[nfbmi-talk] juen 15 minutes as enclosure
joe harcz Comcast
joeharcz at comcast.net
Thu Jul 5 23:17:10 UTC 2012
DRAFT
MICHIGAN COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND
FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 2012
CONSTITUTION HALL
525 W. ALLEGAN STREET
LANSING, MI
CON CON A & B
MINUTES
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT
Mr. Larry Posont Ms. Lydia Schuck
Mr. John Scott
COMMISSIONERS ABSENT
There are 2 Commissioner vacancies.
MICHIGAN COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND STAFF PRESENT
Mr. Pat Cannon Ms. Sue Luzenski
Ms. Susan Turney Ms. Julia Burdgick
Ms. Constance Zanger Ms. Christine Boone
Ms. Sue Chinault Ms. Carla Haynes
Mr. Chris Lautner Ms. Alyssa Clark
Mr. Josh Hoskins Mr. Joe Pelle
Mr. Leamon Jones
GUESTS/ATTENDEES
Mr. Mark Eagle Mr. Terry Eagle
Ms. Valarie Barnum-Yarger Mr. Joe Sontag
Ms. Mary Wurtzel Mr. Fred Wurtzel
Mr. Steve Langtry Ms. Risa Langtry
Ms. Mary Ann Robinson Mr. David Robinson
Mr. Rodney Craig Mr. Leonard Yourist
Mr. Tom Warren Mr. Bob Rafferty
Ms. Pamela King Ms. Paulette Powell
Mr. Mike Powell Mr. Marcus Simmons
Ms. Kim Walsh Mr. Joe Harcz (via telephone)
Mr. Joe Sibley (via telephone)
Call to Order, Roll Call and Determination of Quorum
The meeting was called to order at 8:40 a.m. Roll call was taken and a quorum was determined.
Staff and attendees introduced themselves.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
SCOTT moved to accept the MARCH 23, 2012 Board meeting MINUTES; SCHUCK seconded.
Discussion: There was no discussion.
THE Motion passed unanimously.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
SCOTT moved to accept the AGENDA; SCHUCK seconded.
Discussion: There was no discussion.
THE Motion passed unanimously.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Mr. Joe Sontag: Hello, Joe Sontag, Lansing. I don’t have a whole lot to say this morning but may have a few things to say later this afternoon. I just thought I’d point out as the BEP as of this morning as of this date there still has been no resolution and no meaningful communication whatsoever regarding my points and the baseline points and other points earned in the time since I left active operation in 2010. And I find this all rather frustrating if not entirely surprising given the management style that seems to pervade the program. It’s no wonder that the program itself, even though it’s the highest visibility thing that this Commission does, and it’s been the most successful employment program for blind people both in Michigan and around the country that given the already tough economic situation that it’s really a shame they don’t do a better job working together. I realize very well that responsibility for a lot of that falls on operators and there’s no overlooking it but the current employment where certain people by virtue of special relationships or the ability to drive and otherwise appear to be non-blind seem to be free to write their own tickets and the rest of us, especially those of us who have political connections or affiliations that are not approved by management seem to have a much more interesting course regardless of the merits of what we do or what we have done so with that I’ll relinquish the balance of my time and thank you.
Mr. Terry Eagle: Good morning, Terry Eagle. I speak as the representative, President of the National Association of Blind Merchants of Michigan and I’d like to speak briefly on the administrative hearing that’s going to be before you, decision that’s going to be before you today. I think it’s outrageous that it has taken 364 days to get to this point to have Ms. Langtry have her proposed decision addressed. Former Chair Pilarski avoided addressing it by asking the same persons of whom the grievance was against resolve it or settle it or whatever and she just pawned off her responsibility and the Boards responsibility off onto the same people who created the grievance in the first place. I was Ms. Langtry’s representative at that time and after that and one other case I decided to step aside because I believe that this board, not the current board, but the Commission for the Blind was retaliating against me because of my advocacy and representation of blind merchants and that’s why Fred Wurtzel is now involved in the administrative hearings. And I implore you to do right and give this woman her just dues now and forever let the program grow the way it was intended to grow. It’s ridiculous how the locations are going down the drain and people are not even making minimum wage at the locations in many cases. And I begged and pleaded with the operators committee and this management to look at locations out of the past 4 years and I believe, personally, that we’re at the point of LARA wanting to turn this program over to the Department of Management and Budget and I believe, personally, to destroy this program because of the lack of compliance with the law, the lack of management that is competent and the out and out lack of care for blind people as merchants in this state. Thank you.
Commissioner activities
Commissioner Schuck thanked everyone for coming and expressed excitement at all the ways people are able to participate in the meeting, especially given transportation issues that exist all around. She shared that she didn’t have any activities to report.
Commissioner Scott informed attendees that he’s been busy since the last Commission meeting in March and shared a story of where he first heard Mr. Freeman talk, the guest speaker at this meeting, whom he had arranged to be here. He also gave an overview of other activities he has been involved in including working with churches and mosques on social and economic issues in Southeastern Michigan regarding collaborating on transportation issues in that area, and also working with Warriors on Wheels who are advocating for solving transportation issues for the disabled in Southeastern Michigan.
Commissioner Schuck added that she attended the MAER, Michigan Association for Education in Rehabilitation, conference and made a presentation on her research for what parent’s desire for transition planning. She shared there was great discussion from the attendees which sparked some future meetings to have continued dialogues about transition services. Commissioner Schuck also reported that she heard an excellent speaker, Beth Kennedy, talking about deaf blind needs around the state.
Commissioner Posont reported that he has worked on a committee drafting the 2013 State Plan. He shared that he gained knowledge on how the State Plan works, how it’s been amended in the past and the intent and function of the document. He also commented on the three universities and the undergraduate and master’s programs degrees. Commissioner Posont wrapped up by saying that participating in the development of the State Plan was a good experience educating him on different facets of the State Plan. He went on to report that he has not been very involved in the Business Enterprise Program meetings, although vendor frustrations continue.
BOARD CORRESPONDENCE
Ms. Luzenski informed the Board that there were two pieces of Board Correspondence received from Mr. Joe Harcz. Both pieces were read aloud and are attached in their entirety to the end of these minutes.
Commissioner Scott shared that he had contacted Assistant Attorney General Tom Warren regarding the need for clarification on a decision that had been made by the Board on the choosing of a new operator for the State Plate Cafeteria and he was waiting for that information.
PUBLIC COMMENT (via telephone)
Mr. Joe Harcz: This is Joe Harcz, I’m talking as loud as I can. One, we have continued violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act on an ongoing basis and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, both in regard to the program access, alteration triggers, accessible public meetings and accessible information. It goes to the last meeting where there was no raised character and Braille signage on every permanent room and compliance with the alteration triggers after $3.5 million worth of renovations at the Training Center. Now that responsibility goes to the Agency but also the Department of Technology Management and Budget which oversaw that program. Now we’re talking about, the Governor and all kinds of people are talking about turning over to DTMB our BEP program and everything else when they can’t even figure out how to follow the ADA. And by the way, there are also thousands of documents, and I’m talking thousands of documents that are image based files under DTMB’s control. We also have lack of complaint continually by Michigan Administrative Hearing System with continued requests for accessible information to petitioners violating their due process rights. We also have a continued conflict of interest going on with MCB staff funneling money into New Horizons for various programs and services while she sits on the Board. And that by the way is an operation that offers sub minimum wage to people with disabilities as do all of our community rehab programs. It’s an outrageous exploitation which will be brought up this afternoon but not continue. We also have the continued lack of accountability of this Agency on how it spends its money. Going back to the State Plate, that’s been vacant for 7 months. We plowed in money into that, untold amounts with no blind operator in there. The promulgated rules are clear and we can follow those rules and as I said in my Official Board Correspondence ladies and gentlemen, you can rescind what you voted on in February. You didn’t have enough information, you know that was kind of rammed through, I’m not throwing out any kind of blame. The only people that can change the promulgated rules and change Public Act 260 are the legislators. That’s the end of that story and by the way that goes to the Executive Order and any shenanigans going around that, you know as well, in the mix. The Governor, under the Constitution, has the authority to transfer us to another agency but he does not have the authority under the Michigan Constitution to effectively reverse an act of the legislator. If this state doesn’t want a separate Commission for the Blind then the legislature has the bill and rescind Public Act 260. Other than that we should not secede our authority on both state and federal mandates. Thank you.
Status of Governor’s Executive Order Transferring Commission
Director Cannon recapped the history of the issuance and rescinding of Executive Order 2012-2. He also updated attendees that there has been no official word of when a new Executive Order will be issued. Director Cannon also confirmed what Commissioner Posont had stated earlier that the State Plan draft cannot be completed until the new Executive Order is issued and wording from that can be incorporated. Commissioner Posont added that it is his understanding that the attempt to separate the Business Enterprise Program state and federal facilities are what has held up the issuing a new EO and could possibly be the reason the State Plate has been held up.
Director Cannon stated that since the rescinding of the Executive Order the Administration has made a sincere effort to listen to comments and concerns made by staff and stakeholder groups.
Commissioner Scott said it appeared that discussions going on with MCB and the consumer groups are surface discussions because the Board does not know any information. He urged the Administration to talk to the Board, consumer groups and RSA. Director Cannon added that at the National Council for State Agencies of the Blind attendees from the national offices of the National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind both shared there have been conversations with Chief Deputy Director Zimmer and expect the state to respond to the concerns expressed during these conversations.
Commissioner Schuck shared a story about the question asked of Mike Zimmer at the legislative appropriations committee meeting if he or staff had any insight into what was driving the Executive Order and neither could supply more of an explanation than creating efficiencies.
Accessible Public Transportation in Detroit
Ms. Pamela King, the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) ADA Coordinator spoke on behalf of DDOT and Mr. Ron Freeland the Chief Executive Officer who could not attend. Ms. King gave an overview of the DDOT and her role as the ADA Coordinator in relation to DDOT including making modifications to policy and procedures to ensure ADA compliance and investigate complaints under Title II.
Discussion included clarification that DDOT strictly deals with transportation. Commissioner Scott gave background on his interactions with Ms. King and Commissioners asked if Mr. Freeland has any solutions to rider complaints about long rides, fixed route and para-transit issues. Ms. King explained that there are changes being made to deal with known issues and complaints. Director Cannon asked if there were any plans for DDOT to educate riders on how to more effectively use the fixed route system, Ms. King answered there were not currently any plans and hoped to start this soon. Commissioner Schuck asked for an explanation of how the para-transit system worked, Commissioner Scott and Ms. King explained how the transportation system works in Detroit.
State Plan
Director Cannon reported that tentative State Plan meeting dates would be planned in Escanaba, Gaylord, Lansing, Kalamazoo and Detroit. He reiterated that these dates were tentatively planned in July and would be based on the issuing of a new Executive Order. Director Cannon also advised Commissioners that there is a need to hold two phone meetings with Commissioners and these will be determined based on the dates that public hearings occur.
Commissioner Schuck asked if BEP is exempted from being considered and is the rest of the State Plan basically the same as the previously adopted plan. Director Cannon answered yes the plan is essentially the same. She also asked if MCB has been involved in the discussions regarding the Federal/State split of the BEP program. Director Cannon shared that staff have been involved with some conversations but not all.
Business Enterprise Program (BEP)
Ms. Constance Zanger, Business Enterprise Program Manager updated Commissioners on items in her written report and noted which Director objective the information correlated with. She also informed attendees that BLAST will not be held in 2012 but planning has begun for 2013. Ms. Zanger also reported that two EOC representatives travelled to Illinois to attend a BEP workshop and Michigan is hoping to reciprocate at some point.
Ms. Zanger also updated Commissioners on what some of the new BEP operators are doing in their facilities and spoke about the upcoming EOC sub-committee meetings and regularly scheduled EOC quarterly meeting.
Commissioner Schuck asked Ms. Zanger about the inventory project stating that she felt it was moving slowly. Ms. Zanger informed that she had forwarded a pre-proposal document to LARA Finance for their review.
Administrative Law Judge Recommendation – Robyn Kay
Commissioner Schuck read the ALJ recommendation. Commissioner Posont shared his thoughts that the Commission is not actively seeking new locations as there is no motivation for staff to build new locations and the site that was lost was not a mandated site.
Ms. Zanger added that the Promotional Agent has been working with the Transportation Services Administration to secure an additional site for this vending route.
SCHUCK MOVED TO AFFIRM THE ALJ RECOMMENDATION; SCOTT SECONDED.
Discussion: Commissioner Scott added that, because this isn’t a mandated site, there isn’t a whole lot to be done about keeping an operator in the military site. Commissioner Posont stated that building numbers are lower than they were in the past and this has an affect.
Mr. Dave Robinson spoke as a representative of Ms. Robyn Kay and informed attendees that he also had been her Promotional Agent. He gave a history of Ms. Kay being in the facility. He added that Ms. Kay has referred facilities to her current P.A. to secure for her as additional sites and has had no results.
THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
Commissioners asked that there be a follow up report given at the next Commission meeting for this operator.
Administrative Law Judge Recommendation – Risa Patrick-Langtry
Ms. Luzenski read the recommendation of the ALJ. Director Cannon gave background information on this case and why it was before the Commission now. Ms. Luzenski read the draft Order prepared for Commissioners.
Commissioner Schuck stated that this appears to be another instance where the staff does not want to testify and, if this has not been done in a year’s time, then the operator should be awarded what she is asking for. Assistant Attorney General Warren reminded Commissioners that the record for this case is incomplete because of an action by the Administrative Law Judge, when it came before the Commission previously it was remanded back to the ALJ and, at this time, the decision needs to be affirmed based on the existing record, rejected with reasons why based on the existing record or remanded back with clear instructions to the ALJ for creating a complete record. Mr. Warren gave particular examples of information that could be asked for from the ALJ.
Commissioner Scott stated that his perception of the problem in this case was that the recorder was not turned back on by the ALJ during the proceedings but a systemic problem appears to be that the Commissioners discuss a recommendation, an Order is prepared and sent to the parties involved but Commissioners do not get to see the Order.
Commissioner Schuck read an excerpt from the June, 2011 Commission meeting minutes where a discussion occurred between Board members at that time remanding this case back to the ALJ. Ms. Luzenski gave a timeline clarification of when the case first came to the Commission Board, the Order which was created, the new ALJ recommendation which asked for clarification, then a new motion by the Board in June 2011. She went on to state that it appeared that a new Order was not created and forwarded to the ALJ giving a clearer explanation of what the Commission Board was seeking.
Mr. Fred Wurtzel commented on how all of this has affected Ms. Patrick-Langtry economically and gave his opinion on how the Board should vote on this issue – in favor of Ms. Patrick-Langtry.
Commissioner Schuck asked to discuss what the process would be if a new hearing was requested. Ms. Luzenski asked Mr. Warren to comment on if there was a possibility to have a new hearing expedited. She also clarified that, although the case is from 2009, there were many hearing continuances and evidence hearings that delayed the case actually coming before the ALJ in November, 2010, not coming before the Board until March 2011. Mr. Warren answered MAHS will typically schedule a hearing 45 to 60 days after receiving a request. He stressed again to the Commissioners that they don’t have the evidence to make a decision to affirm, reject or modify the decision.
Scott moved to remand the decision to the ALJ for the purpose of reopening the proofs of the case in order to get a complete transcript; Schuck seconded.
Ms. Luzenski read the original ALJ recommendation dated December 3, 2010. Commissioner Schuck asked if Commissioners would be able to affirm the original ALJ Recommendation which had just been read. Mr. Terry Eagle, who was the representative of Ms. Patrick-Langtry at the time of the filing, spoke on her behalf stating that the many delays were because Ms. Patrick-Langtry had an illness and was receiving treatment and Chair Pilarski, at the time, directed staff to settle this case and at that time he backed off the case because of a perception of discrimination against him. He added that because of the lack of staff response to the Board motion Ms. Patrick-Langtry deserves a default judgment.
There was clarification that the ALJ Recommendation made was acceptable to Ms. Patrick-Langtry. Commissioner Schuck concurred and withdrew her second.
Schuck moved to affirm the final decision of the ALJ dated December 3, 2010; Scott seconded.
Discussion: Ms. Luzenski read the recommended ALJ decision again. Mr. Wurtzel wanted it clarified that the Commissioners want to find in favor of Ms. Patrick-Langtry by transferring the Okemos Rest Area to her Howell vending route. Ms. Zanger asked what the Commissioners intentions were for the operator who is currently operating the Howell Rest Area vending route. Commissioner Schuck responded that the BEP staff will have to straighten out this situation with the operator who was put into the facility. She added that BEP staff needs to learn to not award facilities that are being contested. Commissioner Scott expressed concern that this creates a possible can of worms and another operator could come back and claim the Commissioners had no legal basis for passing their motion. Mr. Warren commented that Commissioner Scotts sensitivity to the issues was acute, he added that Commissioners could affirm the ALJ Recommendation if they find that all the findings of statement of fact are valid, but any modification, change or substitution creates the need to have an independent basis for the findings.
THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
Break: 11:04
Reconvene: 11:13
State Plate AG recommendation from Tom Warren
Commissioner Scott asked Mr. Warren about a letter that was sent to him in February expressing concerns about the actions that were taken during a Special Commission meeting. Mr. Warren stated that he responded to concerns raised to the Director believing that the memorandum would be shared with the Commissioners. He added that he does not wish to discuss the legal advice given in a public forum, leaving the Commissioners with the decision to either have a closed session to discuss the memorandum or Mr. Warren can answer broadly to satisfy the question in a public forum. Mr. Warren went on to say that the issue which was presented to him was the propriety of changing the criteria for selecting a vendor for a particular location. He added that there was an adoption of a resolution which had some different conditions than the rules that normally applied. Mr. Warren broadly stated that the rules are the rules and the existing rules are the ones that the Commission adopted, the Commissioners have the authority to change the rules if they choose but, unless the rules are formally changed, the actions of all parties involved are guided by the rules. Commissioners asked if the memorandum had ever been forwarded to them and it was determined that it had not. There was discussion on when it was sent to the Director and the confirmation that it would be sent to the Commissioners as an attorney/client confidential memorandum as soon as possible.
Commissioner Schuck asked Mr. Warren what would happen to the ALJ decisions if an Advisory Board was created. Mr. Warren did not know.
Elected Operator Committee (EOC)
James Chaney, EOC Chair started by clarifying that what was done with the State Plate was done with the belief that a problem was being solved. He went on to say that if what was done was against the rules the EOC would support the Board putting things back the way they were supposed to be and follow the promulgated rules. Mr. Chaney asked the Board if they were ever going to tackle the issue of Public Act 260 and the problem of immediate competition in buildings and Public Act 260 is not going away. He added that if the Board was not going to act on it then could they ask the Department of Technology Management and Budget (DTMB) to stop all the illegal actions against the vendors in State Buildings as this is an issue that is hurting the operators and affecting set asides. Lastly, he stated that the EOC has been working well with BEP staff and asked that all financial reports keep being given to the EOC. He thanked the Board for allowing him to speak and said “hi” to Director Cannon.
Commissioner Scott responded that as a former public employee his office had a coffee maker and he suggested checking with the local fire department and health department on the legality of employees having cooking equipment in offices. He went on to ask that buildings be identified which have in-house competition for the operators, brought to the attention of the Commissioners and then they can ask the Agency what is being done about the problem.
Commissioner Posont stated that he believed the competition problems lie with the lack of training as with proper training the customers would not feel shorted on meeting their needs.
Commissioner Schuck added that she wasn’t sure how the Commissioners could impact this issue and it may be difficult for an operator to confront someone in a building who was housing a coffee maker. Commissioner Posont said that the machines being brought into offices today are much more sophisticated and, again, the problem may lie with the needs of the customers not being met.
Commissioner Schuck shared that an idea may be for Mr. Chaney and others to state the problems and come up with solutions and the Board may be willing to assist in solving the problems that way.
Ms. Luzenski asked to revisit an earlier statement Commissioner Schuck had made about the BEP inventory process and it taking a long time. She went on to refer to one of the 2012 Objectives of the Director which was discussed and adopted in February stating that the inventory process would be reported on in March and June, with a target completion date of September, 2012.
Commissioner Posont asked if the BEP Audit Report had been received from the Auditor General. Staff responded that it had not been received.
Lunch: 11:50
Reconvene: 1:00
PUBLIC COMMENT
Joe Sontag: Hello, Joe Sontag once again with a couple different things. This is a carryover from this morning, the issue of the BEP inventory management project was brought up and aside from being astounded and amazed as a business person and someone who agreed to and largely succeed in following rules and obeying laws and so forth, I cannot understand how we can be so long down the road how it can take so long to get a useful and reasonably complete inventory of the Business Enterprise Programs not inconsiderable assets. We were well on the way to accomplishing that while Mr. McEntee was working for the program. I was operating a facility at the time when John and his reader/driver showed up and proceeded to get book, chapter and verse and even taking the time to resolve the conflicting information that came up regarding the equipment that had been tagged multiple times and things of that nature. John was satisfied, he was done with my location and then, all of a sudden, after viewing other documentation that came his way he called me up late one afternoon and says “hey Joe, are there a couple of water tanks hiding or something in your facility someplace” and I said “now that you mention it yeah but I didn’t know if that was program stuff or ours and since it didn’t come up”, “okay well I’m coming back over.” Sure enough it turned out to be BEP property, two 100 gallon water tanks in this building. So John’s word to me was that he thought the inventory was about 2/3 complete. I guarantee you, if it hadn’t been for the hostile climate that persuaded Mr. McEntee to leave that we wouldn’t even be discussing this today because it would be done. Possibly, who knows, what questions might have been revealed but it certainly would have been done and it would have been as complete or better than it’s ever been handled before. Shifting gears completely, I wanted to get in a word about the payment of subminimum wage to workers with disabilities in sheltered shops or the center based employment situation or whatever the current jargon is. It’s my understanding that there’s been some talk, mostly in the back channels about phasing out Section 14C of the Fair Labor Standards Act but over a 6 year period. All I’ve got to say is, number one, people with disabilities have the same basic needs as anyone else, they need to buy their basic things now. And for people to be paid less than minimum wage in this day and age, especially when the better run sheltered shops are able to pay their executives extremely well and give themselves bonuses as we observe with the New Horizons outfit here is frankly not acceptable to me. And if I had my way about it there would not even be a 3 year phase out. There’s no reason for it, the money is there and I would like to say that I hope this Board takes a strong stand against doing business with any outfit that is known to pay its workers or even a portion of its workers less than minimum wage and that we should support enabling the legislation to make that a thing of the past. Thank you.
Dave Robinson: Thank you. Dave Robinson and thank you Commissioners for giving the opportunity to make public comment. I wanted to go back and talk also about the question on the inventory and that seems to be, it seems to be done quite often with this agency, that is unreasonable delay in getting things accomplished. This is just another example of what’s been done with other things. A little bit of history on the inventory situation was that back in the late 90’s it was commissioned that inventory be done and that means that anything over $300 at the time of value would get a tag with a specific inventory number on it and that was supposed to be recorded into a system that we could track within the BEP. That was commissioned and a good part of the equipment was tagged but as we proceeded through the years the promotional agents found that a lot of the equipment never did get tagged so we had a lot of discrepancies in the system. However, then the talking about the way John came in and started looking at equipment again and found out that there were still a lot of discrepancies. And you know, keeping up with an inventory system isn’t any good unless you have a good way in the system to input it into your computerized logging of equipment and where it’s at. And so that was never done. There was never a way of maintaining that system and for example, now we’ve gotten to the point where there’s nobody controlling the warehouse, nobody knows what’s in there and if it works, doesn’t work. The most recent incident was a new operator asked for a single door cooler because their 33 year old cooler finally went out and asked the PA to get them a single door cooler. The PA sent him from the BEP warehouse a single door freezer because the PA didn’t know the difference between a single door cooler and a single door freezer. And so it cost the BEP to have it delivered down there, it was the wrong equipment and had to take it back and as far as I know he’s still waiting for his cooler. That’s the kind of things that are constantly happening and happen with the BEP currently and its costing us a lot of money, costing the operators a lot of money for that to happen. And I also just wanted to say that another incident with the equipment like the demolition of a $7,000 snack machine because the PA didn’t get his paperwork in just occurred recently. There another piece of equipment that was a valuable piece of equipment is destroyed, gone, out of the program, no use to anybody else just because something didn’t get done. So I think these are issues that are critical, creates problems for the operators and even though you may not have any direct contact about that it’s things that you need to know that’s happening in this program because of the incompetency of the current management. Thank you.
Marcus Simmons: I’d like to make a commendation. We had a client for MCB that needed some hearing aids and the counselor was making it extremely difficult for that person to receive hearing aids. The actions were inconsistent with the policy manual and other output from MCB. I told that client to contact Leamon Jones to see if we could get it resolved and within a couple of days the client had a new IPE with the hearing aids on it paid for by Michigan Commission for the Blind and I want to complement them on that action. Thank you.
Fred Wurtzel: I want to talk a little bit about this morning’s conversation regarding illegal sales of products in buildings and one of the things that was talked about was while I don’t know if coffee was the main thing to worry about, coffee may not account for a huge percentage of sales but it counts for a large percentage of profit because coffee is one of the most profitable things in our program. So every time we lose a cup of coffee of sales we a really nice piece of profit. I know how uncomfortable it is, and someone said somehow maybe the operator can confront the people that are selling the stuff. Well, Hazell Brooks did that and she lost her license for her trouble even though she had reported numerous times and asked for assistance in resolving the issue before there was a confrontation. This doesn’t have a very good history. I personally have gone up to floors where vending machines were and took that because, first of all, you don’t want the operator confronting their own customer you want to have that staff person being an advocate for the operator. And, yes, it is uncomfortable, you’re going in and obviously somebody wants to do what they’re doing otherwise they wouldn’t be going through the trouble of having vending machines come in, they wouldn’t be going through the trouble of setting up displays of stuff. This building here and the other tower, I don’t know if it’s still going on but they were having regular hot dog sales. I had to go confront those folks about hot dog sales. They didn’t like it, I’m sorry they didn’t like it but they were given, they always say we’re giving this money to charity of some kind. That very well could be and I’m sympathetic because I raise funds for the National Federation of the Blind and I know how hard it is to raise money and I know how good it is for you to have a place where you can get some money. I’m sorry but that money doesn’t belong to them. Under the law that money belongs to the Business Enterprise Program operator who is responsible for that building. There’s only one way to do it that I know of and that is confrontation in a civil, loving, caring way to explain to people that this is the law and they need to live by this law just like they have to live by every little rule and regulation in their job. As state employees everybody understands the rules, that there are rules that you have to follow. They don’t always like it, they don’t always even follow them but never mind that, they’re still there and they still need to follow them. Their supervisor needs to tell them that it’s not permissible to go to Sam’s Club on state time and buy stuff and bring it in and sell it to other employees. They’re not supposed to stock places on state time. That’s a misappropriation of funds because you’re taking somebody’s paycheck and using it for something that it wasn’t appropriated for by the legislature. So these things are not difficult to understand, they’re uncomfortable to enforce, they’re uncomfortable to follow through on but they’re not hard to understand. So I urge you to do all you can to see that these laws are followed.
Mary Wurtzel: Do you really think I could let Fred speak and not speak? This is Mary Wurtzel. You know I was just remembering that I took over a vending location in 1972 and Larry Posont and I were on the first Elected Operator Committee but you know one thing I’m thinking about in BEP and I’m not sure and I think I have some sociological ideas about why this program has always been confrontational so if you want to work in BEP just get used to the fact that somebody is going to be mad at you all the time. And I have heard that if you ask people in rehabilitation across the country that do BEP, they’ll say something like oh no anything but BEP. Now I just heard a story, it’s a terrible story. It’s about a home where there’s a therapy aversive stimuli and the children are being shocked when they have misbehaved. Now some people are claiming that this will get a positive result that is desired and we are hopefully past just punishment and I just think that there’s people who will always do things wrong and there’s people who will sometimes do things right and I’m not saying that we as consumers shouldn’t point out the things that are wrong in the program, or any program or with the Commission but, see I believe that by expecting the worst of people, that’s including the staff of the Commission for the Blind or anyone else you’re probably going to get what you expect – the worst. As I said I don’t think anyone is perfect, but I was married to a guy that worked in the BEP for a long time and I’m not going to say who did it but one time Fred picked up the phone and someone started to swear at him for about 10 minutes, he never said a word and they hung up. So if that tells you anything about how it can be working in State government or anywhere, I mean this is a very negative period of time in our culture I think. Everybody wants to practice the blame game, somebody has to be at fault about everything. Once again, I’m not saying, we the consumer we are the watchdogs of what’s going on but also we have a future before us and this, I was there, god I can’t believe it I’m so old, I was there, as many of you know in 1978 when P.A. 260 was passed and so many of you say that nothing’s changed but in actuality some things have changed. I will stop in a second, but I just want to tell you something that has changed. When I had my vending location in Ann Arbor’s City Hall now believe it or not I was not allowed, I had a guide dog at that time, I was not allowed to have that dog in my vending location. She had to be locked in the room down the hall from me which made her get sick, which made her have to retire in about 1974 which was the last time I ever had, I didn’t have a guide dog until now. So I just want to tell you that, that has changed. Thank you very much.
MaryAnn Robinson: MaryAnn Robinson. I just wanted to mention that I believe there’s been lots of progress for blind people. I’ve seen a lot of changes, I’ve seen a lot of good things. I want to see more good things, I believe we have the capacity to make lots of strides. But I’m also concerned because I’ve been coming to these meetings for probably 4 years, 3 years and I don’t expect the worst of people but I believe when people make mistakes they should try to learn from them, I believe when they make them repeatedly they should be held accountable for them. I don’t see any accountability and I see hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent on settlements on paying for equipment that was lost, replacing equipment that was lost. That money should be going to blind people in Michigan. It should be spent on services for blind people who need them. I believe lots of operators in the BEP have suffered because of the steps that current promotional agents have taken. I believe that the Director of the commission and BEP staff have not talked appropriately to building managers. They are not, they need to be told what the laws are and expected to obey them even though they work in public state buildings or in our government. They should be expected to follow the law. I don’t believe that the BEP staff has supported the operators. They haven’t had the gumption to tell the managers when they can’t allow caterings. They tend to side with the managers rather than the operators. I want to believe in justice but I’ve seen so much injustice in this program and I wonder what it’s going to take to hold these people accountable. They don’t show up to legal hearings, if again I mentioned this at another meeting, if they were working in another corporation they would have been gone 4 years ago. They are still here and mistakes are still being made. What needs to be done to make the Commission Director accountable to this Board? What needs to be done for him or this Board to make the BEP staff accountable for the continuous mistakes they are making? And I’m asking you as a Board this is a challenge to you if it takes a letter to the Governor, if it takes going to the Governor’s office and pointing out what’s being done repeatedly year after year after year then I say take those steps so the Commission for the Blind can become the Agency that we want it to be. So I say those on this Board has the power to make recommendations regarding whether people remain in their positions. We have seen so much over the past 4 years I think the Board needs to act and act decisively and make recommendations based on all the problems on all the flagrant violations of rules on all the suffering, on all the mismanagement of funds and you have the power. My challenge is to you, do something so that I don’t come back in September and say we have not, we’re still in the same place, mistakes are still occurring. Let’s have the gumption and I can think of other words but let’s do what we need to do. Let’s make the Commission for the Blind the agency that we believe it should be. It can become that way again. Please, please listen to what we say, take the steps and do something about it. Thank you.
Joe Harcz: Joe Harcz, National Federation of the Blind and Michigan ADAPT. Ok several things, one we don’t need to wait to have that report from the Attorney General clearly stated that the Commission, EOC and Agency exceeded their authority relative to the vote on the February 8 place a motion rescinding that and revert to the promulgated rules. Secondly, going to what MaryAnn said, I frankly find it inexcusable that the Director had that information in front him, knew that we were violating Public Act 260 and promulgated rules and didn’t even inform the Board. Inexcusable at first instance. Going back to the public hearings. All our public hearings will be invalid upon their face if we don’t have effective communication throughout the system, including notification, and full programmatic access to the facilities in this state. That would be a violation of the public hearings policy in Title I and it’s a violation of Section 504 and it’s a violation of Title II of Americans with Disabilities Act which is gone on forever in this state. Third, and this goes to what Mr. Warren was saying this morning, the elephant in the room, the Michigan Administrative Hearings System is in substantial violation of the effective communications requirements of all legal entities which is under Tennessee v Lang Supreme Court decision in that they do not remand in a timely manner effective communications with people who are blind including Dave Robinson upon request, including Sheila Stelmach including other people. Look we are violating due process of law. Going back to the Catch 22 we go to nonfeasance and dereliction of duty, you know in not having the recording on with Risa’s case and who gets penalized, who gets penalized for years? At these substantial violations and calling it an administrative law court which is run by who, Deputy Director Zimmer. And by the way when anybody tells me that we have communications related to Executive Order 2012-2 and when our very own Commissioners didn’t even get a heads up or communications on that, let alone members of the NFB and other organizations and when I have to go and fight for piecemeal information which they throw out charges of $745,000 requesting certain information related to this process under the FOIA, so called Freedom of Information Act is just plain incredible. Fifth, going to what Lydia asked this morning, the problem with the Executive Order as it stood wasn’t again the transfer to DHS, he has that authority, but with that other existing order in eliminating the policy making and quasi-judicial role established by Public Act 260 of this Commission Board by creating this idiotic Advisory Board, you know, is a substantial reversal of Public Act 260. It guts it at its core. It eliminates the independent Commission. Sixth, on the State Plan, even if (time)
Administrative Reports
Director’s Report
Director Cannon recapped his written report, highlighting the NCSAB conference and the impending appointment of a new RSA Commissioner, Dr. Fred Schroeder’s report and the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) Director’s speech by Kathy Martinez and referred to an article on accessible credit card charging mechanisms in taxi cabs. He also mentioned the grand re-opening at the Training Center and the mini-adjustment program that was just completed. Director Cannon updated Commissioners on the 2012 Director objectives stating they were all on target but the Newsline objective and staff is working with Newsline to complete that objective.
Commissioner Scott asked Director Cannon about the possibility of MCB funding Newsline and asking why MCB can’t fund the service as many other states have the ability to fund this. Director Cannon spoke of his personal support of Newsline and that MCB did receive approval for the Commission to provide a $20,000 grant in support of Newsline. He went on to answer questions regarding funding options. Commissioner Posont gave some facts regarding Newsline and stated that there is no conflict of interest between his positions on the Commission Board and his being President of NFB-M as he doesn’t have anything to do with the monetary side of Newsline or the NFB-M. He went on to add that he believes the Board should request or demand that funding for Newsline be put into the State Plan because the money is there and available and extra money should be requested to be used for marketing. Director Cannon reminded Commissioners that MCB was the original funder for getting Newsline off the ground in the state with an Innovation and Expansion Grant and modest funding has been provided in other years, but in other years Newsline was a budget line item within the Department of Education. He added that the Public Service Commission has been approached for assistance but to no avail.
Staff Reports
Ms. Christine Boone, Training Center Director informed attendees that there were 150 to 200 people at the Open House, including Commissioners Posont and Schuck, staff and students. She added that students participated by being greeters and giving tours, while teachers made themselves available in each of the classrooms to talk to attendees and answer questions. Ms. Boone proclaimed the most disappointing part was the technology center not being completed. Commissioners praised Ms. Boone on the food and how the day was planned.
Ms. Boone informed Commissioners that the college assessment program is beginning and will be immediately followed by the college prep program. Commissioner Schuck asked about Braille signage at the Training Center as it was not installed during the Open House. Ms. Boone shared that the Braille signage had been omitted from the construction contract without any explanation and staff has put up temporary signs from the ones used previously and are in the process of ordering the new signage and asked for patience from all while this is completed.
Other staff had no additional information to add to the written report. Commissioner Schuck did ask Mr. Leamon Jones, Consumer Services Director about summer programs, specifically, Career Club and other options for her daughter for the summer. There was discussion regarding information needing to be updated on the MCB website.
State Plate AG recommendation from Tom Warren
Commissioner Posont asked to revisit this discussion from earlier in the day and asked for a motion to be made by Commissioners to adhere to the promulgated rules on this issue. Commissioner Schuck stated that she was fine with how the vote went when this meeting was held until public comment, when a clarification was provided that explained that one of the situations that could occur at the State Plate would result in the BEP operator paying for their own rehabilitation. Commissioner Posont stated that this problem needs to be solved because it’s such a high visibility cafeteria and this site needs to be re-opened as soon as possible.
Schuck moved that the Board rescind the Board’s previous decision and follow Assistant Attorney General’s opinion on adhering to the promulgated rules in respect to filling the Business Enterprise Program Operator position at the State Plate; Scott seconded
Discussion: Commissioner Scott stated his interpretation of the discussion earlier with Assistant Attorney General Tom Warren, which he believed to be that the promulgated rules needed to be followed and they weren’t. Director Cannon asked if he could supply some verbiage for the motion that would accomplish what was needed.
THE MOTION WAS REMOVED.
Schuck moved to rescind the Commissioners previous action to use an alternative method of operator selection at the State plate cafeteria and return to FOLLOWING the promulgated rules; Scott seconded.
Discussion: There was no discussion.
The Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Schuck asked Director Cannon if there was truly no one that was qualified to run the State Plate as of March. Director Cannon clarified a couple of things including how much money was put in to renovate the facility, which has all been done at the cost of the House of Representatives and has only recently been completed. Commissioner Schuck shared that Terry Eagle submitted a bid under the old motion but would not be able to submit one with the motion just made. Director Cannon stated that with the new motion and following the promulgated rules, hopefully that would give the program a qualified operator for the location. He added that he is not going to discuss a client case at a public meeting, nor is he sure of Mr. Eagle’s status at the Commission and Commissioner Schuck would need to discuss particulars of his situation with Mr. Eagle or he would need to authorize her to discuss his case as an advocate or representative, although this has the potential to compromise her role as a Commissioner on any issues with Mr. Eagle that would come before this Board.
Commissioner Posont stated a hope that resources would be utilized to make this location successful, providing the support needed for the Operator who will be running it as the reputation of blind people and the Agency is on the line. He was very emphatic about making this facility work.
Commissioner Scott asked if MCB is working with the House of Representatives during the renovation to ensure that all the work is done with blind people in mind. Director Cannon answered affirmatively that the process was done in partnership and consultation with BEP staff and the House of Representatives.
Break: 2:23
Reconvene: 2:27
CONSUMER ORGANIZATION REPORTS
National Federation of the Blind – Mike Powell, 1st Vice President
Mr. Mike Powell, 1st Vice-President of NFB-M read a prepared statement which included expectations and quality of services from staff who administer a $25 million dollar budget, a listing of the meetings NFB members have attended since 2008 in the guise of active participation to develop legal and quality policies for the agency. He added that the organization felt that in return for all of these volunteer hours spent, blind employees have been illegally fired, BEP operators have had their licenses illegally revoked and they have been met with negativity, attempts to close meetings, denial of documents in accessible formats and an increasing level of poor services provided to Commission clients. Mr. Powell went on to state that the current Board has pushed for public meetings on the State Plan, improved and strengthened training of staff, set specific, measurable, achievable and realistic goals for the Director in the midst of an unsatisfactory evaluation, and asked for monthly updates on data. Mr. Powell commented on the appointments of the Board by the Governor and listed NFB’s expectations of the Board. He informed attendees of dates of the National NFB convention, the State NFB convention, the status of Newsline and enhancements, summer camps for 2012 and reminded the Board of the nine Resolutions that were sent to the Board in the fall.
Mr. Fred Wurtzel thanked Commissioners for allowing NFB to present and stated he is proud to be an NFB member. He outlined ways the NFB advocates for blind people in the state and added that the NFB’s reason, diligence and desire is to make the world a better place for blind people.
Mr. Dave Robinson thanked Commissioners for time on the agenda and spoke about the spirit of the Commission for the Blind as the NFB believes it should be giving examples of ways he felt the Agency staff blocks progress of the clients. He also spoke about BEP rules for facilities, in particular the rule of an Operator having income of 120% of minimum wage to be successful as determined by the Federal government. Mr. Robinson gave a couple of examples of facilities that did not meet the requirement and rhetorically asked where the sense of obligation and responsibility was by the staff. He went on to say that the Training Center was so successful because the spirit of blind people is present there and this is not present throughout the rest of the Agency and NFB intends to change it.
Mr. Mike Powell introduced each of the Resolutions: meeting ADA requirements for signage; rights to due process at administrative hearings; Commission Board administrative support; Commission meeting minutes on the website; defective communications from the Michigan Commission for the Blind; NFB announcement on the vendor’s line; challenge experiences at the Training Center; New Horizons; and the college policy/means test. There was short discussion about most of these Resolutions.
Community Rehab Organizations
Commissioner Posont asked that this topic be moved to an earlier agenda spot as some staff that will be participating need to leave. He informed attendees that a resolution came before the Board at the March meeting from the Consumer Involvement Council regarding the Agency doing business with organizations paying subminimum wages to many workers.
Commissioner Schuck reported that there are 66 companies in the state that pay subminimum wages to people with disabilities and the MCB has dealt with 13 of them in fiscal years 2011 and 2012. She gave an overview of the purpose of subminimum wage places, also referred to as sheltered workshops, and spoke about some prevalent attitudes in these environments. Commissioner Schuck read the list of 13 organizations that are paying subminimum wages.
Schuck moved that we suspend any dealings with any of these agencies if they are still paying sub-minimum wage by the next Commission meeting, September 21, 2012; Scott seconded.
Discussion: Commissioner Posont expressed puzzlement as these are all non-profit corporations who receive tax credits, are guaranteed contracts, pay less than minimum wage and receive endowments and there is no understanding of why these companies can’t pay minimum wage. Director Cannon reiterated that MCB clients placed at any of these entities are not paid below minimum wage and some of the agencies pay very well and benefit clients.
Ms. Christine Boone spoke about her perspective on clients working in non-integrated work environments, and while she does not support people with disabilities making subminimum wages, she does believe that clients can benefit by being placed in these environments that provide competitive employment. She went on to add that there are times that integrated work settings can be isolating and not a good work experience, but in a sheltered workshop they are more accepted by peers who become friends and create a fuller life. Mr. Leamon Jones informed attendees that the Agency cannot take a closure on placing clients in a position paying subminimum wages as this is not considered a successful closure. He added that placing individuals in these environments allows for a true assessment of the level of function and skills of clients allowing for the opportunity to provide specific training for clients as needed. Commissioner Posont shared a story about Dr. Fred Schroeder taking over the New Mexico agency for the blind and he showed a sheltered workshop how they could go from paying subminimum wages to minimum wages for all employees. Commissioner Posont believes that if given no choice these companies would pay the minimum wage to all employees and that this is the role that the Board needs to take. Mr. Jones added that the real dilemma is that in fully integrated settings assessments, evaluations and work tryouts are not available and those are things that are achieved in these workshop environments that lead to placements in the community. Commissioner Schuck made the point that MCB would not place clients in an environment that was abusive and this equals abuse in a different manner.
Director Cannon followed up on a couple comments made during the discussion including the reference made to Fred Schroeder and going on to say that the Rehab Act does not prohibit agencies from doing business with sheltered workshops. He also wanted the staff perspective of Ms. Boone and Mr. Jones heard to provide a more in depth explanation of why MCB does business with these entities.
There was discussion about changing the date for the organizations to discontinue paying subminimum wages used in the motion and it was determined to leave it as stated in the motion.
Director Cannon asked what the expectation would be with clients that are currently placed with these employers. The Board discussed that if these companies want to supply minimum wage or above jobs and not charge for assessments so the agency is not giving them any money than that is fine but the organizations need to change their business model of paying subminimum wages. Director Cannon cautioned Commissioners that the action they were considering taking exceeded their authority as a commission, adding that purchasing and contractual relationships with community rehab organizations was an administration function. Commissioner Schuck responded that Commissioners saw this as a policy issue.
The motion passed unanimously.
Michigan Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired (MCBVI) – Joe Sibley, President
Mr. Joe Sibley, President MCBVI, apologized for not being able to be at the meeting in person but he needed to attend a previously scheduled meeting with Loeks Theaters regarding MoPix and having this service provided in more theaters throughout the state. He stated that he was planning on talking about the blind organizations, gave some history about how MCBVI came about and gave specific information about the Michigan affiliates and plans for advocacy and efforts to engage a younger generation. Mr. Sibley spoke about the national convention being held in July in Louisville, Kentucky and the state convention being held in September in Lansing.
Mr. Sibley gave his opinion on the different advocacy styles of ACB and NFB, including differences in approaches to rehabilitation styles and the issues. He stated that when Executive Order 2012-2 came out, MCBVI did not picket or protest but studied the issue and asked appropriate officials to sit down to talk and were welcomed to the table to voice their opinions. He went on to explain that this was the approach used to start the successful MoPix project. Mr. Sibley shared that while listening to some of the discussions that went to the Administrative Law Judge level, he believes that the parties sitting down to discuss this beforehand could have alleviated these issues reaching this level.
Mr. Sibley said of course there are issues with the Agency but there are also very good staff who are providing services. He informed attendees that he is up for re-election for President of MCBVI and becoming part of one of the consumer organizations when he lost his sight was one of the best things he has ever done and there are wonderful people in both organizations. He stated that the NFB and MCBVI, while having different approaches, have worked together nationally to solve issues and he is hoping that both organizations, at a state level, can work side by side and move forward. Finally, he stated that with what is coming in the future he is cautiously optimistic that something new can be created and some of the issues tweaked.
Commissioner Schuck complemented Mr. Sibley on his radio voice and asked if MCBVI produced resolutions the previous year at their convention. He answered that the resolutions created the year before dealt with national issues but this years may deal more directly with in state issues.
Mr. Sibley thanked the Board for the opportunity to speak.
Commissioner Posont asked to discuss how the Community Rehab Organizations will be notified of the Commission action and then said that two Commissioners can’t discuss this outside of the meeting because Mr. Warren stated that would be considered a quorum. Commissioner Scott disagreed but it was discussed that according to the policy a quorum is determined as a majority of commissioners appointed at any given time. It was determined that Commissioner Schuck would write a letter serving notice on the CRO’s of their mandate and circulate it to other board members for review.
New Business
Commissioner Posont stated that he would like to have discussion on some of the resolutions they heard about today, specifically on the one regarding signage.
Director Cannon commented that signage is often over looked and neglected whether renovation or new construction although it is relatively inexpensive. Commissioner Posont asked that it should be basic beliefs and questioned whether businesses are built without signage anymore.
Public Comment
Mr. Fred Wurtzel: Thank you Mr. Chairman and thank you Commissioners for passing what I consider to be a forward looking and aggressive and realistic policy on subminimum wages. As one of the ways to publicize this I would request that you ask the Director to ask the public relations person for the Commission for the Blind to issue a press release forthwith about the motion that was made so that it would be well known to the public the position of the Michigan Commission for the Blind. Thank you.
Mr. Dave Robinson: Dave Robinson, again complement the Commission on their actions today and being able to listen to us and what we had to say in regard to the issues. One of the, it is on commenting on Commissioner Posont’s comments on the accessibility, it’s really mind boggling by the State Agency that’s in charge of physical plants in our buildings, that is DTMB, does not have a specific code of standards in terms of accessibility when they’re building or remodeling facilities. It seems to me that these codes and these standards are not different than the plumbing codes and other codes that are responsible in terms for building or remodeling a facility. Such as boggles the mind that they are forgotten and certainly the State should be forward looking in terms of making sure that those kinds of accessibility issues are not forgotten and hopefully the next State ADA Coordinator, whomever that may be or is, could facilitate that to make sure that the occurrence at the Training Center never occurs again in a State building. I might also remind you that there was mention that, in order to be a full compliant public hearing the hearings that are going to be held on the state plan are going to have to be at a fully compliant accessible building. And there also has to be fully compliant information about those hearings to people, to the public and to people with disabilities. So we might want to keep that in mind when you think about making information accessible as well. So I think that it’s really important that we continue again to look at the issues and look at the specifics. Commissioner Schuck brought a comment to say if there are people having issues have them talk to the Commissioners, have them call in, have them come to the meetings and I really think we as an organization need to and continue to need to encourage blind people that is the ones really being affected by the actions of this agency to come here and express their appreciation or their discontent so that you could really know and get the flavor of true spirit of what is the Commission for the Blind here in Michigan. Thank you.
Ms. Kim Walsh: My name is Kim Walsh and I’m very pleased to be here. It’s been quite a while and I’m also pleased that I am the immediate past president and still an executive officer of the International Association of Audio Information Services. We represent audio information services worldwide whether they’re radio based, internet based, phone based you name it, the technologies have changed so much in the last period of time that we have membership of all different types of distribution. Many of you know me from the Detroit Radio Information Service in Detroit today I’m wearing the IAAIS hat because I’ve just come from, last month, our convention in Houston. First off I want to applaud the consumer organizations, I’m thrilled to be at this meeting where the two main consumer organizations reported out because I do believe the most important work really does take place on Main Street, and in our own back yards and belonging to these groups is important. Some of the strides on the international level, I’ve just had the pleasure to witness some really phenomenal things and at our convention in Houston, maybe some of you have read about it maybe you have not yet read about it, but 13 years in the making I had the pleasure of being at our convention and in collaboration with the store Best Buy and their Insignia brand debuting the Narrator radio which is the first ever AM/FM HD radio fully using universal design standards that the IAAIS created in collaboration with Best Buy. Our board approved those universal design standards in November of 2008. Some of you might remember that we worked originally with the vendor Dyce, unfortunately in a national pilot project involving three radio reading services in Rochester New York, Washington D.C and Lawrence Kansas there was an awful board problem or something catastrophic with that receiver and it was not something that was easy to fix and the company was too small. So now we’ve gone back to the table and asked Best Buy hello remember when you asked us to design these standards, we won the Stevie Wonder Vision Award for at the Consumer Electronic Show in 2009, what are you going to do about this project and they said oh yeah what about that and so the reality is today the Narrator is on the market it can be bought on Best Buy’s website and Best Buy is making a big effort to get the word out about this product. And beyond just people with vision impairment and disabilities, I really think this radio has huge potential for anyone who’s elderly, has trouble with dexterity, you name it because it’s a fully accessible radio that anybody can use. So that’s very exciting. The other thing I want to just touch on is anyone who has just been around the block with radio based audio information, remembers the bicycling around with actual tapes and during my presidency we moved our entire file share to a cloud based technology and in the last year shared some 20,000 hours of programming back and forth between services for about $5 a month. So we are really proud of that new service. It’s been a service for years on a server in somebody’s office and now its not. Thank you so much, I’m grateful to be hear and hopefully I’ll be here more now that I’m not the International President.
Mr. Joe Sontag: Anyway, just a couple of things. Number one I, too, would like to add my thank you to the Commission Board for taking the actions they did today, especially the action this afternoon regarding the payment of subminimum wages to people with disabilities. Actually I, not to start anything, but I hope that, let’s just say, I hope that we didn’t lose anybody listening on the phone because I just wanted to comment on one thing I heard during Joe Sibley’s presentation this afternoon, I just wanted to point out, speaking strictly from the, I think it applies well beyond myself and that is the idea the National Federation of the Blind being an angry organization. I admit personally to being a bit on the high strung side when I get passionate about something, it’s been a characteristic of mine from the time I was born, I understand. But I think what Mr. Sibley was referring to was the fact that some of us have gotten to the point where we have limited patience for folks who will not attempt to reason things out. The NFB as far as I’ve known certainly in my experience off and on for the past 25 years or so, has been the kind of organization that reasons things out and expects tight logic just as a standard approach to things. I think, I agree certainly that when problems arise the best approach is to sit down and have sincere discussions with people all around the issues so that equitable solutions can be worked out. Difficulty arises when people either play the game pretending to sit down and reason with you and have frank and honest discussions as opposed to just going through the motions so you can tell your superiors that you’ve done it and these people just aren’t cooperating. I’ve done it and I personally make no apology with us getting to the point where we decide that enough is enough and they’ll lay it on the line. And keep laying it on the line until appropriate attention is gained somewhere. I’ll just close with this, I guarantee you when blind people start realizing that long last there are people who are willing to listen with both open ears and open minds you’ll see a lot less anger regardless of who individuals are affiliated with or whether they’re not affiliated with anyone at all. Thank you.
Ms. MaryAnn Robinson: I’d like to echo some things I’ve heard already. I wanted to commend the Commission Board for taking the stance regarding those 13 agencies that are still paying subminimum wage. And I work in an agency with people who have multiple disabilities and I can understand that they want to be in a setting where they feel they have friends and they feel they’re not alone, we’re not encouraging those people to leave those agencies if all of the 66 workshops began to pay minimum wage we could refer people there and they could be in those settings and if they have supervisors, managers, directors who are making thousands of dollars they ought to look at their budget and see where they can trim in the top level in management and start paying all workers minimum wage. I’d also, because of what we’ve heard about the ADA and accessibility I would like to urge that Mr. Cannon issue a directive to all program staff to look at the format that clients of the Commission are requesting and if it’s Braille, I’d like him to issue a directive insisting that his staff provide information in the format that consumers are requesting. That is something that is in the agency and the state should be doing it should be the Commission for the Blind, he has the power and authority to do that and it should have been done years ago but I’d like it to start now and he can make it start now. And I’d like the Board to follow up on that so that we can say that BEP operators, students, seniors, all clients are not receiving information in print when they request it in Braille. And the agency has the option in not working along with the Administrative Hearing system and you can’t tell me that they don’t use the email and if they don’t provide information in Braille and email they should also request that be done or they not use that system. I’ve been a therapist for a long time and I want to say that anger is an appropriate feeling when it’s expressed constructively and I, too, feel that we should start at the table and try to work out issues and that’s where good dialogue should begin and should continue as long as everybody is willing to work at the table. But as Mr. Sontag said when enough is enough its appropriate to express feelings constructively and some anger is justifiable. I mentioned things earlier today and some things that have been going on at the Commission for a long time are totally unacceptable to blind people and they need to stop now. And if the staff who’s currently there and has the power to stop those behaviors and are not willing to do it they shouldn’t be there so I suggest that the Board take a look again and if the staff doesn’t respond then they need to look at somebody who will. Thank you very much.
Ms. Kim Walsh: It’s Kim Walsh again and this is just a quick point. Earlier we were talking about accessibility and everything being accessible and maybe I’m naïve and don’t understand a State rule but for this particular meeting comments are taken by email only for a small period of time in the morning and there are a lot of empty chairs in this room and I know from having participated by the web and by phone most of the last year that there are quite a few people there and I’m wondering why that group of people isn’t, doesn’t have a roll call done, isn’t included in the attendance and can’t be patched in by phone like the two reporting, like Joe and other people during the course of the meeting as a matter of course. And I would be curious to know why that can’t happen today.
Ms. Luzenski and Commissioner Schuck responded to Ms. Walsh’s comment indicating that public comment is available by email for a period of time and phone public comment is already available at each public comment. Ms. Luzenski added the capability of making public comment available to web listeners is not available at this time.
Mr. Joe Harcz: First I don’t want to use up all my time in thanking you guys, but thank you especially on your reversal of the State Plate and the subminimum wage vote. On the issue of the Americans with Disabilities Act it is not a building code but a civil rights law and it ties into Section 504 in which we’re obligated to follow as well (inaudible). It’s not just a matter of alterations or new construction either, it goes into pre-ADA construction because signage is a program access issue and raised character and Braille signage is supposed to be on every permanent room of every public building. Period. End of story. Mounted at 60 inches actually now they’ve changed it to (inaudible) you can have the center line at 45 inches and it was not even in the Victor Office Building wall, not even on the Michigan Commission for Disability Concerns, not even on the men’s room. When I make a complaint then they go change it ad hoc, ladies and gentlemen you’re sitting in a building that was post ADA construction that was not compliant until I brought it up, until I made a stink. DTMB did a survey, which I believe I’ve sent to everybody, including Mr. Cannon in 2008. The point is the barriers haven’t been removed but the fundamental obligation, the fundamental obligation that goes to MCB is we are, we sign assurances with RSA every single year that we follow Section 504 and that we have complete program access and by God we have the obligation to ensure that. It also goes to the second part of the CIC motion, you know, relative to contracting with people that did not follow 504 that is already a current obligation and yet we already heard and one of the Commissioners note we contracted with Peckham, no Braille, no Braille for her kid. We, we spent MCB money for that, we already know that there are high paying jobs supplied by previous reports with the State, Secretary of State and the past board of Peckham. But they don’t make accommodations to blind people, and I know three people that have applied for those jobs and that goes to the effective communications requirement. How many times have people seen me request information from the Director and not receive a response by simple email. A failure to respond is in and of itself a violation. And look at all the brouhaha that went over draft meeting minutes and then that falls (inaudible). The Director, by the way, is (inaudible) the State of Michigan ADA Coordinator where clearly articulated responsibilities and yet, frankly ladies and gentlemen, he is one of the biggest violaters personally, personally. I’ve documented this over and over again, this also goes to our friends at MCBVI, Mr. Cannon was at the 2002 convention of which Joe Harcz was a member of MCBVI at the time which drafted a resolution, required it on our state building. Now I’ve recently joined, again rejoined NFB who are the ones fighting for this. This is our civil rights. There are no time for excuses. It goes up and down the food chain, everybody points at everybody else, the whole state is out of compliance.
Adjournment
SCOTT MOVED TO ADJOURN; SCHUCK SECONDED.
THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
The meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m.
The next Commission meeting is scheduled on September 21 in Lansing.
________________________________
Mr. Larry Posont, Vice-Chair
Date:__________________________
Official Board Correspondence Equipment Inventory
July 11, 2012
Paul Joseph Harcz, Jr.
1365 E. Mt. Morris Rd.
Mt. Morris, MI 48458
joeharcz at comcast.net
To:
Michigan Commission for the Blind Commissioners
And MCB Director Patrick D. Cannon c/o Sue Luzenski
(via e-mail)
Dear Commissioners, et al,
I bring your attention to the following segment related to Equipment Inventory in the MCB Report:
“Equipment Inventory
B E P is currently in the process of completing a full equipment inventory. Inventory data collected variously over the past 18 months is inconsistent to the point the equipment database cannot be properly reconciled. Consequently, the Program will enter, with departmental approval, into a contractual arrangement for the inventory to be completed by an independent contractor. As of this writing, the Program is in the process of soliciting preliminary proposals to ascertain potential cost and potential contractor interest. Also as of this writing, as the Program conducts incoming product inventories, it will also confirm the equipment inventory for that facility in preparation for the on-site contractual equipment inventory.””
Simply, how can this lack of ongoing basic accounting, let alone accountability be allowed to continue? Do we know where taxpayer funded equipment is or not? Further, isn’t this an ongoing responsibility of the Business enterprise Program staff including Administrators and Promotional Agents? Moreover, we all know these deficiencies in inventory control and management will be sited in the Michigan Auditor general’s report. Shouldn’t heads roll on these issues rather than the “glib” response that is made over and over again saying effectively, “We’re working on it?”
In this regards is the rumor true that for lack of “due diligence” in tracking and accounting for equipment inventory that a $7,000 snack machine was recently lost during the demolition of the Holt rest area? If true just who is accountable?
I suppose there will be some hand ringing on this and other excuses and then as per usual the agency will find a way to blame the operator or people like me for pointing out the obvious. But, no blame, let alone accountability will go to any agency staff.
I would like to see some real numbers here and real accounting, and fewer excuses.
Sincerely,
Paul Joseph Harcz, Jr.
Cc: RSA
Cc: several
Official Board Correspondence State Plate
July 11, 2012
Paul Joseph Harcz, Jr.
1365 E. Mt. Morris Rd.
Mt. Morris, MI 48458
E-mail: joeharcz at comcast.net
Re: House of Reps Illegal Vote
To:
Michigan Commission for the Blind Commissioners Posont, Scott, and Schuck via e-mail
Also: Patrick Cannon, Susan Luzenski via e-mail
Dear Commissioners,
I point to the following quote from the BEP Report in the most recent MCB Report:
“During the temporary closing of the House of Representatives cafeteria, much has been accomplished to the physical facility, as noted in the March report. The operator selection process commenced as recommended by the Committee and as approved by the Board. However, based on informal guidance from the Assistant Attorney General with whom M C B works, the process has been halted. The informal guidance cautions M C B about the use of an alternate, even if temporary, bidding process and the guidance is currently under review.
“
Now, I and several others including terry Eagle and David Robinson informed the Board, the agency and the EOC that the abrogation of promulgated rules exceeded the legal authority of the MCB Board, the EOC, and the agency. Now, we’ve plowed untold monies into the House of Reps facility and it is still not occupied by a blind person mandated by Public Act 260. This is clearly outrageous but can be resolved simply at the July 15, 2012 meeting by a simple motion and vote to rescind the vote of February 8, 2012. Then we simply must demand the agency follows existing rules relative to that mandated facility.
Respectfully,
Paul Joseph Harcz, Jr.
Cc: several
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