The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutGRAAC - 2007-10-25 Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC) Thursday October 25, 2007 Kitchener City Hall, Conestoga Room PRESENT: Sharon Ward-Zeller (Co-Chair), Taposhi Batabyal (Co-Chair), Sharon Giles, Brad Ullner, Chris Douglas, Gail Brunsdon, Saul Herzog, Gordon Cummer, James Hunsberger, Karen Panchaud and Jennifer Tovell (Interpreters), Rosa Bustamante (GBESC), Leigh Golden, Councillor Jane Mitchell, Ana Popa, Kelly Steiss, Linda Pretty (Recorder) PRESENT (OTHERS): Steve Langdon (City of Kitchener), Gary Bauman (Kitchener Public Library), Ellen Jones (Waterloo Public Library), Grace Kosch (Township of Wellesley), Mike Cunningham (Cambridge Public Library) REGRETS (MEMBERS): Carol Moogk-Soulis, Frank Groenestege, Ian Ardill REGRETS (OTHERS): Councillor Karen Scian, Councillor Kelly Galloway, Val Hummel ABSENT WITHOUT REGRETS: Linda Chamberlain (WLU), Darryl Denny (North Dumfries), Dave Heuchert (Wellesley) 1.0 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS Sharon Ward-Zeller welcomed everyone to the October meeting. 1.1 APPROVAL OF SEPTEMBER MINUTES AND REVIEW OF OCTOBER AGENDA ?Saul noted that he attended the June meeting but that his name was not recorded. With the amendment made, a motion was made by Gordon Cummer, seconded by Sharon Giles, that the minutes of the June meeting be approved. All were in favour; carried. ?The minutes of the September meeting were approved, also with a similar amendment, by a motion made by Gordon Cummer and seconded by Sharon Giles. All were in favour; carried. ?In response to a question by Gordon, it was noted that the Region’s pandemic plan is not ready yet. ?A motion was made by Sharon Giles, seconded by Taposhi, to adopt the October agenda. All were in favour; carried. 2.0NEW BUSINESS 2.1 Municipal Web Site Accessibility – Steve Langdon (Webmaster) 2.1.1 Web Site 101 City of Kitchener Webmaster, Steve Langdon and staff from municipal and township libraries, attended the meeting to inform GRAAC members on plans for their web sites. 1 October 2007 - GRAAC Minutes Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC) Thursday October 25, 2007 ?There is a staff committee consisting of the City of Kitchener, the City of Wateroo, the Township of Wellesley, the Waterloo Public Library, Kitchener Public Library and Cambridge Public Library that is meeting to discuss what is needed to make their respective websites accessible, based on the W3C standards, which is a checklist for website design set by the World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org). The current City of Kitchener site stands up well to the standards but improvements are needed. ?It is easier and better to design a new website from the ground up, rather than redo an old site. As the current Kitchener site is five years old, the plan is to start from “square one” to create a whole new site, while updating the current site in the meantime. There is no timeframe as yet as staff is just beginning discussions. ?The Kitchener library has started development of a new site rather than redo the old site as the current site fails to meet the standards set by W3. The project should be completed by late spring/early summer 2008 at which time the site will be fully compliant. ?The Cambridge library site is not accessible and it is not practical to redo the current site, so a whole new site will be developed. Staff has undertaken a strategic plan now and will start working on the site in early 2008. ?The City of Waterloo hopes to do a redesign of their site in 2008. They have no webmaster on staff so will have to contract it out. The current site is not compliant and is very out-of-date. The money has been allocated but no start date has been set. ?Wellesley anticipates another year for their site to become fully updated and accessible. 2.1.2 GRAAC Ideal Municipal Web Site ?Members suggested that staff keep a list of issues, problems and complaints that they receive for the current sites. They also suggested staff find out what sites are leaders for accessibility. ACTION: GRAAC members are to send feedback to Kelly who will co-ordinate and send to the appropriate staff. 2.1.3 GRAAC Recruitment - Ana Advertisements with a November 2 deadline were placed in local newspapers as well as at both the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, Conestoga College and to community organizations. Members are encouraged to reapply if their term is up. 2 October 2007 - GRAAC Minutes Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC) Thursday October 25, 2007 2.2Uptown Waterloo Parking Strategy – Kelly Steiss 2.2.1 Formal Presentation Via a PowerPoint Presentation, Kelly reported on the Uptown Waterloo Parking Strategy and highlighted stakeholder comments that are pertinent to GRAAC. A consultant’s report will be presented to Waterloo Council on November 19 and a business plan will be drafted. Kelly noted that the Urban Design Standards document is currently being used by the City of Kitchener only. The City of Waterloo is looking to bring the standards forward to Council for endorsement by the end of the year. ACTION: Members are to send further feedback to Kelly who will forward to Doug Robertson at the City of Waterloo. 3.0CO-CHAIR REPORT 3.1 Council Presentation Overview - Taposhi Taposhi, with the help of Sharon Ward-Zeller, put together a PowerPoint presentation of an overview of GRAAC, explaining what GRAAC is and what it does, which will be used at Council. Members suggested that Arial font be used throughout and that the presentation could be geared to specific councils by focusing on achievements in the various municipalities. Additional pictures of GRAAC members will be added to the presentation. ACTION: Members are to contact Taposhi or Sharon Ward-Zeller if they have any further feedback. 3.2 Bad Weather Policy – Taposhi Brad Ullner recapped the bad weather policy, noting that GRAAC meetings will not be cancelled unless it is a dire emergency (for example, Kitchener City Hall is closed or the universities are closed) at which time Taposhi and Sharon will call members to let them know there will be no meeting. But, members were reminded that, should the weather be poor, not to risk their safety and make their own decision on whether to attend. NOTE: Please call Taposhi and/or Sharon with regrets if anyone decides not to attend, so that chairs can cancel if quorum will not be met. Sharon requested that members provide mobile or cell telephone numbers for use for emergency meeting cancellation purposes only. 3 October 2007 - GRAAC Minutes Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC) Thursday October 25, 2007 4.0 REGION OF WATERLOO PLAN OVERVIEW - Ana Ana distributed a summary of the 2008 Region of Waterloo Accessibility Plan. GRAAC is meeting on October 31 to review the 2008 Region Plan in more detail. 5.0 OTHER BUSINESS 5.1 Sub-Committee Reports 5.1.1 Built Environment (G-BESC) – Kelly Steiss ?The sub-committee has reviewed the Woolwich Memorial Centre which will house a twin pad arena, swimming pool and meeting rooms. As well, they reviewed the Wilson Park concession stand. ?The sub-committee will be making recommendations to the updated version of the Barrier Free Design Standards which will be in the City of Kitchener Urban Design Manual. 5.1.2 Transportation Sub-Committee (G-TSC) – Sharon Giles ?Sharon reviewed the G-TSC list of priorities for 2008 and asked for feedback from members by November 1. ?It was suggested that a representative from Via Rail be invited to attend a GRAAC meeting to update the group on what Via Rail is doing regarding accessibility. Sharon Ward-Zeller and Taposhi will discuss this at their co-chairs meeting. 6.0ADJOURNMENT A motion was made by Chris, seconded by Sharon Giles, to adjourn the meeting at 3:45 p.m. The next meeting will be held on Thursday November 22 at Kitchener City Hall in the Conestoga Room on the main floor from 1:30-4:00 p.m. 4 October 2007 - GRAAC Minutes