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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-08-2013_Minutes MDACMilton Disability Awareness Committee Meeting Minutes May 8,2013 Committee Members In Attendance: Ken Woods, Van Black, Tass Welch, Renee Catanzaro and Dudley Arnold MDAC Liaison: Sudie Gordon Guests in Attendance: Carrie Bellware and Jim Cregge Tass Welch called the meeting to order. Committee members reviewed the meeting minutes from the April 10, 2013 meeting. Several minor, mostly typographical, edits were recommended. Ken Woods moved to approve the minutes with edits, Van Black seconded the motion, and the revisions to minutes were approved by unanimous vote. Old Business: • Carrie Bellware, North Fulton Senior Services Executive Director, was present to discuss the new center opening in Milton in June 2013. The center will service people ages 60+ and provide meals on a daily basis. All individuals must be capable of caring for themselves or bring own caregivers if needed. The new Senior Center will be open from 8:30 a.m. until 4 :00 p.m. Monday-Friday and will operate at the Community of Christ Church on Francis Road . The center will provide coffee, tea and a light breakfast each morning before activities begin . The Open Hands organization will provide all of the meals for the Senior Center. A new manager has been hired who brings lots of experience and has many connections in the area. The Senior Center is free of charge to all attendees. The program can be shaped in a number of ways depending on what types of people become involved. Exercise classes, health and wellness classes, safety classes, fall prevention classes and shopping trips are amongst the planned activities. • A handicapped accessible van service will be offered by the Senior Center as a mode of transportation for those in need. • The Senior Center of Milton is very interested in becoming well known and connected within the community. • Ken Woods suggested the local business alliance could be helpful in connecting the new Senior Center with the community. • The Milton Senior Center is planning an open house and press releases to announce the opening of the new center. • Volunteers will be needed to help out at Senior Center. MDAC committee members offered to have information on the new center put up on the City of Milton website. • Ken Woods discussed the recent Earth Day event. He said that sidewalks and walkways at the event were very wheelchair friendly. • Jim Cregge agreed that the event was very wheelchair friendly. However, Jim said unloading the climbing wall for recreation was quite challenging. Jim said that he wants to make the park more accessible for large objects before the next big city event. A new service entrance with a 16 foot gate is what Jim feels will solve this problem. • jim discussed Bell Memorial Park and some of the plans pertaining to the redesign of the park. He plans for a wide variety of sporting events to take place at Bell Memorial. He said one of the recent improvements to the park was the addition of three new picnic tables. • Ken suggested that some of the infrastructures at the park look outdated and could use some brightening up. He also added that many of the trails at the park have suffered massive erosion over the years. • jim agreed and says the park is very old and needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. One of the main issues is the park's current lack of wheelchair accessibility. Jim also concurred with Ken on the poor condition of many trails at the park. • Jim announced that public hearings will take place on June 6 th and June 27th to discuss the current state of Bell Memorial Park. • Lighting is also a major issue at the park and Jim wants new quality lighting that also won't disturb surrounding neighbors. • Jim hopes that Bell Memorial Park will ultimately serve as an example of how several others parks in Milton should be redesigned in the future. • MDAC also received an update from Jim on the Deerfield Park Proposal. Jim said the design plan passed at the review board and the grade meets ADA standards. • The Deerfield Property Association is unhappy about some of the double trees in the new design proposal. This apparently violates the associations design standards. • Veterans Memorial Park is the proposed name of this new park. The park will feature an American Flag, a State of Georgia flag and flags representing all branches of the United States Military. • Five fitness zones will also be present throughout the park. These zones will have machines for sit-ups and other exercises. This park will be the first of its kind in North Fulton County. • Jim announced that engraved bricks will be available for purchase. The price will likely be around $35 per brick. • Veterans Memorial Park will have an accessible ADA compliant table and will feature two benches on the outside edge of the park. Green space will be maximized at this park. jim added another caveat of this park will be special flag poles that don't make the typical metal clanking noises. • The park will have three entrances and skateboarding will be prohibited. • Jim added that he wants a memorial plaque to honor Norman Blackwell and "The Heritage of Milton." Ken added that the Hickory Flats Firehouse has lots of historical information on this area and that it might be a great resource for Jim. • The park will feature sidewalks with 5-6 feet of width. Jim says he hopes to have the park opened by October 2013. • Jim thanked members of the MDAC committee for all of the suggestions on various park projects. New Business: • Renee Catanzaro came across some old information on MDAC from when the committee first began. • Lots of information on National ADA laws, people first language and other politically correct terminology was present in this packet. • The value of getting this information into the hands of Milton merchants was discussed. Hope MDAC could be helpful in sharing this educational content without applying pressure or being overbearing to merchants and other members of the Milton area was also talked about. • Tass and Renee discussed the possibility of giving merchants a window sticker for their businesses as a way to symbolize they've been through accessibility training. It was also suggested that MDAC give an information card to merchants in the area with lots of ADA information and facts. • Van suggested he felt it important that MDAC not become a nuisance or another hurdle for businesses to jump. Rather MDAC just continue to educate and be a friend to merchants. • Renee suggested putting some of the People First Language terminology on the City of Milton website. • Tass suggested some general changes on the website about MDAC to make it read better. • Renee also recommended we put some history of MDAC on the website as a way to inform citizens of our mission. • Tass and Renee will be gathering some additional information on this topic for the committee to discuss at the June meeting. • Ken and Tass spoke about the possibility of a "Summer Sabbatical" for MDAC meetings. Committee members agreed to discuss at the June meeting whether or not meetings will be held in July and August. Tass Welch moved to adjourn the meeting. Van Black seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous to adjourn. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 12,2013. Date: