HomeMy WebLinkAboutGRAAC - 2005-01-27
Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC)
Thursday January 27, 2005 Catholic Family Counselling Centre
PRESENT: Susan Harkins (Chair), Brad Ullner (Co-Chair), Valrie Hummel, Laura
Fiorilla, Sharon Ward-Zeller, Kathy Glasser, Jay Oswald, James Hunsberger, Karen
Panchaud, Sparrow Rose, Grace Niezen, Carol Moogk-Soulis, Councillor Jane Mitchell,
Councillor Ian McLean, Charlene O'Reilly (CHS), Lori Ludwig, Lori Fioze, Gerald Moore,
Margaret Sanderson.
REGRETS: Gail Brunsden, Taposhi Batabyal, Councillor Ruby Weber, Councillor
Christine Weylie, Bart Toby, Deb Bergey, Daniel Lajoie.
1.0 WELCOME - Susan Harkins
2.0 ADDITIONS! ADOPTION OF AGENDA
A motion was made by Sharon to adopt the agenda as submitted. All were in
favour; carried.
3.0 ADOPTION OF PREVIOUS MINUTES (October 28, 2004)
A motion was made by James, seconded by Sharon to adopt the minutes from
the October meeting. All were in favour; carried.
4.0 GUEST: Charlene O'Reilly from the Canadian Hearing Society
Charlene attended the meeting to talk about the process for booking
interpreters.
· There is currently a shortage of interpreters making it necessary to book
services two to four weeks in advance of the engagement.
· CHS is a non-profit agency, with two interpreters on staff and a list of free-
lancers.
· The fee for service is $50/hour with a two hour minimum. If the booking is
for more than two hours, it will be required to book two interpreters, unless
the meeting is not intense with a number of scheduled breaks.
· The group discussed how long GRAAC meetings should be and associated
interpreter costs.
ACTION:
GRAAC meetings will be held from 1-3:30 on the fourth Thursday of
each month at Catholic Family Counselling Centre at 400 Queen Street
South in Kitchener. Two breaks will be scheduled close to 2:00 &. 3:00
for the two interpreters who will be booked for the meetings.
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Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC)
Thursday January 27, 2005
5.0 BUSINESS ARISING
5.1 New Appointments to the Committee - Margaret
· Staff met to review applications for the new appointments to GRAAC.
Selections have been made but won't be announced before being approved
at Councils on February 14. The new members will attend the February
GRAAC meeting on February 24.
· The new members will fill the complement of fifteen people required for
GRAAC.
5.2 Report of Site Plan Working Group - Carol Moogk-Soulis
· Carol met with Planning staff from various municipalities to review the
processes they use and find out about timelines regarding site plan review.
Other municipalities will be called in as the process develops.
· Site Plans refer to surrounding land and the entrance to the building, but not
the building.
· Carol also plans to meet with Building Inspectors, Building Officials - those
who deal with the inside of buildings - hopefully prior to the February GRAAC
meeting.
· Carol is also investigating the processes used in other communities for site
plan/drawing reviews.
· A Site Plan Working Group will be formed following further information
gathering. A report will regularly be presented to GRAAC from this group.
6.0 Accessibility Plans at Council - Staff
· Lori Fioze noted that the Region Plan went to Council and was approved.
· Margaret advised that the Joint Accessibility Plan went to the Finance
Committee in Kitchener and will go to Council on January 31.
· The City of Waterloo approved the Plan on December 13. Lori Ludwig noted
that there were lots of questions regarding the budget of the Joint
Accessibility Plan.
· North Dumfries will review the plan at the meeting next week.
· Woolwich approved the plan last week; questions were asked regarding
timelines.
· Wellesley approved the budget.
7.0 WLU Accessibility Plan - Sparrow
· The WLU Plan initially went to the Board of Governors in October. Following
input from students, a number of changes were made to that Plan. A copy of
this latest draft was circulated to GRAAC members and reviewed (a copy will
also be sent to members via e-mail). This final document will go to the Board
of Governors for approval.
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Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC)
Thursday January 27, 2005
· Susan mentioned that she felt the WLU Plan was well organized and that the
format was straight-forward.
· Sparrow noted that $40,000 is received from the Ministry of Colleges and
Universities each year for physical accessibility retrofitting.
· Staffs at WLU go to the Human Resources Department for accessibility issues
and the faculty goes to the faculty association. As WLU is a student-centred
environment, this plan is mainly for students and will be used as a guideline
for addressing barriers.
8.0 Taxi-Cabs (from October 2004) - Laura
Laura advised that the issue of taxi-cabs addressed at the October 2004 GRAAC
meeting, has been resolved.
9.0 Bill 118 Hearings in London - James/Brad
· James has reserved time at the February 3 hearings in London for anyone in
the group who would like to respond (refer to e-mails from Brad sent earlier).
James and Brad plan on attending the hearing and asked if GRAAC would be
in favour of them representing the committee.
· Margaret and Lori will attend the hearing representing the cities of Kitchener
and Waterloo.
ACTION:
A motion was made by Sharon, seconded by Grace, that GRAAC
authorize James to attend the hearing on behalf of GRAAC. All were in
favour; carried.
10.0 Letter to School Board - Susan
· Susan referred to the newspaper article that had been circulated to GRAAC
members with the February agenda and suggested that GRAAC executive
write a letter to the chair of the school board commenting on the article and
asking about their accessibility plan.
· Grace suggested that representatives from both school boards be invited to
attend a GRAAC meeting to discuss the boards plans. Later, reps from area
hospitals could be invited to talk about their plans.
ACTION:
A motion was made by Brad, seconded by James to invite
representatives from both school boards to attend a GRAAC meeting to
discuss their accessibility plans. All were in favour; carried.
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Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC)
Thursday January 27, 2005
11. Other Business
11.1 GRAAC Agenda
The following process is to be used for submitting items to be included on a
GRAAC agenda:
· Items are to be sent to Brad Ullner on the Monday of the week prior
to the meeting (eg. items for the March agenda are to be submitted
by March 14).
· If items are not submitted by the timeline, they will not be
considered at the meeting.
· All items submitted for the agenda are to be approved by the Chair
and the Co-Chair.
· A revised meeting schedule will be sent to GRAAC members that will
include a timeline for agenda submissions.
11.2 Working Meetings
Deferred to the February meeting.
11.3 Grace Niezen
As Grace was appointed for a one-year term, this was her last meeting. Grace
was thanked for her contribution to the committee.
11.4 Meeting Attendance
It was suggested that the GRAAC Terms of Reference be reviewed regarding
members attendance at the meetings.
12. Next Meeting
· Thursday February 24, 1 :30pm - 3:30pm
Catholic Family Counselling Centre
400 Queen St S, Kitchener
13. Adjournment
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