[Frances Nwajei]: Well, welcome, everyone. Today is the Commission on persons with disabilities meeting. I am Francis was a director of diversity, equity and inclusion. And for. our guests that are attending and joining us this evening. I just wanted to let you know that before I go any further, I'm going to be hitting the record button because our meetings are always recorded. OK.
[SPEAKER_07]: Recording in progress.
[Frances Nwajei]: There we go. And I also need to, is live transcription enabled? Yep, live transcription is on. I just wanted to check that. Oh my gosh, commissioners, it's so lovely to see you. That month flew by so quickly. It sure did. Wow. And congratulations, Tom. It's your first month of your new role as chairperson.
[Tom Hamel]: Thank you. It's good to see everybody. And it's good to see all the new folks here. That's right.
[Frances Nwajei]: We have joining us Sue Fowler-Finn, Linda, And that's all I can see on my screen right now. Oh, and Joseph Casey, so welcome. And Merle Anne, so welcome and thank you. Just a quick mention, Heather, Commissioner McKinnon will be joining us around 6.15-ish. So, and as we already know, Commissioner Andrea Tola is commuting, so that's why she's on mute. So, Tom, I will hand it over to you.
[Tom Hamel]: Great. Thank you. So, welcome to the September meeting. I'm going to, I'm going to start we can introduce all the commissioners, we can go around and share, share name how long. Yes, if you're not quite sure how long you've been on the commission. motivated you to join the commission. So I'm Tom Hamill. I've been on the commission, I think this is my third year. And I've been a resident of Medford for about 15 years or so. And I've worked in a couple different disability nonprofit organizations. And I have a disability myself. So I've been involved in the disability world for a while. wanted to get more involved in my city. So that's why I applied. Susan, would you like to go next? You're on mute.
[Susan Bibbins]: Thank you. That would be me. I always forget to unmute. I'm Susan Bibbins. I always forget my unmute button. I have lived in Medford going on 27 years. I have been a member of the commission since, for a good eight years, I think. Before the longest serving member of the commission, I think. I've been a member of the commission before everybody started, at least in this room. And I have, I'm disabled myself, both physically and mentally. mental health wise. And I have two adult children with mental health and emotional disabilities also. And I got, what drew me to the commission was, I began to, as I got older, I began to see all the ways in which Medford, although doing what it can, really could do better on access issues. And I wanted to get involved in my city because I liked living in Medford and I wanted to get involved. And so I volunteered for the commission and I have been serving ever since. And now they sort of have to kick me off. kicking and screaming.
[Frances Nwajei]: We will never kick you off.
[Susan Bibbins]: Oh good, oh good. I was past president for the last, past chair for the last two years, so if you have any questions or any procedural questions, just ask me if Tom can answer them. And that's me.
[Tom Hamel]: Thank you, Susan. Susan's my go-to person. I've already emailed her. a few times after about this transition. So thank you. Thank you.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you, Susan, truly for being willing to stay on and you know, share that knowledge with us. We appreciate you.
[Susan Bibbins]: It's my pleasure.
[Smith]: I'll go next. I'm Linda Braden. I am the new vice chair, which is sounds scary to me, but, um, I've only been on the, but here I am. Um, I've only been on the commission for a year, which is why that sounds a little scary to me. Um, but I'm very happy to serve in that, that role and help the commission in whatever way I can. Um, I got started on the commission or I got interested in the commission because I work in digital accessibility and that is something that. I've seen a need for in a lot of groups and communities. And I've been a Medford resident for six years. And so I, it was just basically like a curiosity thing, thinking that, Oh, me, I saw this commission. They might need someone who does digital accessibility, be happy to serve in that, that respect. And also my, I have a brother and a niece who recently, like within the past four years, through an accident have become disabled. And so this is, I'm feeling more and more drawn in this direction. And so there's more and more like reasons, more and more motivation for me to become more well-versed in this. So I'm still a newbie. as far as physical and more mental cognitive disabilities in the tangible world. But I've been working in digital accessibility for years. And so I'm really comfortable in that space for any sort of either physical or cognitive disabilities or learning disabilities in that space. And so that's what I primarily am able to bring to the group. And, um, I'm very happy to be here. I'm very happy to see some new faces and, um, Tom, I can popcorn it over to someone else or. Yeah.
[Tom Hamel]: Well, let's Gabby, are you able to introduce yourself? Oh, here we go.
[Smith]: Nice. Perfect timing.
[Frances Nwajei]: So I will, um, hold on one second. I've just lost my view. Pardon me, I've lost my view of all of you. Do you want me to read it, Frances? Tom, can you hear me?
[Tom Hamel]: Yes, do you want me to read it?
[Frances Nwajei]: Would you like me to read it out for those who might be watching and can't see it?
[Tom Hamel]: Yes, please.
[Frances Nwajei]: Oh, OK. All right, so Commissioner Andrea Tola sends to everybody. goes by Gabby and has been on the commission for almost three years. Gabby's a law student and the focus is immigration and disability law. Gabby also works at the Carroll Center for the Blind in the independent living program. And Gabby became involved with that through her father who is blind. She's excited to see the new members of the community joining us and Gabby extends her warm welcome and says, ha ha, sorry because she's on the noisy train. Thank you so much, Gabby.
[Tom Hamel]: So we have a, there's a few commissioners that are unable to make it tonight I know Heather will come later, and we can have her introduce herself. When she when she arrives. Do we, let's see, do we need to approve minutes.
[Frances Nwajei]: I would advise that we skip that until Heather arrives, because we don't have quorum. But I just wanted to find out if anyone has anything that they would like to add to the proposed draft that was sent out.
[Smith]: I have one suggestion. OK. I have a suggestion to add the link to the Google Doc for the goals into into the minutes there so that it's captured somewhere centralized and not just in our, I know it got emailed around, but rather than it just living in our email, it'd be great if it was in a centralized document. And I wanted to, at some point, make sure that everyone is able to access it and open it, was able to edit it, If at any point anyone's not able to, let me know and we can find another solution to work around so that we can work collaboratively on that document and everyone has access to it.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you so much, Commissioner Aydin. I think that that's a great idea to have it as a link on the meeting minutes, and I'll certainly put that on there. And then I'll send it to you to make sure that it's accessible because I just realized sometimes when you copy those links, you think they're accessible and they're not. So I'll send it to you to test it first and make sure that it is accessible. Susan or Tom, did you have any, or Gabby, did you have any suggestions or any edits that you wanted to see on the July meeting minutes?
[Unidentified]: Neither do I. Okay, thank you. Oh, it's back to me again.
[Frances Nwajei]: So, I shared with you commissioners, the upcoming CAM training, which is the Community Access Monitoring Training through the Mass Office on Disability. That is happening in November. It's a two-day virtual event. And it's free to attend if interested. If you're interested, go ahead and fill out that information to our prospective commissioners that are joining us. If you would like this information so that you can look into it further, please send me an email so that I can share it with you. I tend to send out a lot of information that I think somebody might be interested in, but I attempted to spear you all of that from the beginning. But if you are interested, please let me know so that I can share it with you. The other thing that I wanted to plug is the Disability Summit is happening in October, it's actually taking place on October 22, down the road at Assembly Square in Somerville, but you can also attend virtually. So if you are interested in finding out more about that, let me know. I know that I did not put the Disability Summit on here, but that was because I literally opened my calendar and saw that, oh my gosh, it's in here, and that's right. I did sign up for it ages ago, so.
[Susan Bibbins]: I signed up for it too.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, I think, Susan, I think we may have signed up for it around the same time. I think it was like June or July. So, you know, flipping over and seeing it already and I'm like, oh yes, that's right, it's October already. So those are my two pieces for right now in terms of upcoming events and activities.
[Susan Bibbins]: And I have a piece of information, the RTAG meeting, the, I can't remember, RTAG just slipped my mind what it, it's the riders transportation access group.
[Tom Hamel]: You got it.
[Susan Bibbins]: From the MBTA, there's a meeting, a listening group where the certain people from the MBTA get together and listen to questions and complaints from riders. And they're having another one of those tomorrow from, I think it's at five or 5.30. to 730 and I've got the notice on my calendar, like the website and the registration, but it's also on the access, the MBTs website under access, more access. So.
[Tom Hamel]: Looks like it's at 530.
[Susan Bibbins]: Oh, okay.
[Tom Hamel]: I'll put a link in the comment in the chat.
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you.
[Tom Hamel]: Thank you, Susan. The next on the agenda is to talk about well, more events. So we, last year we started to try to publicize the commission a little bit more, get our name out there and solicit feedback from folks in the community. We've started going to events that happen around the city of Medford. So we went to the Oktoberfest, and the Green Energy, I'm not sure quite the name, but the Energy Festival that happens over behind the McGlynn and Andrews Middle School. And we had tables and felt like those were a success in meeting folks, collecting names, getting ideas and feedback. And so we went to one this past weekend, went to the Mystic River Arts Festival down on the content shell. And I was there for myself and Linda and Gabby were all there for a couple of hours. I can start and kind of share. I was there for the first couple hours. Linda was there for the last couple, so we can probably cover. Gabby, you should throw in any comments for anything we missed. Um, it was the first hour was a little slow, but it picked up, um, the, the second hour I was there. Um, I didn't, I didn't find myself talking to as many people as I did in prior, um, prior events, but I did have a couple of good conversations, met a former actually commissioner, um, who, who served, um, that, uh, Kate Ryan, you know, I think Susan, you know, uh, I think, you know, Kate, um, Talked to her. I did get some suggestions that folks wrote them down. We had a suggestion box. They put them in there. Um, and, uh, it was a nice, it was a nice spot to be. Um, although Gabby and I were chatting about how it's not the most accessible, um, accessible place to be given that it's, it's not on concrete, it's on the dirt. And, um, and so I think, you know, Medford square may have been a little bit more accessible for folks. Um, so we should probably consider doing Oktoberfest, uh, again, which, is coming up very soon. I don't know if it's too late or not to sign up. But anyway, that's what I have. Linda, I don't know if you want to add on to that or if you were able to look at other suggestions in the suggestion box.
[Smith]: Yeah, yeah. I didn't get many other suggestions other than ones that related to our actual table presence, which brings but it brings up some really good ideas. And I'm not sure if we want to chat about these now or we can put them on hold for later, but they revolve around like having a much larger sign. And I know, I think Gabby mentioned that there might be a banner somewhere that could be amazing. Or if my other thought was getting a kind of branded tablecloth that had like city of Medford commission for persons, like the whole thing on the tablecloth, that's nice big type. I think Gabby might've had a couple other thoughts. And awning would be amazing because it was very sunny and a beautiful day, but a little scorchy, a little scorchy for the skin. Yeah. But I don't know what budget we have for things like that. We can obviously talk about that later. That's not necessarily related to the event itself. But that was the one piece of feedback, one suggestion I got from someone who did come up and talk to us. They were like, it was actually quite funny. They were like, so if I took my glasses off, I don't think I'd be able to find you. I was like, that's an extremely good point. Um, so I think, you know, for representation to our, our, our own audience, having something nice, big, easy to see high contrast. Um, and, um, yeah, I think we could totally, totally, um, geek out our, our table presence to really draw some attention. We definitely got a lot of children interested in our candy. And parents who then were like, no, you should ask them why they're here first. And then the parents got interested because they're like, oh, oh, well, that's great. You know, thank you for what you do. But I think Tom is right in the sense that we were gathering our awareness to folks who might not necessarily be within our audience, if that makes sense. To the constituents who you know, wouldn't have been able to make it because of the terrain, or one factor or another. So, but overall, it can't hurt to have our presence out there. So it was very festive. It was very good. And on events moving on to like the Oktoberfest. Where is that event listed? I'm looking at the does anyone know I'm looking at the Medford City event calendar and I am I'm not seeing it. Does anyone know what it is?
[Frances Nwajei]: I believe the event is run by the Chamber of Commerce. That's what I've been told. So whilst you continue, give me a moment and I'll go on the website and help pull up the dates.
[Tom Hamel]: It's this coming weekend, it looks like.
[Smith]: I found, yes, that was very helpful. That was the key part I needed, Francis, because I saw Medford Chamber of Commerce, but then the event was like Oktoberfest was like too far off and it was cut off on the page. So I found it. Yes, it's this Saturday, one to five.
[Tom Hamel]: So before we move on to that I will add, we did have an interesting conversation with a woman who lives in Medford but works in Somerville. And she was, she had just a general question of, hey, you know, we're always looking and I can't remember what she does for the city of Somerville but always looking for ideas and how to for outreach to people with disabilities and as we know it's not easy to do. We kind of settled on you need as many different avenues as possible to reach out to folks because there's not obviously not one or two or three ways to do it. Um, and so, uh, you know, it was good that she was aware, um, that, that they were lacking in that type of outreach and was trying to educate herself. Um, and Frances and I did talk about a banner or a tablecloth. Like, yes, we, we definitely, uh, that's on our list. Um, but as, but Gabby mentioned to me too, that we do, we did have one in the past, so I don't know if it's still relevant or not.
[Evangelista]: I think in regard to the banner and things like that, I think that Neil would know where it is. I think it was somewhere in City Hall last time I checked. I know that we used it in the past for events. But I also know that it went missing at one point. So I'm not sure if it's still MIA.
[Susan Bibbins]: As far as I know, it's still MIA.
[Evangelista]: OK. I mean, I don't know exactly what our budget is, but I can't imagine that it costs that much. I don't know. I think it does help increase the table presence a little bit, but I also do understand that if we have people who are visually impaired and things like that, then maybe it's not the best investment. I think there's ways to go about it.
[Frances Nwajei]: It reminds me of part of our conversation when we were closing out the last year's cycle of our brainstorming, right? Creating the identity. Who is the persons with disabilities commission? So, you know, whether it's a banner, a tablecloth, you know, our digital presence, all those things are going, they're equally important. You know, maybe we won't get that really fancy, fancy warning. But it is, you know, I would say that we continue to make a list of the things that will help increase the Commission's awareness. And, you know, do our best in which to tackle them. Gabby and Sue, the fact that it's gone missing and nobody's told me in the six months that I'm here that we even have a banner. I think it's like bye bye for good. Because I know that the basement is in the process of being cleaned out. And there's been no mention of, hey, does this belong to you or your department? So I don't think it's living here anymore, unfortunately.
[Susan Bibbins]: It was supposed to be in the space above the stage. And it And it wasn't. So, for whatever that's worth.
[Frances Nwajei]: No worries. I wanted to circle back to something that Tom said, you know, in my role as the DEI director for the city, right, I'm always talking about the different forms of accessibility. And, you know, going on about print size, fonts, language accessibility, people accessibility, thank you for the outdoor dining, but somebody in a wheelchair will have to fall onto the curb in order to get by, because there's a planter box right there. So that really should be a two-seater table or no table at all. But also like these events, And I feel that sometimes it's taken as, OK, it's my job, let's say, to present this. Do the commissioners feel that it would be worthwhile to put this in writing as a very valid observation and send that directly to the organizers of this event? Definitely. You know, I mean, and that's just my take. I can do it as well, but you know, it's my job to do it. I feel like this is, you know, this is part of, as we continue to grow as a city in what DEI really means, right? It's part of the learning. Like some spaces are going to be great and fully accessible and some are not? And, you know, are we really being intentional about the spaces that we use when we want to present things that many people might enjoy?
[Smith]: I think that's a great idea. If anyone wants to collaborate on a letter. I definitely don't think I can take that on myself. I would need some assistance, but I'm definitely interested in helping with it. If anyone wants to go in with me. I'll go in with you. Okay, yeah, I'm the part that I am not as familiar with is like, formalities, how it needs to be addressed and all of that thing and that stuff. I can definitely help provide content and help provide proofreading like editing and language tweaks and getting ideas down on paper.
[Susan Bibbins]: Why don't we get the main body and take a stab at the formality? And then we can give it to Francis to finalize the formality. Because I assume that you, Francis, are up on the formality and the formal language that it should go in.
[Frances Nwajei]: I mean the formality is easy you could just address me as Duchess and we're all good. That's been, that's been waiting to say that. And I'm just like humanly, you know, I can, I can, you know, I can certainly help because it can be my trade off, right? I, you know, I don't live in Medford. I'm not from Medford. So I'm starting to know my way around. So I would not be the best person to provide some alternate locations. because they would simply be based on my tiny little trajectory. So perhaps somebody else who knows the city better could, you know, chime in on some alternate locations for the future. And I would, you know, I'd be more than happy when everything is put together to just, you know, have a look-see and say, yes, you know, good to go.
[Smith]: Yeah, I would probably need some help identifying some locations as well. But like you said, I'm happy to like throw some ideas at a piece of paper and help with wordsmithing and content writing out and things like that.
[Susan Bibbins]: Why don't you and I get to the meat of the letter and take a stab at the formality? and then do all that. And then Francis can make sure it's in that mayor or city council ready or whoever we wanna give it to.
[Smith]: Yeah, do we, I'm looking at the, We want it, we want to address it to the organizers of the Mystic River.
[Tom Hamel]: Yeah. I can, I can help you. I think Francis probably knows too, but I think we can probably identify that. Okay. Yeah, I think you guys, sounds like we have enough information that you guys can get that started on that.
[Susan Bibbins]: Yeah.
[Tom Hamel]: Okay. I want to make sure we leave enough time for them. Oh, great new business. Sorry, but that's okay. So the before we move on to their Oktoberfest is in three days, which is short notice. I have no idea if they still have tables or not. I can't make it this Saturday. I don't know if Linda or Gabby or Susan, if any of you are available or not, and if the answer is no, then I think we just need to make sure that we put it on our schedule earlier next year.
[Susan Bibbins]: Yeah. I think they announced it late too. But I can't, I don't know if I can make it because I Honestly, I don't know if we have plans.
[Tom Hamel]: It's from one to five o'clock.
[Evangelista]: So I just sorry, what was the date again?
[Tom Hamel]: Sorry.
[Evangelista]: This Saturday, the first I won't be able to make it this Saturday.
[Tom Hamel]: Yeah.
[Frances Nwajei]: So I just want to say again that, you know, if we're just finding out about this, Again, it's an accessibility thing right? How is this advertised? Is the list just based on who typically attends these events? And then the other thing is, how do we, we as a commission, let the chamber and other spaces that put events on know that we would like to be informed, if there is an opportunity to participate in some way, shape or form. I feel like three days is, it's too short notice, I can't do a turnaround in three days, because I've already borrowed sleep from Saturday. And then I worry about if we're finding this out, then what about other members of the community who would like to attend but may need more advance notice to arrange for various styles of maybe transportation or different support systems to get to the event.
[Susan Bibbins]: Yeah, I found out about it on Facebook, which they're advertising it on. But that's the only place I've seen it advertised.
[Tom Hamel]: Yeah, I'm not sure if they I don't know what email we used to register last year. I assume they would email all former participants. But I don't know. It may have been Neil's email. Who knows? So yeah, I think that will be a good idea to reach out to them. I, I know the And I don't want to move on too quickly, but the Harvest Your Energy Festival is in two weeks, two and a half weeks on October 15th. That's the other one that we attended. I did not go to that one last year, but I think, Linda, you went.
[Smith]: I went. Yeah, it was a really good event. It was a really well attended event. And as far as I know, I am free that weekend. I'm not free this weekend, but I could be free that weekend. Um, for, uh, for an hour or two, um, I don't think I could cover the whole three hours, but I can do an hour or two. Um, so, um, if, if it's. If we're chucking the, the, uh, October fest, um, and, and are able to do the harvest your energy, um, festival, uh, I I'd be in favor of that and I, I can definitely help out with that one.
[Tom Hamel]: It's from a 12 to three.
[Smith]: Yeah, I could. I'm not quite sure. Sorry, I just threw my pen on the floor. I'm not sure which of the hours I could be available at this time. But I know I can't remember which ones, but I know I can be available for like one or two hours that day. So if other folks I can, we can coordinate offline if we want. Yeah.
[Tom Hamel]: Okay, why don't I send an email to everybody and see who's available. And then we'll figure out what to do for signage. I don't think we'll have a banner ready by then, but we can try to have more larger signage.
[Smith]: Yeah, yeah. And I'm sure the signage, the larger banners, like, you know, we can make a goal for us to have, like Frances was saying, like, sort of a larger picture of how we want to present ourselves. So I mean, it'd be nice to have for the next event, but like, I don't think it's like dire hair on fire type of urgency.
[Tom Hamel]: Right. OK, I will send an email out to the commission and please look at your calendars and respond as soon as possible. And then we can know if we're going to sign up or not. All right, anything else before we move on to new business around events? All right. All right, so for new business, it's the introduction of prospective commissioners. So we have, I think, four. for folks here. And so I was hoping that we could go around and have you guys introduce yourselves, share your name, share what you're interested in for our commission. And what do you think that you can bring to the commission and to our work? Just curious to know a little bit about you. And then there'll be time after that, just if you have any questions for us. just go ahead and share. Does anybody want to volunteer to go first?
[SPEAKER_07]: Can you hear me?
[Tom Hamel]: Yes, Linda.
[SPEAKER_07]: Hi, I'm Linda Schenner. I've been living in Medford for 67 years. I have four generations of people in Medford. I have a disabled 22-year-old grandson, and that's why I really wanted to get involved in any way that I could help. I'm not sure what I could bring to the table, but I could try.
[Tom Hamel]: You bring lived experience.
[SPEAKER_07]: Right.
[Tom Hamel]: Thank you for coming tonight.
[SPEAKER_06]: Thank you. Yeah, it's nice to meet you. Nice to meet you all.
[Tom Hamel]: Anybody wanna go next? Go ahead.
[SPEAKER_04]: Hi. Hi, my name is Merlin Paul and I am a resident of Medford for the past over 10 years. And as a working professional, I've been trying to get involved within the community. And I'm pretty sure if you guys need any help in any some kind of way, I'll be available. And I'm also like a committed person. So once I, you know, if you guys ever need help or anything like that, or available resources or whatsoever, I'll be willing too, so.
[Tom Hamel]: Great, thank you. Can you pronounce your name again?
[SPEAKER_04]: Merlin.
[Tom Hamel]: Merlin? Yes. Thank you. All right, Sue or Joseph, do one of you guys want to go?
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: Hi, I'm Joe Casey. Thank you for letting me listen in tonight. I grew up in Medford my whole life. I just retired as a sergeant from the Department of Corrections. Years ago, I taught two and a half years at the vocational school. I have a disabled adult child and it just makes me more aware of different disabilities that people aren't aware of unless they actually meet and get to know certain people. So I'm just seeing maybe what I can do for the community. Thank you very much. Thank you, Joe.
[Tom Hamel]: Sue, would you like to go? You're on mute.
[SPEAKER_04]: Still on mute.
[Unidentified]: Let me unmute. Am I, oh, now my picture's not there. Great. We can hear you though. Okay, so it's okay. You saw what I look like. So I've lived in Medford for 19 years. The longest I've ever lived anywhere in my life. I've lived all over the country. I have a direct experience with a family member who lives in Medford, who has a condition that makes me really look at Medford and through different lenses. I also retired a few years ago from teaching in the Newton Public Schools, special education, kids all over the board, autism and everything. And I guess I'm really looking at what I can give to Medford and that When I walk and I bike and I run in Medford, and especially if I'm with the person with a condition, I'm really aware of, as you said, at events that they have, at parks like Duggar and Victory that are very hard to access if you're, anyway, physically disabled, sidewalks that aren't okay for wheelchairs, and You know what I can do to help remediate that. And also, I don't think it's this board but it's part of it I think, especially with disabled that are low income, and that I feel like the city is saying, yes we have low income housing. And then when you look it up. It's not low income housing. And that's an issue that I have. But I think the recreation department is doing a wonderful job with classes that it's offering to all types of disabilities and making modifications. And I just really applaud them. And really that's about it. I'd like to get involved. I know that I've been at events in Medford where I've talked to the disability boards that you have graciously attended, and I feel like people were listening when I talked to them. Anyway, that's the type of thing I'd like to get involved with to see what I can do to really move Medford forward. I talked to somebody today about how many playgrounds, for instance, are really, really accessible to somebody with a disability. And I know there's one that was mentioned, one that's partway, but we really need to do state-of-the-art, really available to everybody. I've seen some real improvement. I was at Wright Pond at the end of the season, because I was on a hike, and I saw a number of improvements as far as accessibility to the beach. And I'd really like Medford to move that all forward. And as somebody said, I forget who it was, maybe you, Linda, you're a committed person, and once you jump on board, that's it, and that's the way I am.
[Tom Hamel]: Thank you, Sue. That was great. Thank you for pointing out the recreation department. Danny Folks, who works for the recreation department, is a former commission member. I think we agree that they've done a fantastic job over there. And continue to, I think, roll out changes for folks with disabilities. I don't know if anybody can speak to, I know we've talked about playgrounds on the commission in the past. I don't know if anybody can speak better than I can about the work that's being done. Susan or Linda?
[Smith]: What I remember, this is, This is where, where I'm still learning mode. But what I remember us doing is that I thought we had a spreadsheet. Of parks and issues. And that ties into our goals of what we wanted to do. really what we need is an approach to tackle those concerns, like prioritize and tackle those concerns and figure out who the contacts are and what the best approach is. So I feel like we're in information gathering mode and a lot of what the concerns that you brought up are captured there. And if they're not captured there, we want to make sure that they are captured there because I feel like we might be the best or only group Who are really looking at them in kind of a holistic way and trying to address them.
[Tom Hamel]: I know, I know that, um, And I, we had, we had someone come to a commission meeting and then we provided feedback on, I remember we talked about car park. I can't remember if it was about all, all the parks in general, but they, we did give feedback on how to, um, on accessibility that was needed. Um, I also know just, from her involvement in dropping into one or two of our meetings, but also I know Cheney Hellickman outside of the commission that she has been in touch with the city about planning on her playgrounds. And she's been a long time advocate for playgrounds and making them accessible. Susan, was there something that you wanted to add?
[Susan Bibbins]: I think Linda said it all.
[Tom Hamel]: Okay.
[8kUnsaXIsWQ_SPEAKER_06]: Awesome.
[Frances Nwajei]: I just wanted to share that Commissioner McKinnon has joined the meeting. Hello. Welcome. Good to see you again. Hi there. How are you. I'm over here eating.
[Tom Hamel]: Heather, at the beginning of the meeting, and actually, and also the folks that are new to our meeting, we all introduced ourselves and just kind of shared, you know, our name and how long we've been on the commission and how long we've been in Medford and then what brought us to, what attracted us to join the commission. Can you share that?
[8kUnsaXIsWQ_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, absolutely. So Heather McKinnon. I've been in Medford for about a decade, but I grew up just over in Malden. So I'm a local. I have been on the commission for about a year, a little over a year. And my son who has autism brings me to the commission. I also have a disability myself, but mostly my son brings me to the commission.
[Tom Hamel]: Thank you. So we just finished hearing from everyone that's new with their introductions. And then I wanted to open it up to Sue and Linda and Joe, and I'm sorry, Roland, did I get that correct? If you guys have any questions about the commission and what we do and anything like that.
[Unidentified]: No, I don't.
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: I don't either.
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't either. If I can think of anything, I'll let you know.
[Tom Hamel]: No worries. You guys are ready to go.
[Frances Nwajei]: Well, thank you so much, new commissioners. I'm going to go in order of, you know, the impact when you were speaking. So, Linda, you always have something to contribute. I mean, just the sheer fact that you wanted to be here is it's invaluable. And that lived experience, you know, that cannot be taken away. Joe and Sue, I'm grateful, right, Joe, you've retired as a correctional person and here you are wanting to jump into something again that is every day, every thought, every moment, you know, and Sue, you walk around and you're in different spaces and you're observing a variety of things where you can say like yeah okay so this is really improved now we've got to go to the next space. And Miland, I don't know if you all know Miland, I think you were just too humble in your introduction. Miland actually was one of the members of the PRIDE planning committee for the city. So Miland and five others are really responsible for helping to support me in bringing that event together. And when I, you know, Melinda, I believe you said, you know, whatever we need, let you know, and that when you say you're going to do something, you commit to it. I can speak to that, right? When, you know, people were saying, oh, you know, we need to bring $1,500, and then they'll bring their food truck. And I'm like, It's just a team skate and mingle party. Where are we getting $1,500 from? You know, yet Milan was able to get us those donations that we needed from Wegmans and from other businesses. So I'm very, very grateful. Thank you, Frances. All of you, you're welcome. I'm very grateful to all of you. You can see like the big smile. It's also because I just ate too, so I'm feeling better. You know, but I'm really, it's wonderful to see community people step up to the plate and say, you know, I want to do this. And you're doing this from the heart. So I'm very grateful to you. Tom, I'm going to bat it back to you very, very quickly because I see Commissioner Gabby is back on with us. And I think we have a quorum.
[Tom Hamel]: Oh, you want to approve the minutes?
[Frances Nwajei]: With a condition. Remember, Commissioner Brayden wanted me to add the link, the direct link to the Google Doc. And I said that I would certainly do that and make sure I get them over to her to make sure that it's accessible digitally, because that's the specialty.
[Tom Hamel]: So this is the part of the chair position. I've heard Susan do it many times, but I still have no idea what to say. So I know that we need to approve the minutes, and I know that we have one amendment to the minutes from Linda to add a link to the Google Doc with the goals into the minutes. And what do I say next, Susan?
[Susan Bibbins]: I need a motion to accept the minutes as amended.
[Tom Hamel]: Very good. I need a motion to accept the minutes as amended for July's meeting.
[Susan Bibbins]: I so motion to accept the minutes as amended
[Tom Hamel]: Thank you, Susan. Is there a second? Thank you, Heather. All in favor?
[SPEAKER_07]: Aye.
[Tom Hamel]: Aye.
[SPEAKER_07]: In favor?
[Tom Hamel]: Aye. Gabby, I need to know where you stand. Are you there? No.
[Frances Nwajei]: I thought I heard Gabby say aye.
[Evangelista]: Sorry, aye.
[Tom Hamel]: All right.
[Susan Bibbins]: Okay.
[Tom Hamel]: Great. So it is unanimous. All of us. All of us said aye. So, I assume there's none opposed. Great.
[Frances Nwajei]: And you know I don't count.
[Tom Hamel]: You don't count, sorry, Frances.
[Frances Nwajei]: That's okay.
[Tom Hamel]: At least I get to come.
[Susan Bibbins]: And I'll abstain, I'll oppose.
[Tom Hamel]: Oh, that's right, I'll abstain, restraint. Thank you.
[Susan Bibbins]: Okay. Motion passes.
[Tom Hamel]: Motion passes, that's the key one to say. All right, thank you, everybody.
[Smith]: Yay, Tom's first motion. Congratulations, Tom.
[Tom Hamel]: Well, thank you. Couldn't have done it without Susan.
[Frances Nwajei]: I'm telling you, it's that that knowledge is invaluable. It's not written anywhere in the book, is it?
[Tom Hamel]: There you go.
[Frances Nwajei]: Robert's Rules of Order. Oh yeah, but you know, We'll talk about my feelings about the Roberts rules, you know, amended rates. So Heather you're our backup to the backup. So we did that. That's fabulous. So Commissioner Brayden, I am at a strictly veterans event all day tomorrow. So please give me till Friday to get that information over to you. Tom, we're missing another announcement piece that we should have done after the new business.
[Tom Hamel]: Yes. Do you want me to make that announcement or did you want to?
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes. Do you have what was written? Yes. Okay.
[Tom Hamel]: All right. Give me a minute here. I'm going to pick up my email. All right, so we received an email from Megan, who, as you know, is not here tonight. And she wanted me to pass along some words because she has to resign from the commission. And this was a bittersweet for her. I think it was a hard choice. And she says, it is with sadness that at this time I must resign my position on the commission for persons with disabilities. It has been a true privilege to participate in this dynamic group over the past two years and to get to know all of you a bit more along the way. I not only have learned so much from all of you but my eyes have been open to different forms of advocacy available right in our own community. I thank you for this opportunity and look forward to joining you in future meetings. Continue on with your great work for those in our community. Thank you. So she says in there that she does plan to drop in when she can as a member of the public to her meetings. She has a new job. and the job is overlapping with our meetings and then she also has shifts in her family and so I felt like she could not continue on in the position. So we will miss Megan and I look forward, I know we all look forward to seeing her at a future meeting.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you for reading that Tom and many thanks to Commissioner Hager for all of her wonderful work it truly is bittersweet as we're sitting here having our meeting she's at her new job having this staff meeting, but I'm, I am grateful. that she would still like to be present when the opportunity arises. And I think it speaks to the value and the contribution of what you current commissioners have built. I'm just the new child on the block here. So this is really about the coalition and the cohort that you have built to try to move things forward.
[Tom Hamel]: I've been thinking about the whole meeting because I've been taking notes, because Megan is our secretary. And so I don't know what the, we'll have to figure out, for instance, what the process is of electing a new secretary.
[Frances Nwajei]: So we would have to, okay. Susan and Heather, listen very closely and make sure that I don't bungle this up. We would have to put forward a motion to vote on a new secretary, right? And then we would come back at a different meeting, or can we do it at the same meeting?
[Susan Bibbins]: We can do the same meeting. Okay, but it would make nominations.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, that's right. Yeah, so we would have to make, we would have to make nominations. I'm sorry, pardon me Susan Can you take over please. The mayor.
[Susan Bibbins]: Okay, sure. We would have to make nominations after the motion. I'll make a motion just to elect a new secretary in place of Megan. who has resigned while thanking her for her service. So I vote that, I motion that we have new elections to elect a new secretary.
[Smith]: I second that motion.
[Susan Bibbins]: Okay.
[Tom Hamel]: Are we all do we need to vote on. We need to vote on I'm voting on this and we're just going to discuss it like what are we.
[Susan Bibbins]: Um, well, I made a motion. Linda second is it.
[Tom Hamel]: So voting on a new or like the new secretary say aye. Aye.
[SPEAKER_06]: Aye. Aye. All right.
[Tom Hamel]: Anyone opposed. No, no. All right.
[Susan Bibbins]: Okay.
[Frances Nwajei]: So do we, we don't vote today though, right?
[Susan Bibbins]: No, we just voted on the motion.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay. Say new kids on the block.
[Susan Bibbins]: Okay. So now we can make a nomination.
[Frances Nwajei]: So do we want to make the nomination today? or do we want to wait until, you know, give the perspective commissioners some time to decide if, you know, they're still interested or if we've just lost writing people off? And then expand it? How does that work?
[Susan Bibbins]: We don't have any set time. We can do it as we want.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay.
[Susan Bibbins]: Now that the motion is made, we can elect anytime. And I think what you have stated is a very good idea. As long as somebody is taking notes and we maybe ask for a volunteer every meeting. we can give the new, whoever decides to come and time to settle in. Does that sits well with everybody? That's my opinion.
[Tom Hamel]: I think so. Is there anybody interested? So I guess our candidates, right, are Susan, yourself, and Gabby, and Heather. I assume nobody can hold two positions.
[Frances Nwajei]: I think we should weigh. I think we should wait because it will allow the commissioners, the prospective commissioners to digest this meeting and the commitment. As you've seen, I had to go offline. My stomach said, we're not making it till seven. So I had to shut my camera out and eat something really, really quickly. Things happen. children need to be picked up. Fortunately, we can all do this by Zoom still, but come March 23rd, 2023. If that's not extended, we're back in person. So and this is this is really valuable work that everyone is doing. And I really would like I know the commissioners expressed an interest, I think some people expressed an interest before I was even hired with the city. So I really would like to give folks an opportunity to at least have some time to think about it and say yes, I really had a good time or hey, I just thought of a question.
[Tom Hamel]: And what the what is the commitment from the Secretary is to take notes at each meeting. Are there other other commitments that I'm not aware of.
[Susan Bibbins]: They are third in line. So if the secretary, if the vice chair and the chair are out, they run the meeting. Great.
[Frances Nwajei]: And Tom I know you took some notes and I took my usual scroll and my sheet that's that's how I keep track. So if we want to, you know, collaborate at some other time to put the notes together, I'd be more than happy to. And we have to do it also for Commissioner Marsha because she's out sick.
[Smith]: Yeah, if you want to, if we want to circle around an email afterwards, I'm happy to add stuff to notes as well.
[Tom Hamel]: Perfect, thank you.
[Tom Hamel]: That sounds like a good idea. All right. So should we move on to, let's see, I guess we just have one more agenda item, the correspondence and announcements?
[Frances Nwajei]: Well, I think technically we're supposed to say a line, right, about now we open it up to members of the public.
[Tom Hamel]: Yeah, just public participation. Yes.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah. And is there any, is there any member of the public that would like to participate at this time?
[Tom Hamel]: Anything you want to share?
[Frances Nwajei]: Going once, going twice.
[Tom Hamel]: All right. support correspondence and announcements. And I'll throw in their updates if anybody has any updates that they want to share. I know I've been updating folks on the MBTA on the West Medford Community Rail Station. I don't really have any updates. We're just waiting, according to Representative Garbally, waiting for the election of the new governor. And then that's when they'll move forward on how to allocate ARPA funds. And as you know- Speaking of ARPA. What's that?
[Frances Nwajei]: There's an update on ARPA, Tom. It's not really an update, a push about ARPA.
[Tom Hamel]: No, it's, right, it's just, we're waiting until November. Well, not waiting, but that's where we may see some more movement on that. In related to that, right, we already sent an email around the ARPA survey, which is, what I was talking about with West Medford Community Rail was at a state level, at a local level, at the city level, we have an opportunity to provide feedback to the city of Medford on how to spend their ARPA funds. And so I'm gonna, share the and I think I shared the link with everybody else shared in the, in the chat for the folks here.
[Frances Nwajei]: Not yet on the commission perspective commissioners it is so important that you make your voices heard in how this money should be spent. It's important to remember that just because the federal government has given us money, it's not necessarily free money. There are specific categories that are already identified by the federal government. So what the city has done is the city actually has a consultant that they work with, not the federal funds manager that is hired by the city, but consultant, and those surveys close out, if I'm not mistaken, October 3rd, right? That's next Monday.
[Tom Hamel]: October, I think it's the 5th, but it's very, very soon.
[Frances Nwajei]: Right. And the reality is, if you didn't do your part, you don't get to talk about how that money was spent afterwards. And one person's additional survey might make all the difference, you know, and the surveys have been translated into the, I think it's six main languages that this beautiful city of Medford has as part of its natural everyday life. So please, please, please, if you have not completed a survey, complete the survey. And share it. share it with your friends, have a survey party, you know, just like everybody, fill it out. And I know there has been suggestion of, you know, writing letters and things of that nature. Now's not the time for that. Like, we really, like, we really need that survey. Because what if I wrote a letter instead of doing the survey, you know?
[Tom Hamel]: When I filled it out, I took advantage of the other boxes. Right. Click those, and then it opens up a spot where you can type in what you want and be more disability specific. There's a few opportunities in the survey to do that, saying we need more access. Somebody had talked about the lack of accessibility and sidewalks and mobility issues that are in the current city of Medford. We talked a lot about that and I definitely mentioned that in the survey. Anybody else have any other announcements? Correspondence?
[Frances Nwajei]: So I'm sorry, this is what happens after you eat. My brain just kind of like went. October 15th, the Harvest Energy Fest. Do any of you who were here last year remember if that table space needed to be paid for?
[Susan Bibbins]: It needs to be reserved. I don't remember a fee being involved.
[Smith]: Does anyone remember a fee being involved? I don't remember a fee being involved. I don't think it's a fee. I remember a form or an email or some sort of correspondence, but I don't remember anyone saying anything about a fee.
[Tom Hamel]: I talked with someone in Alicia Hunt's office about it, or I think I did. Somebody did.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah. Okay, so I think that what I should do is, at the end of our meeting, I'll shoot an email tonight just to say, hey, by the way, you know, this commission is interested and if we need to do anything, let us know, just so that we don't miss the timeline or find out that, you know, we should have done something like three weeks ago. And prospective commissioners, if you feel that you would be available on that day, and this is something that you would be interested in, just send me an email so that I can include you in the correspondence. Tom, both tablecloths were used, right?
[Tom Hamel]: No, I have one more. And actually, Marsha gave me a really nice one that I had forgotten that I had, that I found in my stuff, that's a little heavier. So we can, it's red, so we can use that one. I don't know if that was used last year, but...
[Smith]: Yeah, I remember that red tablecloth. Yeah, it was used last year. And I meant to tell you, Tom, I have your stuff. And I made it home. We can coordinate offline. But I just didn't get around to emailing you. But I wanted to let you know your stuff is safe.
[Tom Hamel]: Very good. Thank you.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you so much, Commissioner Heather for completing the office survey. All right, I don't, I've, yep, so I'm gonna send that email tonight. I don't know if anyone else has anything else to add.
[Tom Hamel]: All right, are we, do we have, do I have to get a motion? I think I have to get a motion to adjourn the meeting.
[Susan Bibbins]: Yes, I so move to adjourn the meeting. I second.
[Tom Hamel]: All in favor. Aye.
[Tom Hamel]: Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.
[Frances Nwajei]: Aye.
[Tom Hamel]: Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.
[Frances Nwajei]: Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.
[Tom Hamel]: Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.
[Unidentified]: Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you all so much and have a wonderful rest of your evening. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_04]: Have a great one.