[Frances Nwajei]: Hello, everyone. This is the 2024 to 2025 cycle of the Commission for Persons with Disabilities meeting, and this is October 23rd, 2024. I'm Frances Mwaje, I'm the DEI Director for the City of Medford, ADA Coordinator for the City, and also Liaison for the Commission. I will hand it over to other commissioners that are currently in attendance. Over to you, Sue.
[Susan Bibbins]: Hi, I am Susan Bibbins. I live in South Medford, and I've been a commissioner for a number of years. I forget how many. And I am happy to be here. I hand it over to you, Kim.
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: Thanks Sue. I am Cam Nav here. I live in Medford in the Heights and I'm approaching my first full year on the commission.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you Sue and thank you Cam. I wanted to announce that there is an intern finally working out of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. His name is Nicholas Karenge and he is the disability specialist intern that has been supporting the work of this office with a primary focus on all things disability related. Nick brings to us his lived experience. Nick was one of the first students to go through all three different schools in MedFed. He was the first student to go through and graduate from the McGlynn. The only reason that Nick is not with us today is because he attended the National Disability Employment Awareness Month celebratory event at the State House. But you've probably noticed his name on correspondence that I have sent out. He is a wealth of knowledge and very supportive and really helps me with troubleshooting and problem solving. It would also be a support to us on the commission as well. So I just wanted to share that. And Joe, welcome. Would you like to introduce yourself?
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: Hi, I'm Joe. I felt like last year I was a rookie commissioner. I learned a lot. Just very nice people involved. Lifelong resident of Medford. Went to Medford schools. I taught two years at the vocational school. I just retired 25 years, Department of Corrections as a supervisor. Got my real estate license. I have also a contractor's license. I do have a disabled child that's 32, and I'm here to help out in any way I can. And my pet peeve is people parking in handicapped spots that don't belong there.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you so much, Joe. Yes, and when I do get those calls, I make sure I have some boots and ground days, and I go out to the locations where people like to park in the accessible parking spots, and I ensure that if the cars don't have a placard, that law enforcement, who is the one who actually issues those tickets out, are contacted right then and there. As we know, everything, all the thresholds are low, right? The ADA is a very, very low threshold for accessibility. If we don't strive to meet that, then what exactly are we doing, right? The state regulations and federal regulations of the number of accessible parking spots to the non-accessible parking spots. I mean, these are just, these are very low thresholds. So it is definitely not something that the, city is going to take lightly. So, all right. Could you hold on one second? It seems like somebody is at my door. I don't know what
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a cookie delivery, but I declined. It was a cookie offer, but I declined.
[Frances Nwajei]: I was good. So there were some applicants that I had reached out to to see if they wanted to join us today in speaking and on the phone with the applicants. They said that they were interested. I did, and I forwarded the link. I do know that one applicant is actually out of town right now for work-related purposes. So that applicant did say that they would try to get on, but they are out of town for work-related purposes. Another applicant emailed me and said, they're not able to do it at this time. And I, you know, I think that for the sake of people's time, because you are here and you are committed to this, I'm not going to keep going back to say to issue reminders. I just don't think that that is fair to the commissioners that show up on a. Regular regular basis, right? So. The meeting date doesn't change, so I didn't issue any reminders today to say, hey. You know, don't forget we have a meeting only because we spoke yesterday. If that makes sense, so I don't have any new commissioners to introduce to you, but hopefully next next cycle. Will will be available to make that introduction. The 1 thing on our schedule, because this this always happens at our September meeting. It's our November meeting. We need to look at our November meeting because it actually falls on Thanksgiving. Eve, which has historically been a. You know, being a date that we change on behalf of many commissioners. We have more than enough time to do what we've done in the past, which is either bring that meeting of November 27th up to the previous week of November 20th. Or drop that meeting down. to the week of December 4th, but I have to make sure that also pay attention to Wednesday, December 25th, which is not just Christmas, but also Hanukkah begins. So I open the floor to suggestions on what to do for our November meeting.
[Susan Bibbins]: I vote that we do it in December only because I am trying to schedule an early Thanksgiving with my parents. So I'm going to possibly be out of town.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, and we've done that before. We have moved the meeting to the first week of December. Joe, would that pose any issues for you if we moved the November meeting to December 4th?
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: No problem at all. I don't have a problem with that.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, and how about you, Kim?
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: No problem. That works great.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, and then maybe what we'll do then is we'll call that a combined meeting because nobody's meeting Christmas Day or Hanukkah Day and nobody is meeting New Year's Day either. So we'll call that our combined November and December meeting. Sounds great to me. Thank you. And I think for now, I think we're typically good until we get to around the Christian Easter period where there might be some shutdowns. But I know that our usual issue is the November and December meeting. So thankful that we have that sorted out. Cam, I don't mean to put you on the spot. Commissioners, I took a week off and I went to Nashville. And because I was with friends and visiting friends for the first time, I really didn't do anything on my week off. So my brain is still trying to settle down here. But Cam, did we select a date for the disability fair? Do we recall or did we select just the season?
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, we had only selected the season. We knew we wanted to do it after the Inclusive Playground launched. And then, I think, We checked in with the school and it was a little bit hard for them to let us know what dates they had open before the principal gave his input. But, you know, it seems to me like at the beginning of a new school year, maybe now is a good time to see what the school calendar looks like.
[Frances Nwajei]: And we were looking, if I'm not mistaken, were we looking at like March or April? Because our hope was that the weather would be better.
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: I think April, yes.
[Frances Nwajei]: April, okay.
[Susan Bibbins]: Would you like me, oh, I'm sorry, Sue. We've gotta be careful because I think that's when, maybe when MCAS.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay.
[Susan Bibbins]: Or around when MCAS is scheduled.
[Frances Nwajei]: And I know that the school has a transition there. Is it and I want to say that I think it is in March. If you give me some time, I can look into that for you and just respond to all of you via email. But I can also look at the calendar and book space if you think that any, are we looking at any weekend in April? Like, are we looking at like a Saturday, a Sunday? Do you have preferences at this time?
[Susan Bibbins]: Not Passover. Not the beginning of Passover. Okay. Just the beginning. The first two, three days of Passover are the big ones.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay. So April,
[Susan Bibbins]: And I don't know whether Passover is April or May or March.
[Frances Nwajei]: Let me go on mute so that I don't hurt people. Okay, Google University says that Passover starts the evening of Saturday, April 12th, and it goes on to Sunday, April 20th in 2025.
[Susan Bibbins]: The first three days are, well, the first two days, but the first two evenings of Passover are the holy ones. Like they're going to be your savers. Okay. So I would not schedule it, try not to schedule it on the first three days.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, so nothing Saturday the 12th, nothing Sunday the 13th, and nothing Monday the 14th. Right. Kim and Joe, if I were to work with the school on looking for a Saturday or a Sunday that doesn't interfere with Passover, do you have a preference for the beginning? Oh no, because we're thinking May, okay, April, May. So more towards the end of the month then. Sorry, that was a silly question. All right, what about a timeframe?
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: I'll speak for a minute. Are we talking indoors or outdoors?
[Frances Nwajei]: We're talking outdoors at the new universal playground and we might, you know, we might use indoors too.
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: If people, you know, the weather or the restrooms or whatever. I made a suggestion last year and I got some good support about it. small celebration in a way of, I can find donors and have an ice cream celebration. And if somebody wanted to make their own ice cream, I mean, I'm willing to kick it around, but I'm offering to do most of the work as far as you know, paper plates, napkins, ice cream, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. And I thought that would be an incentive for people to come out, come down, have an ice cream, hang out. And that way it would draw people like, hey, what's in it for me? It's not expensive when you buy ice cream in large volume. It was just an idea and I'm just looking for feedback and it's just a suggestion.
[Frances Nwajei]: I think that that sounds great. That means all the more reason for us to have outdoor and indoor space as well. because some folks might need more of the stability of a table. I think that you can continue to work with the commissioners on a variety of different ideas. For now, I really wanna narrow down a timeframe and a date for you guys before you get given the run again and we can't get on the schedule. I mean, Cam tried really hard last year and I think there was like two or three months before he could get some, you know, responses. So I'm just looking at like timeframe. Are we looking at like 10 to 2, 10 to 1, 11 to 2? Like what works?
[Susan Bibbins]: 11 to 2? Does that work for your ice cream thing? I think, I think that's great.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah. I think 11 to 2 is a great time as well. It allows parents who are caring for more physically challenged children to at least not have to rush. Okay, 11 to 2. All right. So that will be my homework, and I might report. I'm hoping I can report via email instead of having to wait till the next meeting, because I think that once we have a date narrowed down, then you can really start to build out the event. Joe, thank you so much for the offer to bring one of my favorite treats there. You'll all have to remind me that the ice cream is not Really appreciate that. Sue, can I turn it over to you so that you can ask your question? Yes.
[Susan Bibbins]: Yes. In my experience for voting, I vote early by mail. But every time I've gone and the early voting and I've asked the powers that be, the monitor that sits there, how is, you know, is the accessible voting all set? Meaning is the accessible voting ready for someone who needs it, I've gotten the answer, yes, yes, it's all set, all ready to go, etc, etc. And then I've had the experience that friends have said to me, oh, it wasn't set up. Nobody knows and nobody knew what they were doing. Nobody had the key to unlock it, et cetera, et cetera. To my feeling is that maybe we ought to check at our polling places. or just, you know, make a schedule and check at every polling places, that it's actually true. That the accessible polling places and accessible polling machines are up and ready to go. So if somebody needs them, they don't have to go through this waiting for a key, waiting for somebody who knows how to run the machine because that's a block to voting and that's pretty serious. I was just asking, wanting to bring that up in the meeting.
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: Thank you so much, Sue. Joe? I was going to bring up the same subject but I think it's great on the City Hall website, right on the first page, you can still sign up for a mail-in ballot now, and also you can, early voting, and I think it's great. It pops right out, and then, because I really think it's gonna be a big turnout this year, I think the city did a great job posting it. And so if you know somebody with some type of disability, they still get a week or so to apply for the other methods also of voting instead of going that particular day. But I think no matter what, I think they're going to be overwhelmed.
[Frances Nwajei]: So I, you know, I like the fact that there are different options, but I also recognize that there are people, you know, the importance of being able to vote on actual voting day without barriers, despite the options. If you can, do you have anything to add to this?
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: No, I.
[Frances Nwajei]: If you give me a minute to, I think what I heard you say is like finding a schedule or like the location of the accessible polling stations. Is that correct? Right.
[Susan Bibbins]: I mean, I don't even know if early voting, the accessible voting station at early voting is up and running or you have to, you know, nobody knows what they're doing and stuff like that.
[Frances Nwajei]: So what I can do, because my friends, the election commission's office is actually right next door to mine. It is up to you guys. I can either take a brief hiatus and step away, see if the elections manager is available. Danielle may or may not be, depending on what's happening, because right now early voting is going on. or I can get a meeting together to figure out where the locations are, who's responsible for the training, and then share that if commissioners do want to go out and test. I do see that very much as being a part of the work. There are people who, you know, one of our abatement greeters said to me yesterday, Frances, I feel bad. I keep telling people that they can put their ballots in the blue box, but they don't want to do that. They want to give the ballots over to a person. So there are still people who, you know, have a pride, a joy, and a sense of connection on actually voting in what I would say is the typical or traditional sense of how voting is done. And I would want to make sure that if they choose to exercise that right, there is as little barrier as to the extent possible.
[Susan Bibbins]: Right. And I just I don't know if we have the authority to go in and test.
[Frances Nwajei]: I actually believe that you do from looking at the ordinance. But if you give me another 2.2 seconds, let me pull up the ordinance. I think it's one of the things that the ordinance does point out. If I can find the ordinance all of a sudden I don't know how to operate my computer anymore. What happens when you think you're cool and fancy and you're working with multiple screens? You don't know what screen you're looking at. It's ordinance. Because if that is, if that is not in the ordinance. I would highly encourage the commission to make that request. Of city council, because it's just, I mean. It's just so important.
[Susan Bibbins]: Yeah.
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: Just to cut in real quick, when I vote at my polling location at the Robert Schooney Heights, a brand new building, but I noticed that most people vote standing up. And the desktop, if you want to call it that, with the dividers, it's about four and a half, maybe It's about four and a half feet high. And I don't know what they do if somebody's in a wheelchair, if they have like a low desk.
[Susan Bibbins]: They're supposed to. They're supposed to have that already set up.
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: Oh, OK. Maybe I didn't notice it in the past.
[Susan Bibbins]: I have encountered at my polling place that they use it as a work desk. I said to whoever would listen, that's not supposed to happen, that's supposed to be left open. I don't know what they did because I didn't check, but I think they cleared it off and the person worked elsewhere. But it's supposed to be, left open and a designated space.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah. It doesn't move. The space has to be wide enough in case somebody is in some mobility device to be able to come in and still have their privacy. Because at City Hall, the designated space is if you're looking at the staircase, it's to the right. Because what we do is we move all the jewelry cases out. That was what we did when the elevator was down and we had to put everything on the first floor. But it is not an extra work desk. I've just pulled up the ordinance very quickly. Let me do a screen share. Okay. Where is the share screen? Are you able to see? Yes. So I'm going to scroll down. My cursor says powers and duties. So I am going to scroll right down to that. Okay. First one, Sue, to ensure the equal status of a disabled person in education, economic, political, health, and local spheres. I'm thinking that that is, again, it says shall include but not limited to. I think that that is well within the scope of the commission.
[Susan Bibbins]: Yeah.
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: You know what I might do? I might just visit two or three polling places and just check it out maybe someday for the future.
[Frances Nwajei]: Well, why don't because because we're already getting ready to vote, why don't you if it's if it's all right with you, let me find out from Daniel when we're done with this meeting so that I can send you all the same email or the same information. And maybe if time permits, we can all tag team. I really don't want November 5th, you know, is it even the 5th now? Even I'm confused. I just don't want voting day to get here and we've got an issue somewhere. Right. And Nick would be more than happy to help with that as well. So, I'm trying to see if this. So, and just it looks like the, it looks like our ordinance was updated on October 2nd of this year. So, maybe, you know. No, they changed laws. Yeah, I don't I think that anytime somebody makes a change to the ordinance. It automatically. shows up with a new date. So it'd be a good idea for me to send this link out to everyone so that folks can see the most recent ordinance and have the best understanding.
[Susan Bibbins]: Yes.
[Frances Nwajei]: If you need me to scroll up for anything, let me know. We'll scroll down. These are the functions.
[Susan Bibbins]: Yeah.
[Frances Nwajei]: Anyone have any updates or anything that they'd like to share? Or any correspondence?
[MCM00001818_SPEAKER_06]: Has there been a notice like on a city website that there's openings for volunteers for the Disability Commission?
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes, there has I mean, the, um. The communications department on the website itself, it does indicate the openings and the community. Look, the communications department has done press releases.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah. So open positions. I think it's hard. I think sometimes people apply and then different things happen in their lives. That caused them to step back. I think. A lot of folks that I have spoken to are interested. But more in a ad hoc basis, and the commission can't move forward. Like, if I don't know if we're going to have a meeting, because we can't meet quorum, then how do we move forward in in the work that needs to be done? And whilst I want to be as supportive to everyone who applies, it's a labor of love for the applicants. My due diligence is getting the meeting posted in accordance with open meeting law and that kind of stuff. But it's not calling to remind that we have a meeting coming up. That becomes an additional task. But I do think that we can, you know, I don't think it's necessary to not meet. I do think that we can continue. I really want to see the commission's vision of an event at the inclusive playground, you know, take place, even if it's the, you know, if it's the 1st, 1 of its kind there, I think it just makes it more meaningful. And if we end up being a really small team, then do we partner with you know, the SPED department and the, you know, and the, for the air transition fair, just so that the work can be shared. Do we make it like a weekend thing where they do something on one day and we do something on the other day? I mean, these are just thoughts that I have, but obviously the three of you are passionate about this and which is why you're here. So I feel like we should still meet anyway. I would ask for public participation, but we have no members of the public that I can see at this time. I should probably figure out how to stop sharing my screen too. There we go. All right. So does anybody else have anything to add? Nope. Just to recap, our next meeting will be a combined meeting for November and December, and it will be on December 4th. I'm going to check in with the Elections Commission about our polling locations and accessible polling locations and testing of the machines. I'm also going to check in with the school, avoiding the 1st, 3 days. of April 12, April 13, April 14. So looking more towards the very end of April, May-ish time for an 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. time slot for having a combined indoor-outdoor event at the accessible playground. And I think those are my tasks. All right, everyone, I will be in contact via email. If you think of something that I should be doing in the meantime, let me know. Feel free to reach out to either myself or to Nicholas. As soon as I get a date locked in, I will make sure that I get back to all of you ASAP.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[MCM00001753_SPEAKER_08]: Thanks, Frances.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you all. It was lovely to see you. All right, take care. Bye. Okay, bye-bye.