[NFBF-Tampa] Tampa Bay Chapter Meeting Minutes February 2024

Sat Mar 23 02:26:31 UTC 2024

Hello to all,

Since I have a problem somewhere along the line causing me not to receive
any NFBF or chapter emails, I hope this reaches all of you. Hopefully I'll
get this mystery resolved soon.

Sherrill

Tampa Bay Chapter 

National Federation of the Blind of Florida

Chapter Meeting Minutes

February 24. 2024

Beef O ' Brady's

8810 North Himes Avenue

Tampa, Florida

The meeting was called to order by President Miranda Kilby at 12:06pM.

Everyone introduced themselves. There was a total of 22 persons attending,
including    guests, Raquel Pancho, Tampa's ADA coordinator and Liz Mueller,
with the County Alliance for Citizens with Disabilities. Another guest was
Cuanise Sparkman and her family. Seventeen attended in person, and five
participated via the Zoom platform.

Secretary and Treasurers' Reports

Dan gave the treasurer's report. Our current balance is $4,816.70. A motion
was made by  Merry, seconded by Shanti, to accept the  treasurer's report as
read. The motion passed. 

The January minutes had been emailed on the previous day, so only a few
members had read them. A motion was made by Marion, seconded by Merry, to
table the approval of the January minutes until the March meeting. The
motion passed.

President's Report

Miranda announced that at next month's meeting we will have a guest  speaker
from the Hillsborough County Transportation Organization (TPO) which was
formerly the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO.) The organization is
hoping we will help them by filling out a survey, either via a print copy,
or online. Marion volunteered to write up a news release to publicize the
meeting.

Miranda said she hopes we will get involved in the planning meetings for
both our next state convention, to be held in October in Jacksonville, and
our national convention, to take place in July in Orlando. Miranda will send
out Zoom links for the planning meetings.

Miranda said it's important to let people know that Section 8 housing
applications can be submitted starting at the beginning of March.

HART ADA Accessibility Committee Meeting

Scott greenblat and Marion spoke about the February meeting of the
committee. Adrienne also attended. Marion is a member of the committee and
thanked them for attending. He had urged members to come to voice their
concerns about the inaccessibility of the very involved HART Plus
paratransit application, which must be filled out and renewed every five
years. It has never been available onlllline or in Braille. Scott reported
that the committee says it is now accessible online,, with the exception of
the applicant's signature. Scott suggested that HARTPlus initiate a
newsletter to keep riders up to date, since often HART makes proposals and
changes which are not publicized. Marion then encouraged everyone to attend
the upcoming HART Board meeting on March 4. He will be speaking there on
behalf of the accessibility committee and would like lots of support,
including by inviting others who are not part of our chapter. Merry said it
is crucial that we inform the Board that though most of the HART Plus
drivers are curteous,   there are a few whose treatment of consumers can be
"appalling", and disciplinary action should be taken. 

Fund Raising

Saint Patrick's Day Fund Raiser

Marion will once again provide the music at O'Toole's, located at 1215 W.
Brandon BLVD.  from 3:30 to 6:30. The chapter is invited to lend our
support. Miranda ordered festive beads for us to give out as souvenirs at
the pub. 

We will bring NFB hand-outs including Braille alphabet cards.

We discussed fund raising and whether we should be giving a certain
percentage of the money we raise to either the State or National
organization. A motion was made by Marion, seconded by Merry that we donate
ten percent of the proceeds from our Stronger Together concert to NFBF. The
motion passed.

Elections

New Member Elections

A motion was made by Merry, seconded by Marion, that we accept as new
chapter members Andy Andrews, Sherri Brun, Scott Greenblat and Adrianne
Kurmon. The motion passed.

Chapter Elections

The following offices and Board positions needed to be filled this year: 

President, currently Miranda Kilby;

Secretary, currently Sherrill O'Brien

Board 1 currently Yvonne Rosanelli

Board 3 currently Sewar Qumebi

The following persons were elected, all by acclamation:

Miranda Kilby reelected as President

(She said  it was important that we understand that she agreed to run with
the stipulation that she might hold the office for only one year.)

Sherrill O'Brien reelected as Secretary

Yvonne Rosanelli reelected for Board Position 1

Scott Greenblat elected for Board position 3

Old Business

Miranda said she is in possession of lots of odds and ends left over from
state conventions and auctions  and needs a place to put them. Marion agreed
to store them at his house.  

Guest Speaker

Tampa ADA Coordinator Raquel Pancho spoke to us about the work being done by
the city to continually improve accessibility. She said feedback from
organizations such as ours is extremely helpful.  . 

New Business

We discussed how we might help Miranda with expenses related to her need to
travel a great distance to attend chapter meetings and other functions. A
motion was made by Dan, seconded by Scott, that the chapter reimburse
Miranda for her transportation expenses. The motion passed.

Our 50/50 fundraiser drawing was won by Miranda Kilby, who received $42.

Our next meeting will be held At Beef O'Brady's on March 23.

The meeting was adjourned at PM.

Respectfully submitted

Sherrill O'Brien, Secretary

Tampa Bay Chapter

National Federation of the Blind of Florida

Phone 813-935-0474, cell 813-767-1890

email Sherrill.obrien at verizon.net <mailto:Sherrill.obrien at verizon.net> 

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise
expectations because low expectations create barriers between blind people
and our dreams. You can live the life you want! Blindness is not what holds
you back.

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