City of Jacksonville Commission on Disabilities and Human Relations met Feb. 1.
Here is the minutes provided by the Commission:
Members Present: Larry Whewell, Charles Walker, Guy Crumley, Alan Bradish, Liliana Costa and Cyndy Benton
Meeting to Order The meeting was called to order by Vice Chair, Larry Whewell, at 4:06 p.m.
Guest JCDHR members introduced themselves to, Eddie Lowe, the guest attending the meeting. Eddie Lowe was invited by Larry Whewell to observe a JCDHR meeting to see if it might be something he would be interested in joining. Mr. Lowe briefly told members about himself. He said he was born and raised in Jacksonville and was a Registered Nurse. He said he worked as a tele-nurse through Springfield Clinic. He also told members that he has Multiple Sclerosis. He pointed out to members that he had previously set on the Envision Illinois workgroup with other JCDHR members (Mr. Whewell and MS Benton). He explained that the Envision Illinois Workgroup had developed a domestic violence brochure specific to people with disabilities living in Morgan County.
December 17, 2017 Meeting Minutes All members, but one member, received the December 2017 meeting minutes previous to the meeting. Ms. Costa was given time before action was taken on the minutes to review them. No members had any questions about or corrections suggested to be made to the minutes. Liliana Costa made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, with Guy Crumley seconding the motion and all members present voted in favor of accepting the minutes as presented.
Note: There were no January 4, 2018 meeting minutes because the Commission voted in December 2017 to not hold a January 2018 meeting due to its regularly scheduled meeting date being so close to the New Year holiday.
Agenda Items Tabled JCDHR members present at the meeting decided to table the following items until the it’s March 2018 meeting after it was discovered that not all members had the information needed to discuss them:
• Sub-Committee Assignments
• JCDHR Brochure Update Based on 2015 Article X Revisions
• Approval of New Member Packets – a new member resource packet was given to the JCDHR Chair at the Commissions December 2017 meeting to forward to the City and ask if they would make 11 copies of the new member packets for current members who had not received one.
Jacksonville Police Department’s (JPD) Updated Communication Policy Alan Bradish reported that the JPD had recently finalized its revised communication policy to ensure it meets the JPD and community needs and complies with standards and guidelines established under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), including use of American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters. He said the revised policy was also expanded to include foreign languages and use of translators. He told members that the revised policy is “JPD Policy Document 334” and was approved for use on January 18, 2018.
Mr. Bradish also spoke about the JPD’s recent efforts to expand its outreach to people with disabilities giving several examples of their recent community outreach and involvement activities, including JPD participation in the Jacksonville FAN Fair at Pathway, continued involvement with Special Olympics, outreach activities at the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired, JPD training covering Alzheimer and ASL, as well as many other disability outreach efforts. Mr. Bradish said the JPD is continuing to look into various venues to continue these efforts.
JCDHR Officers The JCDHR’s Vice Chair reminded members that the Commission needs to nominate officers (Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary) at this meeting and vote on the nominations at its March 2018 meeting, with new officers taking over at the May 2018 meeting. After a short discussion about nominating those members who were not able to be at the meeting, Mr. Whewell said he did not believe Mr. Allen was interested in being the 2018 Chair due to family obligations and Mr. Crumley suggested that any member nominated that was not able to be at the meeting should be given a chance to bow out of the nomination. The following members were nominated as 2018 officers:
• Larry Whewell was nominated as Chair by Guy Crumley, with Charles Walker seconding it and all members present voting in favor of the nomination.
• Alan Bradish was nominated as Vice Chair by Cyndy Benton, with Guy Crumley seconding it and all members present voting in favor of the nomination.
• Joan Engelmann was nominated as Secretary by Cyndy Benton---who said she would contact Ms. Engelmann to be sure she would accept the nomination. Liliana Costa seconded Ms. Engelmann’s nomination and all members present voted in favor of the nomination.
Need for JCDHR Member Appointments Ms. Costa asked how many members the JCDHR was still in need of. At which time, the discussion turned to Article X and the City Representative on JCDHR. Ms. Benton told members that currently Article X states the City representative must be a City Council member. Mr. Bradish was then asked his status as a City Representative. Mr. Bradish told members that he believes the Mayor feels he has been appointed to the JCDHR as the City representative on the Commission. Therefore, it was decided that the Commission should look into this and put it on the JCDHR ‘s March 2018 agenda for further discussion.
Placing link to JCDHR Information on City’s Website Ms. Benton told members that she was recently reading JACIL’s newsletter that had an article about the links that can be accessed through its website. She said JCDHR was not one of them and that she felt this was a missed public awareness and access opportunity for the Commission. She explained that she was not only speaking about JACIL’s website but the numerous other ones in the Jacksonville area that the Commission could have a link placed on. She told members that if they felt this was a good idea that JCDHR should write the Mayor asking for the City’s consent to do so. After a short discussion, Liliana Costa made a motion to have the Commission work at getting links established to the City’s JCDHR site. Guy Crumley seconded the motion adding that JCDHR should get the City’s permission to do so before going forward. Ms. Costa agreed and her motion was modified to include contacting the City before moving forward. All members voted in favor of the motion to contact the City to obtain permission to ask local businesses and organization to put the link on their webpages and to locate those that will do so.
Year End Report Ms. Benton told members that Mr. Whewell had offered to do the Year End Report for the JCDHR. Mr. Whewell informed members that the report would be available for their review by the March 2018 JCDHR meeting.
Immigrants as Protected Class Ms. Costa was asked if she was still interested in speaking with Cyndy Benton about adding immigrants as a protected class under Article X of the Municipal Code. At which time, Ms. Costa said she was and both agreed to meet before the next JCDHR meeting was held.
Changes to Article X Mr. Whewell suggested that if the JCDHR wanted to make changes to Article X of the Jacksonville Municipal Code, they should suggest all changes at the same time instead of asking for changes multiple times. The two Article X changes currently being looked at include:
• modifying the definition of who a City representative can be that sits on the JCDHR, and
• adding immigrants as a protected class.
Meeting Adjourned The meeting was adjourned at 5:03 p.m. by Vice Chair Larry Whewell after Liliana Costa made a motion to adjourn and Charles Walker seconded the motion. All members present voted in favor of adjourning the meeting.
http://www.jacksonvilleil.gov/city_government/boards_commissions_and_committees/docs/Boards%20Commissions%20Committees/Disabilities_&_HR_Minutes/2018/Minutes%202.1.18.pdf
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