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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGRAAC - 2011-12-15Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC) Thursday December 15th, 2011 Kitchener City Hall, Conestoga Room PRESENT: Gordon Cummer (Co- Chair), Sharon Giles(Co- Chair), Sharon Ward - Zeller, Anthony Cashin, Kurt Schneider, Carrie Speers, David Kuhn, Gail Brunsdon, Vanessa Lopak (ROW), Lori Palubeski (City of Kitchener), Karen Panchaud (ASL Interpreter), Lesley Roach (ASL Interpreter), Johanna Ellis (Recorder), Julia Sippel (Township of North Dumfries), Councillor Jeff Henry (City of Waterloo), Councillor Kelly Galloway (City of Kitchener), Councillor Jean Haalboom (Region of Waterloo) REGRETS: Taposhi Batabyal, Paula Saunders, Ken Parker GUESTS: Beth Rajnovich 1.0 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS • Gordon Cummer called the meeting to order. • Welcome and round table introductions. 2.0 APPROVAL OF NOVEMBER MINUTES & DECEMBER AGENDA Amend the November minutes to add Gail Brunsdon's name to Regrets. Motion by Kurt Schneider to accept the November minutes, seconded by Gail Brunsdon /carried. Motion by Sharon Ward Zeller, seconded by Anthony Cashin to accept the agenda for the December meeting. 3.0 DECLARATIONS OF PECUNIARY INTERESTS — none 4.0 CITY OF WATERLOO OUTDOOR SPORTS FIELD STRATEGY (Beth Rajnovich) • Beth shared draft plan via power point. • Understand the needs of all field users. • Plan to meet future field need. • Balance current need and future needs. • Enable staff to respond quickly to unexpected opportunities (field wear and tear). • City has limited resources and funding opportunities. • Need to maximize the use of existing facilities prior to new development. • Facilities should be decentralized, flexible, accessible by transit and environmentally responsible. • Planning process includes: • Detailed inventory of all fields in current inventory. • Review of past reports, strategies from other cities, and existing strategic plans. • Discussion with staff in other cities regarding best practices and innovative approaches. • Analysis of field use data. • Identify approach to meet future field need. • Strategic Goals (7 goals): • To enable increased participation in physical fitness activities in Waterloo through improved access to fields for neighbourhood, recreation, and competitive use across the range of field sports of public interest in Waterloo. • Improve the safety, playability and long term quality of outdoor sport fields. • To maximize the use of the existing outdoor sports field inventory prior to new development. • To develop new outdoor sport field facilities to meet the needs of City residents. • To pursue, facilitate and encourage innovative partnerships for the provision of access to outdoor sport fields. December 2011 - GRAAC Minutes • To invest in enhanced relationship building and collaboration between city staff and field user groups, including new and emerging groups. • To increase capacity throughout the sport and recreation services system in Waterloo to engage in continuous improvement related to facilities, field use and sport programming. • Public consultation will include 3 public open houses, online survey, meeting with affiliated groups, feedback for council committees (ongoing). • The strategy will be looked at every year to see what's lacking and /or needed. • How many more facilities are needed by 2031? • Looked at the number of facilities that will be required based on need, wear and tear and population. • Feedback from committee: • Fine gravel or paved path for wheelchairs and people who are blind. • Bathrooms could be fixed washrooms or port o potties. Difficult to get water hook up to most fields. • There should be wheel chair accessible port o potties. • If people are sensitive to the sun, there should be some type of shelter. • The city has a partnership with the school boards to use some of their fields. School fields meet a certain need but for higher level of play, city fields are better. • No washroom access at schools because the buildings are closed in the evenings, weekends and in the summer. • RIM is a great facility, however transit is so far away from fields. 5. COUNCILOR'S REPORT(S) • Jean Haalboom (Region of Waterloo): • At finance and admin meeting, councilors voiced concerns for lack of funding by the province to meet all AODA requirements. • Communication to the province to lobby for more financial support. • GRAAC letter regarding roundabouts was sent out to all councilors and appropriate staff. Jean thanked the committee for sending the letter. • December 14th first day of budget talks. January 14 & 15 decisions will be made on budget spending. Much of the money is going to Transit and the new LRT. • Kelly Galloway (City of Kitchener): • There will be a public meeting regarding the budget on January 9th, 2012. • January 19th is final budget day. • Council is meeting early next week to discuss plan for new for early 2012. Current CAO is leaving. • Jeff Henry (City of Waterloo): • Received draft budget on December 5th • Public meetings — January 23 and another date TBA. • Budget goes for approval on February 13th • Talks on infrastructure. Low on money for all infrastructure repairs that need to happen. • Trying to get more information on infrastructure priorities. 6. VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION (Julia Sippel, Vanessa Lopak) • Val Hummel wrote kind words about our departing committee members. Julia shared them with the entire committee. They read as follows: Hello GRAAC members, staff and guests: Certificates will be presented to each of the five GRAAC members who are leaving us when their terms officially end on December 31St, 2011. December 2011 - GRAAC Minutes 2 Kurt Schneider: Kurt has served GRAAC for 3 years. He was a member of the Grand River Transit Sub - Committee and GRAAC's Built Environment Sub - Committee. Staff always counted on Kurt to respond quickly to requests for GRAAC member thoughts and opinions. Kurt, on behalf of staff and the area councils, we appreciate the time and effort you invested in GRAAC and all the best in whatever you decide to do next! Thank you Kurt! Sharon Giles: Sharon has served GRAAC for 6 years. She was Vice -Chair then Chair of the Grand River Transit Sub- Committee from 2006 — 2011 and then took on the role of Co -Chair of GRAAC with Gord Cummer at the beginning of this year. Sharon was a valuable resource for staff and provided advice on operational details for meetings. Remember the last minute changes to November's agenda and schedule? Sharon also took the lead on GRAAC communications such as the recent roundabout letter, the feedback that GRAAC sent to the Province on the Integrated Accessibility Standard, and Woolwich's sidewalk letter. Sharon, on behalf of staff and the area councils, we appreciate the work and effort you put into GRAAC and for the leadership you shared with us. Thank you Sharon! Gail Brunsdon: Gail has served GRAAC for 8 years and was one of the founding members. She was a member of GRAAC's Built Environment Sub - Committee. She participated in the Region of Waterloo Strategic Planning session this year and provided input and insight into the strat plan. She and Anthony Cashin also travelled to Elmira to visit the Woolwich Township Administration Office in April of this year to make recommendations on how to make our office more accessible. Gail was quick to respond to email inquiries, and shared the perspective of the deaf community in GRAAC discussions. Gail, on behalf of staff and the area councils, we appreciate the time you spent serving this committee and for the wisdom you shared. Thank you Gail! Sharon Ward - Zeller: Sharon has served on GRAAC for 8 years and was also one of the founding members. She served as GRAAC Co -Chair from 2007 — 2010 with Taposhi Batabyal. She was Chair of the Grand River Transit sub - committee from 2006 -2008. She also served on GRAAC's Built Environment sub - committee. Staff would like to thank Sharon for always being available as a resource. She could be counted on to step forward if we needed a guest speaker at an event, she moderated panel discussions, and she would check the accessibility of documents with her assistive technologies for us. As Co- Chair, she could always be relied on to be ready to speak with the media on GRAAC's behalf, and to work hard making sure GRAAC meetings ran smoothly. This past year, after stepping out of the role of Co- chair, she has continued to actively participate in GRAAC discussions, and has kept key GRAAC ideas, such as snow clearance, on the radar. Sharon, on behalf of staff and the area councils, we appreciate the hard work, passion, and leadership that you showed. We also want to thank Neville for the countless hours he has spend lying quietly and patiently under the table. Thank you Sharon and Neville! Taposhi Batabyal: Unfortunately, Taposhi could not be here today but she is also leaving us on December 31St. Taposhi has served GRAAC for 8 years and was a founding member. She served as GRAAC's Co -Chair from 2005 -2010, and was a member of the Grand River Transit sub- committee and GRAAC's Built Environment sub - committee. She was Woolwich Township's only representative on GRAAC since the start of the committee and Val has always valued her first -hand knowledge of their shared municipality and her advice on what to include in their annual accessibility plan. Taposhi's leadership skills, wisdom and grammar skills were assets to the staff. Thank you Taposhi! 7. GRT BUS OPERATOR TRAINING BRAINSTORM (Vanessa Lopak) • There has been an accessibility /ability awareness /sensitivity training program in place with GRT for 8 years. December 2011 - GRAAC Minutes 3 • All veteran bus operators have taken the abilities awareness training. This is inclusive of 2.5 hours of training. This training is for regular buses and specialized transit. • New drivers receive the training as part of their orientation. • Excellent feedback from drivers on this training. • Under the AODA (integrated accessibility standard) requires all employees be trained in; topics covered by the standard and the Ontario Human Rights Code. • All transit operators need to be trained on the use of accessibility equipment and features. They also need to know what to do if there is a temporary barrier or equipment failure and emergency preparedness and response procedures. • All operators must be trained by December 31St, 2013. Focus Question: What are the key features or topics of effective accessibility training for bus operators? • Committee members were paired up and the results of their brainstorming are as follows: • Build problem solving techniques into the training. • Being mindful of what is going on around them (bus operators) and giving assistance if /when required. • Bus operators should be attentive and courteous. • Be mindful of their attitudes when communicating with passengers with disabilities. • Important to maintain eye contact (important to deaf culture). • Knowing the equipment and how to use it. • Refresher training — ongoing (for example; every 5 years) • Vanessa will record the ideas in a Word document, and circulate it with the committee members. Members are asked to email Vanessa with any further feedback and comments. The document will then be shared with GRT. 8. CO- CHAIRS REPORT: (Gord Cummer) • Orientation for new members will be held on January 13th, 2012 at the Regional Health Centre, 99 Regina St. Waterloo. Time and room number TBA. • Early in the New Year GRAAC will invite staff responsible for roundabouts to a meeting to discuss the letter and contents sent out by GRAAC. • Elections for Co- Chairs and standing committee Co- Chairs to be held at January meeting. 9. ADJOURNMENT • Motion to adjourn meeting by Sharon Ward - Zeller, seconded by Gail Brunsdon. * *Next meeting will be on January 26th, 2012 from 1:30 — 4:00p.m. - Conestoga Room Kitchener City Hall 200 King St W Kitchener, Ontario December 2011 - GRAAC Minutes 4