Dearborn Commission on Disability Concerns

Ford Performing Arts Center, Studio A
Public Meeting Minutes
February 19, 2004

Commissioners & Staff:
Cathy McAdam
Dale Swanson
Gary Filiak
Nancy Bower
Mary Hodak
Mona Ramouni
Kurt Giberson, Director of DPW 
Susan Fitzmaurice, ADA Coordinator
                                 
Excused:                          
Claudia Damian                  
Cheryl Kreger
Kim B. Hetrick
Jane Thomas
Sonya Tishler
Mike Frankhouse

Guests:
Gary Thompson, reporter Times Herald
James Beckes, Dearborn Handicappers
Ray Roberson, Nat. Federation for the Blind
Bill Phillips
Steve Dakkak

Approval of agenda:
Commissioner Dale Swanson: I vote to accept the agenda as revised. Commissioner Nancy Bower seconded. Unanimous approval.

Approval of minutes:
Commissioner Dale Swanson: I vote to approve minutes as written. Commissioner Nancy Bower seconded. Unanimous approval.

Michigan Avenue Construction:
Ray Roberson, representing National Federation For The Blind: 1300 block near Verizon Wireless/ Big Boy is the worst area. The light poles have not been capped, and sharp drop-offs remain.

James Beckes, Doesn’t understand why such a hazard is allowed to exist. 5 bus stops no longer exist between Schaeffer and Miller. No Parking signs held down by sandbags near Fordson Cleaners - sign was removed, but sandbags remain and are a hazard. Fordson to Oakman sidewalk closed but the closure is a hazard as its limits cannot be perceived by people who are blind.

Kurt Giberson, Director DPW: Said he was also concerned, we need to problem solve solutions. Asked about the final grade of the street as well as the temporary grade.

Was DDOT contacted about their bus stops? Did they initiate the move of the bus stop?

Bill Phillips Does not know how or why DDOT sign is where it is now. He will look into it.

Giberson: What is the slope of the pedestrian walkway?

Steve Dakkat: It is actually a nonpedestrian walk way. It will eventually be complete and be a walkway, but currently it should not be used as a walkway. It is at the slope it is now for drainage needed during construction.

Mike Frankhouse: There is a 7 or 9 inch curb height. Temporary curb is in place during construction. This year all the final curbing will be completed and be ADA compliant.

Commissioner Gary Filiak: What about the no parking sign that had toppled over?

Mike Frankhouse: That sign has been removed.

James Beckes: There are sand bags left behind that create a danger.

Bill Phillips: I will personally go pick them up after this meeting and get rid of them or place them elsewhere as needed.

James Beckes: At the Sunoco Station the concrete is poured, but the SMART stop has not been restored.

Bill Phillips: SMART provides the signs. They do not have a sign for this location and do not place signs in construction zones.

Also noted that the steep nonpedestrian walkway is temporary - necessary to maintain traffic during winter.

Mike Frankhouse: The grade of the closed sidewalk is steeper than expected for the final sidewalk. MDOT guidelines were followed.

Current steep driveways will not be final until the end of 2004. When fully reconstructed will be flatter than ADA requires.

Temporary sidewalk/ pedestrian path when all completed will be ADA compliant. Construction prevents pedestrian area to be used during construction, but it will have textured pavement and be ADA compliant when complete.

1 bus stop at SW corner of Lois was requested by SMART as the only remaining stop between Schaefer and Oakman. This is a temporary location. No permanent ADA compliant (ramp?) at this location as it is temporary during construction only.

James Beakes: There is a DDOT bus stop on Jonathan - poor location and a safety hazard. Not a previously existing stop.

The grade between Oakman and Miller is a very steep grade- why? Before it was level and flat- why the change?

Mike Frankhouse: The road between Schaeffer and Miller was lowered due to the need for drainage.

Cathy McAdam: it is reasonable to expect that light poles be capped, and barriers be placed properly...?

Mike Frankhouse: Yes. Also he stated he would look into adding extra sandbags to keep the barrier at the edge of the nonpedestrian walkway in place.

Kurt Giberson: The city can provide parking blocks to place under the barricades so that something will be at sidewalk level.

Susan Fitzmaurice: What about Braille signs to inform people who are blind about the detour they should use?

Commission Chair Cathy McAdam: Doubted blind people would know where the signs were.

Mike Frankhouse: Please contact us if you have any further questions.

Cathy McAdam: Reiterated that Mike Frankhouse agreed to follow-up with SMART and DDOT regarding bus stops and additional barricades at nonpedestrian walkway entrances.

EXECUTIVE REPORT
Kurt Giberson said that the Snow library and Ford auditorium project was near the top of the purchasing pile to be approved. The purchasing department has lost several department members temporarily or permanently of late and 2 new part-time employees have been employed.

There were walk-thru inspections of the new City Hall bathrooms. After clean-up there will be a few final changes.

James Beckes: Commented that ice had been a problem at all the bus stops near Military.

ADA Coordinator Susan Fitzmaurice highlighted the enclosed report. She added a budget question to Dale about having not received a bill for the pianist at DAD. He said that Dearborn Community Arts Council had paid her and had just not requested our partial payment yet.

ADA COORDINATOR REPORT  -  * Notes REVISED  from January 15, 2004 canceled meeting
• CITY HALL
Bathroom remodeling has begun. A note will go out imminently/ or has gone out detailing the anticipated remodeling schedule. *ON schedule - almost done.
Counter lowering continues one department at a time.
• LIBRARY
The architect and I have been told the Library project is very close to being approved to start.
• BUDGET and DAD
We have $402. remaining in our special account.
A new procedure is now in place that should anyone request the use of “Barrier Free” funds I will be notified.
• ASSISTIVE LISTENING
Courtroom 1 and 2 are set up and ready to be used. Courtroom 4 is set-up to use our mobile assistive listening. Courtroom 3 could not be checked as its electrical closet is also the narcotics evidence room - it will be taken care of in the next few weeks as scheduling permits. *Completed using narcotics closet.
I will be coordinating with Julie Pucci developing an alternative format policy for the courts, setting up a procedure to request and store the assistive listening devices, or train personnel. •Julie reports assisted listening is being used.  The bailiff announces that is available before each trial.
I have purchased an assistive listening device that is reasonably inexpensive to see if there might be ways in which it might be useful to us.
I’ll be trying it out today. I am thinking of it being placed where traditional AS would never be used, but perhaps this could work. One place I am thinking of is the Mayor’s Conference Room. * It works great. Also needed at each library, and the police station.
• TTY
I have continued to call department TTYS on a monthly basis and we are getting closer to everyone using the uniphone more easily. We have started to receive phone calls from the public utilizing the TTYS.* 100% this month
• VOTING
By the end of February all City Clerks must evaluate (req. by the State) every polling place route for accessibility; that is the parking, the path from the parking to the building, and the entrance to the building. Later they will also have to evaluate every polling place site. There have been organizations (mostly CILS, but also others) invited to be trained to make the assessment on request of the city Clerk. I attended the training as a part of the Wayne County CIL.
•ALTERNATIVE FORMAT
As recommended by the Executive Committee, I have spoken to Mary Laundroche about developing a city wide policy, and developing a procedure to make all city publications available in alternative format. She and I will be meeting after the 75th anniversary birthday launch party hoopla is over. * Our meeting has been delayed until the end of March die to other important mayoral business Mary must attend to first.
• ADA COMPLAINT FORM
I have been in contact with the city legal department and the mayor’s office in regards to a complaint procedure. I have not yet heard back from legal regarding any liability that we might take on if or how we did log complaints. The Mayor’s Office is planning on creating a new online database to log complaints to the city and I am included in those discussions to take place beginning in later January.* This discussion has been delayed, but I will be included when it does take place.
• COMPLAINTS & REQUESTS FOR INFO RECEIVED
We are receiving several phone calls most days and at least one email a week. Some are coming from community members and some are interdepartmental. An example of one in the process of resolution is a complaint against Miller’s Bar having no accessible parking. Others have been investigated and found without merit such as a ramp thought to be too narrow on Baily. Some requests for info have been forwarded to commissioners such as one to Claudia by an senior who is hard of hearing.• Few calls this month. A few about snow/ ice removal.
• WEBSITE
Website has been evaluated by a new free accessible web evaluation service and a few design changes were made on their recommendations. The site should now be error-free.
I have considered adding some counters to the home page or all the pages to see how many people actually visit the pages - but no counters have been created that are accessible, so I have hesitated. Any opinion? * Itsamac ( our ISP server) will add invisible counter March 1. We will get monthly reports versus visible counters.
• YAHOO
The Yahoo list has been taken down due to a virus. The virus appears to have been found and contained. We now need to decide if we want to A. Start up the Yahoo page again, B. Use the Ikonboard I set up as an experiment, C. Utilize the second Yahoo page more fully than we do now, D. Some other alternative. * Itsamac is supposed to be introducing a listserv component on March 1- no details yet.


CHAIR REPORT & EDUCATION REPORT  (See both written reports at end)
Commission Chair Cathy McAdam discussed the conference Commissioner Sonya Tishler wanted to attend. We have money in the budget to cover her expenses. Others need to think about conferences they might want to attend. Susan has distributed a few conference announcements at the chair’s request.

Commissioner Dale Swanson: I vote that we approve to sponsor Sonya Tishler’s attendance at this conference and reimburse her expenses up to $1, 000.00. Seconded by Commissioner Mary Hodak. Unanimous approval.

Commission Chair Cathy McAdam discussed new small expenditures policy that the executive board wanted the commission to consider.

Commissioner Gary Filiak: I vote that a $300 limit for small expenditures with consultation with the chair be able to be made by the ADA Coordinator without Commission approval. Seconded by Commissioner Nancy Bower. Unanimous approval.

City web site still not ADA compliant. Still under consideration to give the city back the operation of the website if and when it does become ADA compliant.

As an executive committee we have discussed a self-evaluation plan. We want this year to have a strong focus on creating a city-wide alternate format policy in place and look at accessibility needs in park and Recreation.

The voting survey information should have been received by the City Clerk this week. No funds will be released for the purchase of new voting machines unless these surveys are completed. With the survey material the Clerk will receive a list of organizations that have volunteered to help complete the surveys. In Wayne County this includes the Blue Water/ Wayne County CIL and the Commission. Susan will send an email renewing our willingness to help with the voting surveys. Mary, Gary, and Dale volunteered to help do the surveys.

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Executive Committee meetings - 12/4/03
I. Web page: Rethinking connection to city web page (will be able to assess when the new city page is posted). Susan will continue to maintain our page and accurate links.
II. ADA coordinator job duties and tasks, agreed to meet again to job duties *12/18/03
III. Plan for self-evaluation and plan for barrier free funds. We agreed to ask the commission to consider alternative formats a priority while looking for other physical access and communication concerns.
We discussed small expenditures and ways of streamlining the approval process so the ADA coordinator can move forward. We are recommending that she be allowed to move forward with items up to $300 without commission approval with the understanding that the ADA coordinator speak regularly (weekly), to update the commission chair on any expenditures.
12/18/03
We went through the ADA job duties beginning to prioritize, redefine, or blend with commission committees in preparation for our strategic plan.
Serves as liaison between the Commission on Disability Concerns, City departments, the public, external organizations, groups and individuals.
Receives and responds to calls, email and other communication from citizens, City departments and various external sources regarding the needs and concerns of the disabled community.
Will refer to commissioners if needed but will independently handle and track complaints
To create a complaint form
Updates the Commission’s website and develops other informational, educational and public relations materials to promote public education and awareness.
Primary PR will be through PR committee
Works closely with City departments and the Mayor's staff to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and promote the full integration and participation of disabled persons.
High Priority! To take more independent initiative
Researches opportunities for alternative funding sources, develops proposals for Commission consideration and implements programs as directed.
Coordinates and monitors citywide ADA compliance efforts including self-evaluation surveys for assessing compliance, and provides advice and recommendations to promote accessibility.
High priority to recommend an evaluation plan to the commission (Priorities alternative format, accessible parks?)
As the city's designated ADA Coordinator, the position manages implementation of City Transition Plan (ADA compliance) and coordinates other short- and long-range plans developed through the Commission.
High priority
Communicates with vendors, architects, consultants and related professionals involved in Commission activities.
Compiles databases, develops program tracking systems, completes analyses and presents status reports to the Commission.
Executive committee will help in creating a reporting spreadsheet
Attends Commission meetings and records minutes or assumes other duties of Commission secretary as designated.
To monitor time and clarify how much time clerical duties is used.

Education/ Employment Committee Meeting
January 12, 2004 - Read 2/04
Present:
Cathy McAdam, Dale Swanson, Nancy Bower, Cheryl Kreger
Minutes:
The Charter was revised and tentative goals for the education committee were discussed for next year.
There was some discussion of the strategic plan process in general.
Education and Employment Committee Charter:
To be a resource to the City of Dearborn, its citizens, businesses, and administration regarding the educational and employment needs of our citizens who have disabilities
To continue disability education and awareness, including sensitivity training for local businesses, educational institutions, and city agencies.
To advocate for full participation of Dearborn citizens with disabilities in Dearborn’s educational programs and services
To advocate for policy practices which promote the city’s recruitment and employment of people with disabilities
To continue disability programming for local citizens, including events such as Dearborn Disability Awareness Day and the Town Hall Meeting
To create and maintain a local educational resource list and a collection of informational materials related to persons with disabilities
To advocate for full access to library programs and services for people with disabilities.********************************

ACCESSIBILITY  COMMITTE ( Written Report Provided)
PRESENT and ON-GOING ISSUES
Signage for City buildings and the Police Van at the Homecoming. Proper placement of tty equipment and storage of FM systems in various departments e.g. courts, libraries and the PAC.

Court Accessibility: Contact with the 19th District Court’s Administrator has been progressive; and Susan and LegaI will continue to work with Mr. Doyne Jackson. The National Association of the Deaf Law Center has a great site about court accessibility for the public and employees and has offered to answer any questions we may have about accessibility issues.

Mr. Robert Creamer, who is the Chief Inspector for new construction/renovations, gave me his cards (at the Home Coming) and asked to be informed of our concerns with any new construction or renovations needed within the City PRIOR to them actually being done. He expressed an interest in visitability issues.
Michigan TTY Service and Interpreter Directory 2003 from the Division On Deafness and Hard of Hearing. I gave copies of the listing of interpreters in Michigan to the 19th District Court and to Det. Fred Stanton of the Dearborn Police Department. Also a copy to Susan.

Resources Listings: Continual review of and updating for our web site.

Library access: Physical wheelchair access to the auditorium and FM systems available for movie goers. Also slant of the auditorium floor may be a concern for wheelchairs users. Computer accessibility. Use of the Red Notebook and help for the deaf and hard of hearing to get information and access services and programs. Also placement of a public TTY in the lobby and use of Uniphones upstairs.

Home Coming: accessible parking and pathways to booths, rides, and eating tents. TTY access and signage for the deaf and hard of hearing at the Police Van; booth set-up and accessibility (Gary Filiak); materials in alternative formats (large print, Braille). Also now looking for Arabic translation of materials. Also need to address the incident of carnival ride providers not wanting disabled children or adults (?) enjoying the rides unless they sign a waiver, This is a discriminatory procedure and the Commission is looking towards some resolution of this practice prior to 2004 Homecoming.

A Training Tree (as suggested by Paul Klink) must be set up among City departments to ensure that all staff may use the Uniphones to communicate with residents and customers know how to use the Uniphones properly. Such a Training Tree will give employees on hands experience in handling calls with people who are Deaf, hard of hearing and who may use Voice Carry over and Hearing Carry Over.

Continuing education about accessibility, behavior/attitudes/service towards the disabled and ADA compliance will have the approval of the Access Committee. In House training sessions for City staff who have contact with disabled residents and visitors to the City. Contact: Bob Ziolkowski.

Town Hall Meeting: We must continue to have town hall meetings where residents can air their concerns, learn about what is being done in the City, learn and participate with our Commission, and get written or Brailed materials to learn more about disability issues and how to resolve problems. Residents must be empowered to bring their concerns forward and help the City to resolve issues.
Outreach to area businesses and tourist attractions (Greenfield Village) and Train Station planners. We must show our support for local businesses and individuals who make changes in their buildings, programs and services to include the disabled. Accessibility issues and ADA guidelines should be addressed by the Access and Education Committees before any structural building is done or completed; hopefully in the initial planning stages because of the high costs of making changes after the fact.

Voting: Continue to monitor polls and educate the volunteers and staff of the City Clerk’s Office about the need to have items out for voters i.e. rulers, magnifying glasses, an adjustable voting table, proper signage, accessible hallways, proper voting equipment. Give advice in the future purchase of voting equipment for the City. Look at the issues of security with the Diebold Company. Note any public complaints about accessibility to the polls.

Wheelchair ramp with a rail as used at the Disability Awareness Day event. Funds are needed to cover the cost of the ramp. Coordinate with the ADA Coordinator for the possible availability of funds. Businesses who also cover or contribute to the printing costs of materials in alternative formats should have their business logos on the materials.

Emergency Preparedness: meeting with Lt. Jeff Mrowka, who is the City of Dearborn’s emergency Preparedness Coordinator. We are addressing issues of education of all residents and especially the disabled and seniors. Promote the City’s website. Possibility of constructing a voluntary list of resident’s names and addressed, phone numbers and general medical information to assess who should be reached first or contacted first in an emergency situation. Also looking at the use of public and private properties for warming and cooling centers; emergency contact centers; food and water and medical supply distribution. Also the need to get emergency information out to the public on radio (privately owned stations and HFCC/public stations, tv, and on CDTV. To encourage the use of closed captioning on CDTV and other tv stations.

CDTV: use of closed captioning and descriptive tv services for the deaf, hard of hearing and the blind. Voicing of emergency captions that may be scrolling across the bottom of the tv screen.

Made contact with the Michigan Commission on Disability Concerns via Gerry Mutty (now retired) and Chris Hunter (Director of the DOD). Presented information about our Commission and what we are accomplishing in Dearborn.

Review of items with the PAC such as seating, wheelchairs use, lighting on the steps of the auditorium, Braille on exercise equipment, etc. Addressing these issues with Mr. Greg Orner, Director of the PAC. Sharing information about programs and services with the PAC staff. Possible future training of PAC on how to work with customers who are disabled and working with family members. Future use of the PAC facilities with the Michigan Sports program with Kevin Mitchell. Had a meeting and did work on some resolutions of items and will continue to work with the PAC staff.

VISITABILITY TASK FORCE ( Written Report Provided)
The Visitability Task force (VT) met at the DPW offices on the afternoon of January 8, 2004, at 2:00 PM. All members (Claudia Damian, Christian Mageli, Dale Swanson, Kim Hetrick [chair]) were notified of the meeting, as well as the Chairman of the Commission, Cathy McAdam, and the ADA Coordinator, Susan Fitzmaurice.

Attending: Claudian Damian, Dale Swanson, Kim Hetrick, Susan Fitzmaurice
Discussed: Is there still a need for the task force, and what is the direction the Visitability Task force should follow, taking into account current Michigan building code law?

All present agreed that there is still a need for the task force, for encouraging changes in current Michigan law, and helping city departments work with builders to encourage the advancement of Visitability in Dearborn.

Members of the Task force are asked to consider important points for a new Task force mission statement.

Discussed: How should we approach our goals? We have received information regarding efforts to coordinate the activities of community Visitability committees and taskforces throughout the state.

All present agreed that efforts should be made to contact the Flint-based group that is trying to get various municipal Visitability organizations working together to change state law. We will continue to work independently, but efforts to cooperate with multi-city groups should be more effective than trying to maintain independence,î as we can still work independently, regardless. Coordinator Fitzmaurice will continue her efforts to make contact.

Coordinator Fitzmaurice will also contact the Governors office and the Secretary of States office, so that the VT can support any programs they have going to effect change at or prior to the three-year building code revision.

Cooperation with the Building dept. and David Norwood resulted in an offer to offer builders a reduction or elimination of fees is they file and utilize plans to build or remodel homes based on visitability standards. A meeting with local builders had been planned to publicize and promote this program, but the meeting was called without notifying the VT, as agreed. This meeting needs to be planned again, and carried through on.

Kim Hetrick will be leaving the task force, effective immediately following the January Commission meeting, although he will be available for consultation and public speaking, if necessary. The new chair of the Task force will call the next meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENTS
Gary Thompson introduced himself as a reporter from Times Herald.

DISABILITY AWARENESS DAY & PR COMMIITTEE ( see written report at end):
Commission Nancy Bower: I think we should combine Town Hall with DAD as mostly the same people attend both events. We need to have an event to keep the momentum going, but not awards every year.

Commission Chair Cathy McAdam; Awards are important, maybe just not as many.

Commissioner Mary Hodak: We need more sponsors. Maybe have raffles and gifts. At the senior events people love to stay around to see what they can win.

Susan Fitzmaurice: More involvement needed by more commissioners earlier on.

Commissioner Gary Filiak: Dearborn Community Arts Council really wants to be more involved.

Commissioner Dale Swanson: Yes, they are really excited to be a part of it again and are already making plans.

Commission Chair Cathy McAdam: We need to coordinate and have a co-effort with the city.

Commissioner Dale Swanson: I motion that we combine Disability Awareness Day and Town Hall on October 20, 2004. Seconded by Mary. Unanimous approval.

Commissioner Mary Hodak: Town Hall exhausting - would like it on a smaller scale -with smaller group discussions.

Commissioner Dale Swanson: We need to send out a letter to vendors (see attached) and get them to put the date in their calendar. People are already asking about the date.

Commission Chair Cathy McAdam: We need a good mix of profits and nonprofits. Good to send letter out ASAP.

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Public Relations and Awards Committee
Report for 1/15/04, Read 2/04
After discussing vendor and participation turnout and positive evaluations from vendors, workshop attendees and participants, the PR and Awards Committee recommends that the Commission again present “Pathway to Possibilities,” a Dearborn Disability Awareness Day, with some format changes and other improvements. Some suggested format changes include one keynote speaker and fewer workshops

One area improvement we discussed was improving the experience for the deaf and hard of hearing. If the Commission wants to do the event we will work closely with Claudia and others from the deaf and hard of hearing community to make it better.

We felt the Awards program went well but want to work towards more involvement by the community.We also discussed working more closely with the volunteers (who did a tremendous job!) to ensure that they are in the areas they are needed most. We also discussed more involvement early on by other Commissioners and/or Committees.

We discussed a lot of other things we’d like to tweak, but that’s enough for today! We need to vote on this today. If we’re doing this again, we need to get rolling.
We also discussed our charter, our accomplishments and future goals. This resulted in the following draft of our new charter:•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

STRATEGIC PLANNING
Discussion of whether to try to do it as part of a meeting or to set aside a special date. It was decided we needed a special date. Commission Chair Cathy McAdam would get with Commissioner Cheryl Kreger to decide on some potential dates and send them out via email to see about everyone’s availability.

COMMISSIONER REPORTS

Commission Chair Cathy McAdam: We are now Chamber of Commerce members.

Commissioner Gary Filiak: heard about a wheelchair basketball game to late to go. We as a commission should be made aware of such events so we can go to them or help advertise them. How can we be kept up to date on disability related events scheduled by the city? Dale will look into this as part of the PR committee.

Commissioner Dale Swanson: plans to start an e-news. Mona will help. It will be distributed by email and in alternative format upon request. Content created by PR committee with input from all. Susan will put together an email list. It will include a quarterly report by Susan. April 1st will be first issue. Cathy discussed the need for a confidential list serve.

Commissioner Mona Ramouni: Still no contact from ACCESS. Certified translator who is the editor of a nonpolitical Arab-American newspaper has offered to help us with translation. Susan and Mona will follow-up.

Commissioner Nancy Bower: Now working with an outpatient counseling service through the Chronic Illness Coalition. Also does workshops.

Commissioner Mary Hodak: Senior Health Expo coming up March 25th 10-1 at PAC. Also Healthorama at PAC April 29th 9-3. She will set up table as before. Suggested we get Senior Center more involved with DAD.

Commission Claudia Damian ( Written Report Provided)
January 15, 2004 Commission Meeting Notes by Claudia Damian, Commissioner
TTY calls for weeks from 10/05/03 to 1/22/04. Twelve tests were done. Four calls did not go through to the TTY. There were some problems on tone recognition from my TTY to the Dispatch Center and during the last test call, the TTY was reset and this made for a successful TTY to 911 call with no problem.

Via Peggy Drake, I have been in contact with persons of the Dearborn Heights Police Department. Since they have moved into a new facility, employees are still becoming acquainted with the new equipment and there was some confusion as to what the TTY line(s) are capable of inside of the Centrex system and outside (residential) the system. I encouraged contact with Mr. Paul Klink and to review administrative problems, solutions for better service to the public, training of staff, and having a volunteer(s) test the system on a bi-weekly basis as it is done in Dearborn.

Later, I spoke with Officers in charge of the technical end of communications. I cannot train their staff and it was stated a person was appointed to do the training with the dispatchers' unit. I cannot test their tty/911 number because that 911 number goes directly to the city dispatcher center. I did call the police tty number and could not get thru; a message came back to me to check the area code and re-dial the number. I suggested a training tree be set up.

I spoke to another Officer who explained that the new Dearborn Heights Police Department Dispatch Center has TTYs built into their new Motorola consoles for each dispatcher. All the dispatcher has to do is identify the tones as coming from a TTY and flip a switch. The console then switches to a TTY modem. The dispatcher gets the person’s address and TTY number on the screen. This is a problem with Dearborn’s Center: not being able to access someone’s address or tty number for a call back or follow up since our tty is on a dedicated line separate from the dispatcher’s console. It is Federal Law to have TTYs for each dispatch console but Paul Klink had previously related how the finances were not yet available for such new consoles.

Then I was told that Dearborn Heights, Inkster, Garden City, Livonia, Westland and Canton are all becoming part of the “800 club” in Wayne County along with other counties in the State and Dearborn is not. Being part of the “800 club” means that each of these police departments will be able to connect with one another by being on the same radio frequencies and can go national “with a flick of a switch” in case of a national disaster. Dearborn has apparently (from what I was told) chosen not to be a part of the “800 club” possibly because of the expense entailed in such a system. I was told that our former Police Chief and the Present Chief were not interested in becoming part of such a system.

Of course, I cannot make a judgment about such a system and the pro’s and con’s but felt it necessary to include this information in my Commission Report. Perhaps our ADA Coordinator can relate this information to the City’s Legal Department, especially about meeting the Federal Guidelines to have TTYs as part of each Dispatcher’s console. Could funds be acquired through the Homeland Security Program?

Susan referred a resident who had called her Office about Assistive Listening Devices for the Hard of Hearing. I called the number and spoke to the son of the hard of hearing woman. It is very important for consumers to make wise purchases of ALDs because of personal need and high cost of equipment. I sent them a Harris Communications Catalog, information about how to use a hearing aid properly, how to use a T-coil for telephone use, and what types of equipment are available for telephone usage. We got the closed captioning working on her television right away. I also sent information about the Self Help for Hard of Hearing people support group at Garden City Hospital and the support group at the PAC. I emphasized how important contact and communication with other people having the same types of loss are for anyone, especially senior citizens. Once seniors become isolated due to something like hearing loss, suicide rates go up sharply.

I also sent information about our Commission and my biography from the web site to these people. The son called and thanked me for everything. I encouraged him to call me at home or through the Office if he had any other concerns. CAD: 1/22/04

ADA Coordinator Susan Fitzmaurice: Announced her plans for a disability film festival with the Blue Water CIL.

Commission Chair Cathy McAdam Adjourned meeting at 4:47 PM. Commissioner Dale Swanson seconded. Unanimous.