shattuck
It was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously to accept the treasurer’s report.
Copies of the Treasurer’s report may be requested of the Town’s ADA Coordinator in the Personnel Office.

It was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously to accept the December minutes.
Copies of the minutes may be requested at the Town Clerk’s Office

Closed Captioning – Carol Menton
We had the cable people, Tamarah Green, Nick, and our other gentleman meet with Stephanie and John O’Dell and make a test run. Stephanie’s software is not compatible with the encoder. The incompatibility is being resolved. It could require different software, a different encoder, or remote captioning. It should be straightened out within a month. Since the captioning software is $8000, they are initially trying to find a more suitable encoder. There was some discussion of who bought the encoder when; we concluded that it had been bought a month or so ago and should be returnable. Unfortunately, Catalyst, Stephanie’s software, is rather limited.

Special Ed Report—Fred Isaacs
Michelle Fallon did a great presentation on Transitioning from Special Ed. A dozen or so people attended. Sarah Ward is coming up in February. Charlie Appelstein will be speaking at our April Awards Night.

Nominating Committee – Gayle Shattuck
There was some discussion of Carol Wilson-Braun’s desire to be on the commission versus the ratio of disabled members which we are required to have. It was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously to recommend to the Town Manager that he appoint Carol Wilson-Braun to the Watertown Commission on Disability.

Safety and Access – Kim Charlson
Kim has located a Mobility Instructor to teach people with limited vision how to navigate Watertown Square. The instructor is researching his rate. He works at the Perkins School as an orientation mobility specialist.

The Watertown recycling calendar has been translated into Braille. It was 3 sheets of text. It is 21 sheets in Braille.

Al Gayzagian
There was a moment of silence for Al Gayzagian who has passed on. He was a former chair of this commission. He was strong, quiet, and determined. He was on the commission from its beginning in 1994. He served on this commission for almost fifteen years. We should do an article for the Tab describing his life.

Dining Guide – Kim Charlson
The person doing the project has a few more restaurants that she is checking up on. Pizzeria Regina in the Mall has had their menu Brailled.

Newsline project – Kim Charlson
The Watertown Tab went live on Newsline today. Kim did a demo. The Newsline version is the web edition. The Letters to the Editor section and wedding announcements will be added to the web edition; when this is done, they will be on Newsline, too. Can we get a credit? We can ask the Tab to put a credit on the website that the Newsline edition is funded by the Watertown Commission on Disability. There is a Happenings section on the site which lists our meetings. Kim will continue to monitor this.

Chair’s Report – George Donahue
He is working in collaboration with Gayle to submit our annual report by February 9. Please check the drafts when they are distributed. Our report becomes part of the town report,
George’s show “From Where I Sit”starts Monday. His first guest will be Maggie Dobin with a planned of “Labeled Disabled”. One goal is to have the show Closed Captioned . Are there grants available? How is Pam Piantedosi’s show doing captioning? George’s show is done live-to-tape, so it should be fairly straightforward to caption it. It would be nice if the cable company would caption at least all disability related shows. George will do his own descriptive audio. Kim Charlson’s seeing-eye dog Jubilee appears in the first minute of “Labelled Disabled”, accompanied by Kim’s hand,.

Voting Accessibility – Kim Charlson
Kim will follow up with the Town Clerk. One of Kim’s colleagues found that the machine in his precinct had not been turned on; it has a five minute warm-up time. Kim found that the machine in her precinct needed the slot moved into position. At least that machine was on. Brian was injured and not mobile after absentee balloting closed. The Town Clerk came to his house on Monday and marked his ballot. We need to educate people so that they know that the machines are there and they can vote.

Gayle read a card from Marilyn Devaney.
Our next regular meeting is March 17.

If we need to, we can convene an emergency meeting with 48 hours notice.

It was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously to adjourn at 8:33 PM

These minutes are respectfully submitted by Fred P. Isaacs.