HomeMy WebLinkAboutGRAAC-2008-02-28Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC)
Thursday February 28, 2008 Kitchener City Hall, Conestoga Room
PRESENT: Sharon Ward - Zeller (Co-Chair),, Taposhi Batabyal (Co- Chair), Brad Ullner, Saul
Herzog, Myron Steinman, Ken Parker, James Hunsberger, Gordon Cummer, Linda Cole,
Councillor Kelly Galloway, Val Hummel, Ana Popa, Kelly Steiss, Linda Pretty (Recorder)
PRESENT (OTHERS): Al McGregor and Doug Hergott
REGRETS (MEMBERS): Gail Brunsdon, Sharon Giles, Leigh Golden, Darryl Denny,
Councillor Karen Scian
REGRETS (OTHERS):
ABSENT WITHOUT REGRETS: Rosa Bustamante, Councillor Jane Mitchell
1.0 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Sharon welcomed everyone to the February meeting
2.0 APPROVAL OF JANUARY MINUTES AND REVIEW OF FEBRUARY AGENDA
• Ken said that he did not receive the minutes and was advised that they had been
sent out earlier than the agenda package. Myron advised that no reference had
been in the minutes to Myron's question regarding how economically feasible it is
to plow the curb cuts at corners and the answer that it was significantly cheaper
to plow curbs as opposed to entire sidewalks. With the amendments recorded, a
motion was made by Ta posh i, seconded by James that the minutes of the
January meeting be approved. All were in favour; the motion was carried.
• A motion was made by Ken, seconded by Myron, that the agenda of the February
meeting be approved. All were in favour; the motion was carried.
3.0 BUSINESS ARISING
3.1 Access Awareness Week Planning — Request for GRAAC Feedback
Jessica and Laura, Community Services Learning students from WLU, attended
GRAAC to present their ideas for Access Awareness Week. The committee provided
feedback and encouraged them to find opportunities to provide education for the
community with respect to ACCESS Awareness Week. They will look into the
feasibility of this for next year.
3.2 Herrington Group Municipal Audit — Questions for Consideration
Al McGregor from the City of Waterloo and Doug Hergott, Facilities Management with
the City of Kitchener attended the meeting to update GRAAC on progress of the audit
done in 2007. They also asked GRAAC for help in understanding how to move
forward with recommendations and how to prioritize.
February 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 1
Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC)
Thursday February 28, 2008
City of Kitchener and City of Waterloo
• The audit is very detailed with recommendations prioritized from 1 -4 (simple to
complex), with those that can be done simply and inexpensively (1's) to be started in
2008.
• Waterloo Council has allotted $ over three years to address
recommendations in the audit. The total cost to do everything would be over
$1,,000,,000. The cost of following through on recommendations for the City of
Kitchener would be around 1.8 million. Staff will concentrate on priority suggestions.
• Mr. McGregor and Mr. Hergott asked for assistance from GRAAC on how to proceed:
should staff focus on doing one particular priority, or go facility by facility i.e. putting
in automatic doors in all facilities.
• Large scale items (installing elevators, ramps) won't be done with the current
funding, but will be done when renovating and retrofitting buildings, etc.
• Kitchener and Waterloo would save money if tenders could be combined.
• The cost to replace the lighting in the Conestoga Room alone at Kitchener City Hall
would be $30,,000.
• Staff will identify day -day things that can be done possibly out of existing funds.
• The audit looked only at the physical aspects of buildings, not processes, etc.
• Example of priority 1: repainting walls and borders, replacing door pulls at a city
facility; #3 — retrofit a washroom to make an accessible unit.
Suggestions /discussion from GRAAC members were as follows:
• Maybe take one building, complete recommendations and then assess it, or choose
one recommendation and then carry that through all the buildings.
• Council reports will go to GRAAC for comment prior to going to Council.
• Staff should concentrate on arenas, community centres and libraries more than
firehalls as these buildings are used more widely.
• The Herrington Group, who was awarded the contract used the City of Kitchener
Disability Standards as well as their own standards.
• Staff should ensure that renovations help more than one disability, including invisible
disabilities.
• As the whole audit document is too large to be sent out and read by everyone,
Linda, Brad and Amy suggested that an executive summary be sent out to GRAAC so
members can give an educated response to staff.
• Myron and Saul agreed that a model building should be looked at first and then
members could learn from there. Kelly Galloway noted that the Chandler Mowat
Community Centre is pretty close to being up to standard.
• Members were asked to call or e-mail either Doug or Al with comments.
February 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 2
Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee ( GRAAC)
Thursday February 28, 2008
ACTION: Kelly will mail out an executive summary to all members and
Sharon will send a list of buildings that were audited.
4.0 NEW BUSINESS
4.1 GRT Three -year Business Plan Update
GRT staff, Sandy Roberts and Neil Malcolm, Transportation Planner with the Region,
used a PowerPoint Presentation to review the GRT three -year business plan. The
main points noted were:
• GRT plans to increase service and add new rider -ship over the next 3 years.
• The " "I Express ", a popular route that has limited stops will expand.
• The Region is looking at plans for rapid transit, either a light rail or bus service.
• Sandy and Neil distributed " "Comments" sheets and asked GRAAC members to fill
them out if they wished and send back to Neil, or to forward via staff liaison Ana
Popa.
• An " "Easy Go" service will be launched within the next two months.
• Ticket subsidy is different on every route.
• Bus designs are always being researched.
• The public consultation process is not friendly for a person with a disability.
Possibly a consultation could be done at a GRAAC meeting or have a special
meeting with persons with a disability.
• Certain routes have all low floor buses but if a low floor bus isn't available, due to
servicing, etc., a regular bus will be sent.
• New notices have been placed behind the bus operator advising patrons of
priority seating.
ACTION: GRAAC will send comments to GTSC. Ana will collect comments
and send to GRT and will send an e-mail to GRAAC with Sandy and Neil's
contact info.
5.0 CO -CHAIR REPORT — Sharon Ward - Zeller
5.1 Region Housing Implementation Team
The Region Housing Implementation Team is looking at housing needs region -wide
have asked for two representatives from GRAAC. The representatives will be
responsible to report back to GRAAC following a meeting, which will take place every
2 -3 months.
ACTION: Linda, Amy and Myron volunteered to take part in the Housing
Implementation group, with two as members & one as a back up member.
Ana will advise them of the next Housing meeting.
February 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 3
Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC)
Thursday February 28, 2008
5.2 Members' Professional Development
• Approximately five minutes of each GRAAC meeting will be devoted to
professional development for members, with today's Item 7.1 " "ODA /AODA
Overview /Review ". The co- chairs asked members for suggestions for topics to
accurately reflect their needs.
• April 9 has been scheduled as a training day when GRAAC will join other AAC's.
ACTION: GRAAC members are asked to pass on to Co- chairs /staff a
recommendation for items they wish to be addressed.
Staff will send a copy of the ACC training day registration form electronically to
Linda, Gord and Sharon.
6.0 SUB- COMMITTEE REPORTS
6.1 Transportation Sub - committee - Sharon
• As the GRAAC budget is a tax -based fund, staff would have to get approval from
management for any additional line items.
• At the last transportation meeting, the sub - committee drafted a critical path to
present in March for the coming year. The sub - committees also want an annual
meeting or two to get together with GBESC and possibly invite other members to
attend if they are interested, to observe only.
• Roundabouts were discussed at the last meeting — GRAAC members may request
copy of the minutes from Sharon if interested. It hasn't been resolved on how to
cross pedestrian refuge islands safely. Sub - committee members will go on a field
trip in the summer with staff. It was suggested that a staff person attend a
GRAAC meeting to talk about it.
• A question was raised as to whether the location of roundabouts was an official
change — from rural areas to urban settlement areas.
• A traffic management plan is coming forward from the Region.
• Sub - committee members are requesting a change to the Terms of Reference
asking for a 40/6 -0 split on membership. The original Terms of Reference asked
for a 75/25, but want the change to 60/40 to allow greater participation to attract
more interest and a stronger committee. A motion was made by Taposhi,
seconded by Saul, to approve to the change in the Terms of Reference and to
accept Judy Bruyn as a new member on the Transportation Sub - Committee. All
were in agreement and the motion was carried. It was also shared that Amy
Ross is joining both sub - committees.
7.0 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Deferred to March meeting.
February 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 4
Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee (GRAAC)
Thursday February 28, 2008
8.0 OTHER BUSINESS
8.1 Preparation for Co -Chair Elections (March)
Co- chairs for the next year, will be nominated and elected at the March meeting. If
any member is interested in chairing, they should forward their name in writing to
Linda Pretty to attach to the agenda. At the March meeting there will be a call for
interested parties to make a presentation outlining qualifications and then it will be
put to a vote. Val will send information to members via e-mail. Val also moderates
the nomination and election process which is decided by secret ballot. The roles of
co- chairs, etc., are in the Orientation binder.
Amy asked about the current process, noting that there are a lot of new members
this year who do not know any of the members and do not feel qualified to vote.
Following discussion regarding the process, a motion was made by Amy, seconded
by Linda, to defer elections to the June 26 meeting. Six members were in favour,
two abstained and the motion was carried. A motion was made by James,
seconded by Saul that the current co- chairs remain in office to June 26. All were in
favour and the motion was carried.
6.0 ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Linda Cole to adjourn the meeting at 4:15 p.m. All were in
favour; the motion was carried.
The next meeting will be held on Thursday March 27 at Kitchener City Hall in the
Conestoga Room on the main floor from 1:30 -4:00 p.m.
February 2008 - GRAAC Minutes 5