Reappointment of David Hoff, 46 Warwick Road, to the Commission on Disability for a three-year term, said term to expire on the last day of February 2029.

Transcript (~5 min @ 2:52)

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▶ 2:54 Ryan Williams: Grab my copy of the agenda. Very helpfully, it's normally printed out for me, and I failed to do that for myself. Oh. But I have it right here. The three items on our agenda tonight are: ID number two zero two six dash two nine four, the reappointment of David Hoff of forty-six Warwick Road to the Melrose Commission of Dis-- on Disability for a three-year term, said term to expire on the last day of February 2029. I'm gonna read all three of these, um, into the record, and then I'd like the, uh, the members of the, the reappointment members of the Commission on Disability, they can speak, sort of take turns, talk about their experiences, talk about the work of the committee as a whole for a little bit. We can ask them questions, and then we will go back in motion to vote on each individual item one at a time. Uh, the second item is ID twenty twenty-six two nine five, reappointment of Garren Boyd, 463 Lebanon Street, to the Commission on Disability for a three-year term, said term to expire on the last day of February 2029. And the final item is ID twenty twenty-six two nine six, reappointment of Margaret Sheets, Maggie Sheets, fifty-three Melrose Street, to the Commission on Disability for a three-year term, said term to end on the last day of February 2029. Excuse me. Um, and so with that, I would like to welcome the three reappointment members to speak about their experiences on the committee, any, um, plans that they have for the new year, any goals or things that they wanna share with the, with the city council members who are here tonight.

▶ 4:25 Speaker 3: David, do you wanna start?

▶ 4:27 Speaker 4: Uh, yeah, sure. I, I... Unless somebody else wants to begin, unless Maggie or Garren wanted to begin. So I'll, I'll, I'll begin. And, uh, first, thank you, first of all, for, uh, um, this evening and, and, and the opportunity to speak. And also, it has been a real honor to be on this commission for the past six years. Um, actually, myself and the other two individuals here are original members of the commission, and the commission was formed back in 2020. And, um, we really have collectively done many things to make Melrose a more accessible and welcoming community for people with disabilities. Uh, we've had a whole variety of initiatives. Uh, I'm gonna highlight a few of the ones that I've been involved with. Uh, one of the major ones was I led the development of a grant for the city to do, it's called an ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan, basically an update of something that's required under the Americans with Disabilities Act. And we got a fifty thousand dollar grant for that, and, uh, back in... years start to run together a lot, but 2021, I believe. And a very comprehensive report was prepared by the Institute for Human Centered Design, and is now kind of the basis for an ongoing basis to ensure that all the city services and buildings and facilities are, um, uh, are fully accessible. Obviously, a lot of... It's, a lot of it's long-term work in terms of capital improvements, um, but among that work, you know, some of it's already been undertaken, and we've been in close communication with the mayor's office in terms of ongoing efforts, and there's been some additional monies procured from the Mass Office on Disability to address some of those issues. Also, the, uh-... and we've also worked closely with the city, and I, I've been very involved with updating all the ADA policies, the American Disability Act policies, and related policies, and regarding making sure that, um, city services are both fully accessible for people with disabilities, that there's policies in place where they can exercise their rights. And also things like making sure, like, our city, um, meeting notices are very clear on how to get accommodations and things like that. So we've done a lot of work on that, and continue to work on with the city on those kinds of issues. Uh, also, uh, I worked, um, in partnership with, with Maggie, uh, on a community, community education guide, which was a long-term project, basically a, a guide that we've developed and have just released, and are in the process of getting it printed. Uh, to- And we're gonna work on an education program with a variety of community, uh, groups in Melrose to make sure all our community programs are, are, uh, welcoming to people with disabilities, ranging from, you know, civic groups, recreation groups, uh, uh, faith organizations. So we're real- we're real excited about that initiative, 'cause that's... It's just really, we feel like that's a, uh, create greater awareness about our commission and our services and how we can assist, but also where we can also just kind of... Ultimately, our, our real goal is to make sure that every, every, uh, organization in Melrose welcomes people with disabilities. And then, um, an effort that we're working on right now, uh, which we're also excited about, myself and Gary Hale, who's our, our current chair, uh, we're working with the Chamber of Commerce and the public schools on improving employment opportunities for, uh, students with disabilities, uh, and work experiences. So it's been really exciting, uh, and that was something the mayor connected us with the Chamber. And the Chamber has been great, and the local businesses have been great on that. We're still, uh, early in this effort, but just very, very excited about that. So it, it really has been, as I said right at the beginning, it's been an honor to be on this commission, and I would really appreciate the support for another three-year term. I'm happy to answer any questions.

▶ 8:05 Ryan Williams: Thanks very much. Um, does anybody have any specific questions for Mr. Hoff, or would you, would the members of the committee be okay if we moved on to hear from the other two members, and then did questions together?