FLORIDA REHABILITATION COUNCIL FOR THE BLIND (FRCB)
QUARTERLY MEETING MINUTES

Hampton Inn & Suites Vilano Beach
95 Vilano Road
Tallahassee, Florida

Friday May 13, 2016

Meeting called to order at 9:10 AM with the Pledge of Allegiance following roll call.

Council Members Present: 14
Robert Kelly, Ben Grzesik, Mickey Wiseman, Patricia Lipovsky, Sylvia Perez, Vicky Magliocchino, Lenora Martin, Bruce Miles, Donte Mickens, Robert Doyle, Jesus Garcia, Charles Brooks, Gloria Mills, Sandra Burke

Council Members Absent: 1
 Leanne Grillot

Council Staff: 1
Selena Sickler

DBS Staff: 1
Tom Austin

Attendees: 2
Paul Edwards, Howard Bell

Council Business

Approval of February Minutes

Patricia Lipovsky moved and Gloria Mills seconded the motion to approve the February 2016 meeting minutes.  The motion was approved unanimously.

Agenda Items for July 27-29, 2016 – Nominations were made to include the following items:

Location and Date of May, 2017 Meeting

Bruce Miles moved and Charles Brooks seconded the motion to have the meeting in Ocala (District 3).

Discussion

The council had a discussion and decided District 3 had been represented with recent meetings in Jacksonville and St. Augustine.  A vote was taken and the motion didn’t pass.

Motion: Sylvia Perez moved and Patricia Lipovsky seconded the motion to have the meeting in Pensacola.

Discussion
The council had a discussion regarding Pensacola and Panama City. 

Sylvia Perez amended her motion to have the meeting in District 1. A vote was taken and it passed unanimously with determination to be made between Pensacola and Panama City.

Bruce Miles moved to have the meeting on May 9, 10, and 11.  Bruce amended his motion for May 10, 11, 12 of 2017 and Patricia Lipovsky seconded the amended motion. The motion passed unanimously. Mikey Wiseman suggested Fort Walton.

Florida Rehabilitation Council Report

Mikey Wiseman presented a report to the council.  A summary is below.

 A major topic of discussion included the State Plan.  He reported that Vocational Rehabilitation is focusing on transition programs and pre-employment programs. He indicated that much effort was being made to collaborate with other agencies and develop partnerships. Mikey indicated there was a freeze on hiring employees and plans on expanding in some districts are halted specifically Fort Lauderdale. Mikey indicates there is no waiting list on Category 1 and 2 and only a few districts had Category 3 delays.

Term Vacancies/Appointments: Robert Doyle

Robert Doyle reported that he had the name of a person to contact at the governor’s office about the status of appointments but was waiting until all applications had been submitted.

Expiring Terms on August 31, 2016

Seat Vacancies:

Robert Kelly states that he knew of an application that was submitted for the CRP position. He urged Vicky Magliocchino to have FDBA help to find a replacement for her position. Vicky stated that she sent applications to 3 different people. Robert Doyle stated that the Governor’s office would like to have several applications to choose from instead of only one. Robert Kelly urged the council members to reapply and notify DBS. Robert Doyle suggested to submit applications through DBS.

Motion:

Mikey Wiseman made a motion that council members should reapply within 10 days and Donte Mickens seconded the motion.  The motion passed.

Travel Authorizations and Travel Arrangements:

There was a discussion between the council members regarding concerns over members being held responsible for the cost of unused airline tickets purchased prior to the FRCB meeting. Robert Kelly suggested to look at other options of purchasing transportation tickets that would eliminate the member having to absorb the loss of funds. Mikey Wiseman suggested putting aside one to two thousand dollars in a fund to cover unforeseen circumstances. Bruce Miles recalled a discussion during the February 2016 meeting regarding the idea of the State purchasing tickets and could reuse them if something should happen.  Robert Doyle reported that a memo was submitted to the Commissioner’s office requesting approval to do direct bill for purchase of airline tickets, trains, and other transportation and approval was given. Jesus Garcia offered to provide DBS with the Florida Independent Living Council travel agent information. Paul Edwards reported that a discussion had taken place at the Division of Blind Services Foundation Board Meeting and there were some that felt that given the responsibilities of the foundation with husbanding the funds under their control there were some questions as to whether it would be appropriate for the foundation to be used to create these funds.  A decision wasn’t made and we postponed any discussion till after what was discussed here.

Review Manual related to FRCB Meeting Planning

Discussion
The council had a discussion regarding the recent deviation from protocol in planning for the FRCB meeting. There was debate among the council members.   A suggestion was presented for the council to have more input into the process of meeting location.  Robert Kelly suggested to have a dialogue regarding the criteria and suggested the council could provide some guidance to DBS about the protocol.  Robert Kelly requested that all members review the FRCB Meeting Planning Manual and add the topic to the next meeting agenda to discuss any proposed amendments.

Old Business

Discussion
The council had a discussion regarding IPhone training.  There was debate as to whether a task force had been established and the council expressed many differences of opinion.   The council agreed that IPhone training was an important skill in navigating life and that further discussion was needed to identify various ways to meet the broad needs of consumers. Robert Kelly proposed adding the discussion as an agenda item and suggested the council hear from DBS about its current policy and practice, gather information about what we know about implementation of that policy, and try to help us find a way forward.
New Business
No New Business

Open Discussion

Charles Brooks reported to the council two separate circumstances regarding rude behavior demonstrated by DBS employees. One incident Mr. Brooks witnessed personally and the other involved The Florida Council for the Blind President.  The first incident occurred when a DBS counselor was rude and hung up on FCB President who called the DBS office looking for information about a blind individual he found sleeping in a truck. The other incident occurred when the DBS Counselor in the Orlando office contacted Mr. Brooks to inform him of an individual she was recommending get involved with the Greater Orlando Council for the Blind.  Mr. Brooks inquired about the person’s name and the counselor refused to disclose the information and subsequently hung up the phone.  The council recommended follow-up within the division to better understand the issue and requested feedback at the next council meeting. Tom Austin agreed.
 
 Discussion
A council member inquired about the protestors who were demonstrating in front of The Florida School for the Deaf and Blind.  Vicky Magliocchino reported that many deaf parents are upset because of the lack of communication between teachers and the deaf children.  There are a number of teachers and supervisors in the dorms that do not know sign language. The parents feel like their concerns are not being heard so they decided to set up a protest. Currently, the school president and the parents are in talks to try and improve the communication.  A suggestion was made for the council to receive future updates regarding the situation.

Paul Edwards suggested in the future to clearly express topics to be included in the reports of speakers making presentations.

Discussion
Carol Christopherson, FRC representative reported to the council about a situation in which it took over a year for a consumer to begin receiving services from DBS. 

The meeting adjourned at 11:02 AM.

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