Quarterly Meeting Minutes (Thursday, April 8, 2010)

The Terrace Hotel
329 E. Main Street, Lakeland, FL

MINUTES

Ted Hull, Chair called the meeting to order at 8:45 AM.

Council Members Present:  Ted Hull, Henry Alexander, Rufus Brown, Sheryl Brown, Ben Grzesik, Paul Kaminsky, Robert Kelly, Bruce Miles, Joe Minichiello, Jay Naiman, Dan O’Connor, Dwight Sayer, Sue, Townsend and Joyce Hildreth.

Howard Bell represented CAP.

Council members absent:  Dawn Saunders, Paul Edwards, Jesus Garcia, Brian Johnson, Jodi Lamm

Council Staff: Phyllis Dill

DBS Staff: Antionette Williams, Wayne Jennings, Mary Ellen Ottman

DBS District Staff: Tony Ames, District Administrator, Geraldine Kressin, Supervisor, Kristine Hires, VRC, Mark Grosskopf, VRC,  Tara Reid, RT

Audience: Craig Kiser, Melody Stewart

District Administrator Report – Tony Ames

  • Tampa Lighthouse in Winter Haven
  • Pasco/Hernando Lighthouse
  • Pinellas Lighthouse

Tony introduced Gerry Kressin, Supervisor, in Lakeland, to give the District Administrator’s report.

Gerry’s report included:

  • Lakeland - 114
  • Tampa -107
  • St. Petersburg - 127

Strategic Plan – John Clarkson via teleconference

Joyce introduced John as the new Deputy Director and gave a brief Bio.

John began by asking the Council to ponder the following question during his briefing.

  • What type of communication regarding DBS progress on strategic initiatives would be of most benefit to the Council?

Response:

Director’s Report – Joyce Hildreth

RSA Visit –

DBS Reorganization

Joyce sent out a description of the changes made through reorganization to the Council earlier.  She went over the changes with a brief summary of each.

Bruce Miles moved that the Council send a letter to Mike Gunde and Gregg Luther on their retirement.  Jay Naiman seconded the motion.  Motion passed.

Budget Report and Legislative Update – Kurt Ponchak/Evelyn Perkins

Kurt gave the following update:

Gifts and Donations update:

Evelyn reported:

Break

D.S.O. Update – Craig Kiser

Progress Towards VR Goals – Antionette Williams

Antionette asked Wayne Jennings to give the progress of the VR Goals

Lunch

Meeting resumed at 1:15 PM.

State Plan Review – Antionette Williams

Attachment 4.2 Summary of Input by Council

The input will be revolved around today’s comments and will be updated accordingly.

Attachment 4.10: CSPD

Council Comment:

Ted Hull asked if the policy covered newly hired VR staff not having adequate education.

DBS Response:

Attachment 4.11b: Annual Estimates of Individuals to be Served and Costs of Services

Council Comment:

Council wanted to know what fiscal year was being updated.

DBS Response:

The current federal fiscal year.

Attachment 4.11(c)(4): Goals and Plans Regarding Distribution of Title VI, part B Funds.

No comments or questions from Council

Attachment 4.11(e)(2): Evaluation and Reports of Progress VR and Supported Employment Goals.

Based on RSA’s visit in February, last year’s Goals were not measurable.

No comments or questions from Council

Attachment 4.11(c)(3): Order of Selection

Council Comments:

Certifications Regarding Lobbying - just need the Commissioners signature.

Memorandum to Commissioner - will be updated to include the actual required attachments.

DBS will now incorporate the comments into the State Plan and Phyllis will update attachment 4.2 Council’s comments.

Paul Kaminsky moved that the Planning Committee have final draft approval of the State Plan comments.
Jay seconded the motion.
Motion passed.

Bruce had a comment concerning the unemployment rate being 68.9% nationally and DBS at 68.2%.

Joyce informed him the unemployment rate for the visually impaired was 70% and also, the visually impaired are the highest educated of the disability population.  She also pointed out that blind and visually impaired individuals required “life skills training” and DVR clients did not necessarily need life skills training.

Policy Reviews – Antionette Williams (presented at this time because Silvia Perez had not arrived for her presentation)

Policy 2.24 Participants Requesting New Training

The purpose of the policy is to provide guidelines regarding previously trained and/or successfully closed participants request for new or additional training.

Antionette read the policy to the Council.

  • DBS needs to have an exception policy that covered any unforeseen services not covered by the policy. 
  • Also need to include if something prevents the client from returning to that kind of work.
  • Underemployment conveys the wrong connotation. 
  • DBS needs to advise the client that they can appeal the decision.
  • If there is concern about the client needs to provide written justification for training if they are returning.

Sheryl moved to approve Policy 2.24 with CAPS comments incorporated.
Jay seconded.
Motion passed.

Policy 2.21 Qualifications and Requirements for performing vocational assessments

The purpose of the policy is to provide minimum acceptable standards for those individuals whom the Division utilizes for vocational assessments who are not Certified Vocational Evaluators and gained the Certified Vocational Evaluator, CVE, designation. 

Antionette read the policy to the Council.

Council Comments:

DBS response:

Dwight moved to approve Policy 2.21.
Sheryl seconded
Motion passed.
Policy 2.23  Interns

The purpose of the policy is to provide direction and guidance to the districts when utilizing interns.

Antionette read the policy to the Council.

The requirements that are attached include:  Orientation, Disability etiquette, Overview of DBS, and Observation and Counseling .

Comments from Council:

DBS response:

Sheryl moved to accept Policy 2.23 with the additional recommended changes.
Motion received a seconded
Motion Passed

Comment from Joyce:

Joyce informed the Council that even though the Council approves and accepts Policies, etc. the Division will do everything to honor the input however, the final decision will be made by the Division.

Policy 2.22  Staff serving as an advocate for family member(s)

The purpose of the policy is to provide direction and guidance to staff who serve as an advocate for family member(s) during the rehabilitation process.

Antionette read the policy to the Council.

Joe Minichiello moved to accept Policy 2.22 as read.
Motion received a second
Motion passed.

Lighthouse Pasco/Hernando – Sylvia Perez

Meeting adjourned at 2:30 PM

Friday, April 9, 2010

Ted Hull, Chair called the meeting to order at 8:35 AM.

Council Members Present:  Ted Hull, Henry Alexander, Rufus Brown, Sheryl Brown, Ben Grzesik, Paul Kaminsky, Robert Kelly, Bruce Miles, Joe Minichiello, Jay Naiman, Dan O’Connor, Dwight Sayer, Sue, Townsend and Joyce Hildreth.
Howard Bell represented CAP.

Council members absent:  Dawn Saunders, Paul Edwards, Jesus Garcia, Brian Johnson, Jodi Lamm

Council Staff: Phyllis Dill

DBS Staff: Antionette Williams, Wayne Jennings, Mary Ellen Ottman,

DBS District Staff: Tony Ames, District Administrator

Approval of January Minutes – Phyllis Dill

Agenda Items for July 2010 meeting in Ocala – Phyllis Dill

Phyllis informed the Council of a Joint Meeting between FRCB, DBS and FAASB on July 28th at 4:00 PM.  The 28th is the travel day for the FRCB meeting not the 27th.

On-Going agenda items:

Additional Agenda Items for July:

Robert Kelly gave a summary about the Joint Meeting:

Location of April 2011 meeting – Phyllis Dill

Jay Naiman moved to have the April 2011 meeting in Miami.
Dwight seconded the motion.
Motion passed.

Action Items –  Phyllis Dill

Phyllis sent the January Action Items to Council earlier.  She read the document to the Council.

Tampa Lighthouse/ Polk County– Winter Haven –    Sheryl Brown

Vision Summit – Robert Kelly

Jay Naiman moved to invite Representative Kurt Kelly to the July meeting in Ocala.
Joe Minichiello seconded the motion.
Motion passed.

Advocacy Booklet

Deaf-Blind Rep Justification – Phyllis Dill

Dwight Sayer moved that Ted Hull and Paul Edwards create a Resolution and letter for the Deaf-Blind representative to go with the packet to the Governor.
Joe Minichello seconded the motion.

Ted asked Dwight to also assist.

Motion passed.

Open Discussion

Joyce made suggestions for structure in handling the Public Forum:

Dan spoke about a problem in districts concerning assessments determining certain things (attention deficit, autism, etc.) and that the typical provider is not able to do if the individual is totally blind. 

Sheryl read a letter from a consumer having such a problem as Dan mentioned.

The Council was informed that this was on the DBS Strategic Plan.

Meeting adjourned at 10:05 AM.

Respectfully submitted,

Phyllis Dill, AAII, Council Staff

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