ORDER-2022-63 : Authorization to accept a grant in the amount of $54,918 from the Massachusetts Office on Disability's Municipal ADA Improvement Grant Program (Item #9581)

Transcript (~16 min @ 27:19)

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▶ 27:18 Speaker 8: And yes, that's correct. You're welcome.

▶ 27:19 Jen Grigoraitis: All right, hold on while we just queue that one up. Our next item on our agenda is Order 2022-63, Authorization to Accept a Grant in the Amount to $54,918 from the Massachusetts Office on Disabilities Municipal ADA Improvement Grant Program, item number 9581. And I believe joining Ms. Gaffey will be David Hoff, who's the chair of the Melrose Commission on Disability. Did we have him?

▶ 27:48 Speaker 5: Up here comes Mr. Hoff.

▶ 27:54 Speaker 6: All right.

▶ 27:57 Jen Grigoraitis: All right, Gary. Good evening, the floor is yours.

▶ 28:01 Speaker 9: Okay, thank you. Madam chair, um, so this particular grant is from the master's office and disability. It is part of an annual grant, uh, solicitation they do. Uh, for municipal grants, uh, um, to improve accessibility. In municipalities throughout Massachusetts, um, we applied and we're successful. In with our grant application, which we were very pleased to see the funds will be used. To update the city of Melrose. Transition plan for compliance with the Americans with disabilities act, and that will entail a, a self evaluation of the city's facilities and programs and policies regarding accessibility for people with disabilities and then creation of what's called a transition plan. which is a lengthy document that is essentially a work plan um to you know for any issues that have been identified and lays out um priorities estimated costs and is intended to kind of guide the city over the next several years in terms of improving accessibility uh the last it is a requirement the transition plan self-evaluation actually our requirement of federal law under title two of the americans with disabilities act the last time the city did this was 1996. so clearly there's a need for updating this and the funds would be used mostly to hire a consultant um to actually conduct the work the self-evaluation and development of the transition plan um we have um three potential vendors identified to perform that work who are very experienced in doing that work and feel comfortable with them and we've had discussions with the city regarding the solicitation for that work um the work does need to be completed by june 30th that is probably the one thing that is um there's a sense of urgency about this um we did receive a grant award mid-december um but we do have to get all the work done by the end of june i'm confident that we'll be able to do that um myself and the members of the commission on disability will support this effort and help guide it and make ourselves available any way possible. So, we would certainly appreciate the committee's support for this grant award.

▶ 30:30 Speaker 5: Happy to take any questions. Thank you, Mr. Hoff. Councillor Carn, Shady.

▶ 30:34 Manjula Karamcheti: Mr. Hoff, thank you so much for being here, for applying for the grant. I know that in and of itself is a lot of work, so congrats on receiving it. couple of questions I think the first in regards to the municipal buildings that were selected I noticed that the police department wasn't on there and I was just curious about that at the beginning of my run for City Council I did get a tour of the department and had some conversations with Chief Lyle about accessibility so I was just curious as to why that wasn't there so I guess I'll

▶ 31:15 Speaker 9: start with that question I'd have to look at the original application I believe it was listed it was not it was an over set because they're going to do in a survey of every every single building that's used by the so it's of every city building including the school buildings will be among those will be will be surveyed so and evaluated and obviously um older buildings often have as you can imagine

▶ 31:45 Manjula Karamcheti: accessibility issues so yeah absolutely i didn't see it there but i might have missed it um and then my second question i noticed that in one of the pieces it said like it's also like policies procedures even looking at like some websites so i was just interested does this grant um also look at not just physical disabilities but thinking about neurology and those kinds of things given the broad spectrum of the americans with disabilities act and section 504 um i noticed you're going to be talking to a lot of groups and it looks really inclusive so i was just wondering about that piece the buildings tend to lean themselves to physical but i was wondering if it expands more than that um so actually to your previous question i did

▶ 32:31 Speaker 9: look it up yes we did did not include the public safety building on there but that was an oversight by us so that would definitely be included so thank you for pointing that out um in terms it's all disabilities it is i mean you know the way i look at disability it's interesting the question is interesting because people often think of physical disability and yet disability is very broad um there's physical disability uh sensory disabilities um mental health issues um the list goes on and on so there's very much of a universal approach with these kind of evaluations and obviously things have evolved and and you know we learn a lot more how to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities um obviously we've got much better in terms of strategies and we start with a universal approach of a term called universal access and that's the emphasis that's placed it's not about accommodating each disability but how we make it accessible to all folks with disabilities a key piece of this plan will be getting input from the community and i'm sure we will get lots of input hopefully from a broad spectrum of folks with disabilities with all types of disabilities so um it's critically important awesome well

▶ 33:41 Manjula Karamcheti: thank you so much for your work for answering those questions and look forward to seeing the results and how we can help our city be more accessible to others thank you

▶ 33:54 Jen Grigoraitis: Thank you, Councillor Carham-Cheney. Next up I have Councillor McMaster followed by Vice Chair Migliorelli and Councillor Williams. Councillor McMaster, we can't hear you.

▶ 34:20 Jen Grigoraitis: You want us to come back to you while you were on talk? Okay. Vice Chair Migliorelli.

▶ 34:27 Leila Migliorelli: Madam Chair and thank you, Mr. Hoff, for being here. And I think this grant is obviously, we're way out of date with this given 1986 was the last time we entered in a process like this. So, just to clarify 1, small point of clarification is the, um, so the majority of the grantees can be used for the consultants to conduct. This self self evaluation or help lead the departments through a self evaluation process.

▶ 34:53 Speaker 9: Oh, yes, so actually the vast majority of it will be used. There's probably a little bit of money that will go to the city. For their support, um, so, and actually. Because of the chairman rules, we actually want to keep the solicitation to under 50,000, which will streamline the solicitation process. We've already had discussions regarding that because we can't really be delayed on this. We don't have months and months to do a solicitation. So we're going to move it forward very quickly. So, the consultant would probably slightly less than 50,000.

▶ 35:24 Leila Migliorelli: Thank you and then it would be the commission's role to sort of manage the consultants and their interaction on all of these projects and seeing it through to completion.

▶ 35:33 Speaker 9: Uh, yeah, I mean, we're going to have, I mean, we're going to have as a volunteer group, we are definitely going to have oversight responsibility. I've already made it clear that fortunately the flexibility of my, my, my job that I can make myself available during the day. As needed, but we will also need a good deal of cooperation from the city. Paul Johnson is the designated coordinator for the city. And we're going to certainly. Mr. Johnson's assistance with this, as well as other city officials and employees to just guide us through this process, get us access to buildings, access to policies and all of that. So it's definitely going to be a partnership.

▶ 36:10 Denise Gaffey: With the city on this. Yeah, and this is Denise here and I can just speak to the fact that we're planning to have a steering committee of. Of city city department folks, including myself and Elena and Paul Johnson. And my God, from the mayor's office, just sort of.

▶ 36:27 Speaker 7: Key people, I'm probably missing 1 or 2 that will be working closely with the commission on this.

▶ 36:34 Leila Migliorelli: That's great. Thank you. Yeah, because I know as a volunteer group. With day jobs that it can be a lot to manage a consultant. Um, so it's good to see that there's support within the city for this and they can help you along. Um, that's that's it for questions. Thank you very much. Looking forward to supporting this.

▶ 36:52 Jen Grigoraitis: Thank you. Thank you Vice Chair Migliorelli. And back with prepared microphone is Councilor McMaster.

▶ 37:06 Shawn M. MacMaster: You can hear me? Okay, thank you. Thank you Mr. Hoff for being here. You mentioned the consultant. I'm wondering if there's any expectation that the consultant will engage in any public engagement and input process to identify opportunities that maybe we're not thinking of at the city level in terms of infrastructure sidewalks crosswalks any type of uh process plan for public engagement and input uh and if so what would that entail in terms of surveys focus groups anything of that nature if not is that

▶ 37:45 Speaker 9: something we can look to do um so we are planning as part of this um in terms of of the work of the consultant is working on a great deal of public engagement um to get their input and the details of which are worked out but doing some focus groups community surveys um to get as much input as we can that's really really critical i think your point is well taken that you know i'm an expert at disability issues a lot of people are supposed to know but you really have to get from the public because they're going to be the folks who are going to guide you and really lead you and identify all sorts of issues that we just identified aren't aware of um so we absolutely yes that will be definitely part of this process um we are um you know and and i just want to be clear that the um and you know one of the challenges like this is it is focused on the city itself so in city services and city buildings throughout the community as a whole to be accessible but it really is the focus of this grant is on the city of meadows although that's pretty widely encompassing you know everything from physical buildings to how meetings are

▶ 38:53 Speaker 10: operated policies to public events the city sponsors all those things so very good thank

▶ 39:03 Speaker 5: you mr cobb thank you thank you councillor mcmaster councillor williams uh not so much

▶ 39:07 Ryan Williams: a question as a vote of confidence and show of support for all the work that you're doing david and the efforts that you're undertaking with this survey i know that a lot of folks think of disabilities as being kind of an othering factor that only happens to a small number of people and you know a lot of the work that i do as part of the ped bike committee in melrose is about how we look at that through the lens of lifting everybody up for kind of universal standard of care and design so you know for me it's the the the independent senior who has limited mobility but isn't willing to accept the title of disability at small children who hard time getting around and stumble and trip a lot and can't reach things and also people in wheelchairs and mobility assisted devices and walkers and with sensory disorders and all of these things people who don't know they have a disability yet i think it's great that you've taken on this challenge and i personally can't wait to help you work on these surveys and try

▶ 40:07 Speaker 11: Try to get the best. Thank you.

▶ 40:11 Jen Grigoraitis: Thank you. Counselor Williams. I just wanted to echo the support of my colleagues. I was a freshman in college in 1996. so I really. Hope we can start to do these more often than once a generation because I know a lot's changed in my life, but just some quick follow up questions because I feel like what's been clear from here is how important it is and how overdue this is. This is a max contract, which means we have this much money and then it expires on June 30th. And Denise, do you believe that there would be a commitment from the city that if we, there are delays in this project, which it's a really tight timeline to begin with. If the city would continue this work, even if the funding goes away, I'm really concerned about getting all this done in a.

▶ 40:53 Denise Gaffey: Inclusive way in 6 months. Yeah, I, I think I think since the funding is really essentially all going to 1 consultant, we can commit all the money. By that deadline, and without being concerned about. You know, missing out on me missing the deadline.

▶ 41:13 Denise Gaffey: I think we can satisfy the requirement to complete by the end of June. Just by committing the funds with the consultant. I mean, that said, I think we're going to endeavor to get the study, you know, get the work done by then.

▶ 41:24 Speaker 8: But I'm not worried about losing that. Okay. Thank you.

▶ 41:26 Jen Grigoraitis: Are there any other questions from counselors? Counselor Eccles.

▶ 41:33 Jack Eccles: Thank you, Mr. Hoff. Just one. Is the commission going to be in charge of selecting the vendor?

▶ 41:40 Speaker 9: Are you going to make a recommendation? So, the city is going to ultimately make that decision. We've talked through the mechanics of the solicitation. So, the way this will work, if we keep it under $50,000, a letter will go out asking for vendors. We have three vendors identified, but we actually have one that we prefer. They actually helped us create the budget for this um they've done this work you know lots and lots of places in massachusetts um so we feel confident we've seen the work we've seen samples we feel that they would be an excellent organization to undertake this work so so yes we do have a preferred vendor um but we have to obviously follow the policies of soliciting vendors and i think we've got the we've already got the materials basically created to do that once we get the approval of the full council for accepting this

▶ 42:26 Jack Eccles: grant awesome well thanks for all your work so far and the work that you'll probably be putting

▶ 42:35 Jen Grigoraitis: in the next few months thank you thank you councillor eccles what is the will of this

▶ 42:44 Jen Grigoraitis: committee motion to approve second so we have a motion to recommend for passage made by president sanella seconded by councillor carm shady is there any discussion seeing none madam clerk

▶ 42:56 Speaker 1: can you please call the roll vice chair migliorelli yes councillor mcmaster

▶ 43:02 Speaker 1: yeah councillor eccles yes councillor Garipay yes councilor maladin yeah councillor stewart yes