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2001-01-31 - Commission for Residents with Disabilities - Minutes Board orCommission: ❑ commission on Residents With Disabilities Document Type: 0 A e g nda 0 Minutes Meeting ate: 01/30/2001 Type of Meeting: ❑ Special Meeting MINUTES OF THE BUFFALO GROVE COMMISSION FOR RESIDENTS WITH DISABILITIES MEETING JANUARY 30, 2001 I. Call to Order— the meeting was called to order at 7:04 p.m. IL Roll Call — Commissioners present included Chmn. Kahen, Commissioners Chorney, Holcombe, Holm, Slaw, Spallone, Sussman, Gottlieb, Verson and Weiner. Also present were liaisons Versten and Johnson. III. Approval of Minutes — A motion to approve the minutes of the January 3 meeting was made by Comm. Chorney and seconded by Comm Slaw. Motion carried. IV. Chairman's Report— Chmn. Kahen thanked Comm. Holcombe for her years of service to the commission and welcomed her to return anytime. He also thanked Comm. Spallone for volunteering to be the recording secretary. he distributed a couple of newspaper articles, one related to the DHS severing the early intervention program and another on respite care. Chmn. Kahen also reported on a meeting he attended with President Hartstein's Leadership Forum, related to the potential of the Village getting a bus that will cross the county line. Comm. Slaw interjected with some additional facts about the early intervention situation. The program projections were extremely inaccurate and the program was mismanaged by DHS. Chmn. Kahen asked if commissioners would be open to changing the Commission's meeting time to 7:00 p.m.permanently. Everyone was in favor. Chmn. Kahen passed a thank you letter from Eileen Kushner for the clock gift. He also stated that we were contacted by Astro Entertainment to ask if we could change "Fun & Food.." to Saturday a.m. instead of Labor Day Monday. There are several variables that we need to check into with the BG Days Committee. V. Commissioners Reports — Comm. Sussman brought in the Time For Kids Magazine that they use at her school, and she was pleased with her students' perspective on the Casey Martin/PGA case. Comms. Gottlieb and Holcombe brought the Sunday Tribune article featuring the Rubins and some other families. Comm. Gottlieb attended the DHS Work Group meeting today and reported a few items: 1. Gov. Ryan appears to be ready to support a wage increase bill. 2. The Office of Developmental Disabilities is out of money now (mid-year of the State's fiscal year). 3. The Early Childhood Intervention situation. 4. There is a woman named Melissa Wright who will be sending a letter to parents of adult children out-of-state saying they will lose their funding if they don't bring their adult children back into Illinois. Brian Rubin made a plea against the plan to reduce the 4 N/NW Work Groups to one. Comm. Gottlieb reported that it was again frustrating. Comm Holm stated that she received some phone calls re Buddy Baseball, the first inviting the Holms as managers to come to a meeting, the second call was "uninviting" them because Mike would be going into an older team. The Holms have decided to have Mike graduate and take the diploma because it appears that is really the "option" Stevenson is giving them. She has drafted a letter to Dr. McGee and the State of Illinois Board to make them aware of the situation. Comm. Verson asked if a letter was sent to the shopping centers re snowplowing into the handicapped parking slots. Liaison Versten distributed a copy of the letter that was sent to about 50 centers. Comm. Weiner distributed a newspaper article from the Deerfield Review re a "Natural Ties" Program that encourages friendships based in Evanston. Liaison Versten said maybe the Village's Youth Commission may be interested in it. Comm. Weiner offered to find out more about the program. VI. Sub-Committee Reports A. Regional Sub-Comm — Comm. Holcombe reported on the sub-committee's meeting on 1/25/012. Meetings are being scheduled with the Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities in Illinois, the Centers for Independent Living and the NSSEO/ORS Transition Planning Council between February — May. The three legislators from the coffees will be notified. Invitations will be sent to all of the regional commissions and municipalities. Comm. Holcombe drafted letters for the legislators and other regional representatives. B. Goal Setting Comm — Chmn. Kahen and Liaison Versten met to summarize various goals that have been suggested over the months. Chmn. Kahen asked Commissioners to confirm that these are what we want to focus on this year. Comm. Spallone brought up the idea of developing a support group for parents who have disabilities themselves, something she tried to do several years ago. There were no other sub-committee reports. The Agenda was re-arranged at this point. VIIL Staff Liaison Report — Liaison Versten reported that he received a voice message from Clearbrook re putting info in the Village Newsletter, possibly about respite. Deadline for next Village Newsletter is March 21-22. Liaison Versten also mentioned that the Joint Commission on Aging is putting together an expo on April 22 at the Schwaben Center. Over 700 businesses and agencies serving seniors are being invited. He wondered if the Commission would want to be represented with a booth. We could have out brochure and possibly some other handouts, along with a note pad to bring back questions and/or concerns to our commission. The biggest question is covering during daytime hours 10 am-2 pm. Commissioner Gottlieb offered. VIL Items for Discussion A. Group Homes — Comm. Slaw outlined the steps and timeline that he and Chairman Kahen drafted in a meeting last week. He believes if we are organized and thorough in building for facts and proposal, it will be well-received. Trustee Johnson suggested that the Village Manager be kept informed at every stage. He also commented that the Plan Commission will need to have a workshop (s) and meetings before the public hearing. It was discussed that we want to get letters of support not only from Clearbrook but other agencies. Chmn. Kahen emphasized that the effort is to the benefit of all citizens. Comm. Slaw proposed that the Commission divide into a "Why Team" and a "What Team" for the purpose of information gathering. Commissioners offered to begin collecting information on the various items (1-3 under "Why" and 1-3 under "What") Brainstorming was started on some of the philosophical aspects: "Why are we asking the Village...." ■ Because young people are growing up and there are not enough residential places available. ■ The need for people to live independently ■ Quality of Life ■ The ordinance, as it stands, is not economically feasible. ■ The population is aging and elderly parents are taking care of children who are senior citizens. ■ Need to focus on the economics of why the ordinance is outdated. The ordinance is not in keeping with the times; society has changed and legislation has been enacted that makes the ordinance outdated. Buffalo Grove is not demonstrating progressiveness in this area. ■ The request is for the least possible change in order to make it effective. Comm. Slaw asked if we fail and Buffalo Grove does not enact the change, what are the consequences? It was suggested that commission business be kept to a minimum at the next meeting and we will start at 7 p.m. Comm. Slaw requested that information gatherers get their information to him. Liaison Versten will send an updated address list to everyone. IX. Questions from the Audience—No audience present X. Other Business—There was no other business XI Adjournment—Motion to adjourn was made by Comm Weiner and seconded by Comm. Holcombe. Meeting adjourned at 9: 10 p.m.