[nfbmi-talk] signing contracts with the sighted and other silly stuff

joe harcz Comcast joeharcz at comcast.net
Wed Nov 13 23:15:14 UTC 2013


From: July 18 20013 “Commission for Blind Persons” Meeting Verbatim

 

 

11                        MR. EAGLE:   My name is Mark Eagle.   I wanted to

 

12        highlight a concern that I've noticed a trend since the last

 

13        18 months that's going on in the BEP.    There has been four

 

14        different temporary locations that have been mis properly

 

15        labeled.   People have said that there's no blind qualified

 

16        people to take over the Port Huron, the Secretary of State,

 

17        the Anderson Building and the Capitol when there was people in

 

18        the Lansing area that have been qualified and have been

 

19        temporary operators in high profile locations like this Mason

 

20        Building, the Supreme Court, the Victor Building.     So this

 

21        concern is constantly going on where people are saying that

 

22        there's not an administration when there is multiple potential

 

23        operators that I can name off, but I'm not going to name

 

24        names.   And this brings me to the idea that managing is -- I'm

 

25        trying to think of the word.    Sorry.   I'll go onto my next



 

 

 

 

 

1        idea.  But that's my major concern right now.

 

2                        MR. RODGERS:   In response to the comment about

 

3        the four facilities that Mark's aware of that there may be

 

4        temporary operators, two of those facilities we have no

 

5        control over, that's the Capitol Building and the Anderson

 

6        Building.   The Anderson Building facility was closed by an act

 

7        of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.     So Pat Cannon

 

8        had no choice.   He couldn't keep that stand open.    We were

 

9        simply booted out.   That's a fact of life that we have to live

 

10        with, and that was December 2011.

 

11                        And we have been working with the Legislature

 

12        to get that facility back open.    The Capitol Building was a

 

13        similar situation where we had an emergency situation, and we

 

14        had to negotiate with the Legislature in order to get the

 

15        Capitol Building stand running for the summer.     And this was

 

16        not a matter of choice necessarily by us, but one of

 

17        practicality.   And if we wanted to have somebody at the

 

18        Capitol Building, we had to go along with some of the wishes

 

19        of the Legislature.   As to the Port Huron facility, and I

 

20        can't remember what the third one -- what the fourth one was.

 

21        Constance, would you address those other two, as to why we

 

22        have temporary operators there.

 

23                        MR. ZANGER:   We also had a situation at the

 

24        Secretary of State where we had to, on very short notice,

 

25        remove an operator.    We do have a temporary blind operator in



 

 

 

 

 

1        that facility.   The Port Huron vending route we also -- the

 

2        operator resigned on very short notice.    The facility was

 

3        terribly degraded.   It was very dirty, the equipment was in

 

4        disrepair, and there was no inventory.

 

5                        MR. RODGERS:   And as I recall, Constance, in

 

6        order to get somebody in Port Huron we had agreed to a limited

 

7        contract, correct?

 

8                        MS. ZANGER:   We did indeed.

 

9                        MR. RODGERS:   We had to negotiate a contract.

 

10        The Commission should be aware of that.    And we couldn't just

 

11        say to somebody, we want you to do this, but we're going to

 

12        do, you know, like a 30 day lease or a 10 day lease or we're

 

13        liable to yank you out as soon as we get somebody.     I mean no

 

14        business is going to want to go in there and help us out under

 

15        those kind of unreasonable terms.    So we did have to negotiate

 

16        a contract, and that contract is still running, Constance, is

 

17        that correct?

 

18                        MS. ZANGER:   That's correct.   And that entity

 

19        came into that facility, repaired all the machines, brought

 

20        them back into service, cleaned them, and stocked them at

 

21        their own expense.   There was no expense to the Bureau of

 

22        Services for Blind Persons for that.

 

23                        MR. SIBLEY:   If I could follow up with a

 

24        question, if I may.   So that's why those facilities are not on

 

25        the bid line, they're not available for bid right now, is that



 

 

 

 

 

1        correct?

 

2                        MR. RODGERS:   That's correct.

 

3                        MS. ZANGER:   Well, that's why the Port Huron is

 

4        not.  The other facilities, the Secretary of State, that

 

5        operator's license was suspended.    And we will not put that

 

6        facility back on the bid line until that suspension issue is

 

7        resolved.

 

8                        MR. RODGERS:   See, that person is entitled,

 

9        Joe, to go through the entire hearing process.     And we

 

10        couldn't bid -- it would be a lawsuit, quite frankly.     If we

 

11        put that on the bid line, and somebody else came in and took

 

12        over that facility, and then the operator wins his or her

 

13        hearing, we've got to kick that person we just put in there

 

14        out and put them back in there, if that's what their relief is

 

15        from either the hearing or the Circuit Court or wherever.     So

 

16        we're in limbo until the hearing process is over.

 

17                        MR. SIBLEY:   I understand.

 

18                        MS. MOGK:   Terry, do you have a comment?

 

19                        MR. EAGLE:   Good afternoon.   First of all, I'd

 

20        like to go back to the 1980's when I was in the program, in

 

21        the cafeteria program.   And I'd like to reinforce what Joe

 

22        Sontag said.   We had 119 licensees and four promotional agents

 

23        assigned to highway vending and snack bars and one cafeteria

 

24        specialist that at that time I believe had eight cafeterias.

 

25        I came into a time when state government was, in many



 

 

 

 

 

1        respects, overgrown, to be polite.    We saw, during the Engler

 

2        administration and then continuing through the Granholm

 

3        administration, that state government was cut back.

 

4                        And it's my understanding now that we have one

 

5        third less of the number of state employees that were there on

 

6        board in the 1980's when I was in the program.     I started out

 

7        at the Secondary Complex at the General Office Building.     And

 

8        then when the Ottawa building opened in February of 1983, we

 

9        actually opened on Valentine's Day of 1983 and I was there

 

10        another eight years, there were three of us in that location.

 

11        And those two towers were so full of people that it gave a

 

12        generous, and I mean generous, income to three blind

 

13        operators.

 

14                        So this is the reason why, some of the reason

 

15        at least from my perspective, as to why we don't have the

 

16        number of locations.   There's another big problem with

 

17        security from the standpoint that now you enter a state

 

18        building and you have to be escorted, where you could, when I

 

19        was at the Ottawa building, we had the Lansing Tower apartment

 

20        building right across the street on Ottawa Street, we had

 

21        numbers and numbers of people coming there for both breakfast

 

22        and lunch.   That's not available any more.    The doors are

 

23        locked.

 

24                        People can't come in and go freely about the

 

25        building.   And so our locations are hurting.    And I have been



 

 

 

 

 

1        complaining, along with other blind operators, as an advocate

 

2        for the last five or six years about evaluating these

 

3        locations.   You speak about the Capitol.    I was involved in a

 

4        Business Enterprise support team, and we made recommendations

 

5        about helping that operator, and nothing was done.

 

6                        MS. LUZENSKI:   Thirty seconds.

 

7                        MR. EAGLE:   The promotional agent that was

 

8        asked to do stuff did nothing to follow up.    So it's really

 

9        disconcerting when you sit here and try to mislead people, Mr.

 

10        Rodgers, about what's happening and why things are happening.

 

11        Let me speak real quickly to the temporary operator thing.

 

12        You have people, sighted people, one after another after

 

13        another taking over our locations.    And there are a group of

 

14        us that are willing to work.    We've been trained.   We are

 

15        highly successful.   Mark is one of them.   He -- you talk about

 

16        giving a contract to a private company for six months.     How

 

17        about doing that for a blind person, instead of guaranteeing

 

18        us 30 days at most.   Mark went in and worked one week --

 

19                        MS. LUZENSKI:   Time.

 

20                        MR. EAGLE:   -- at the Mason building, and there

 

21        was no inventory.   He had to put his own money in.    Did

 

22        anybody approach a blind person about going to Port Huron and

 

23        putting their own money and fixing up the equipment and stuff?

 

24        Hell no.   It wasn't done, and it isn't going to be done

 

25        because there's not a focus on getting jobs for blind people.



 

 

 

 

 

1        And the route we're going with the franchising and fact that

 

2        Mr. Rodgers is not being honest to you -- with you about that

 

3        either --

 

4                        MS. LUZENSKI:   Time.   Time.

 

5                        MR. EAGLE:   -- is that this program's going to

 

6        end up in the private sector with sighted people.     And 84 or

 

7        78 blind people are going to be on welfare because the plan is

 

8        for work welfare to the blind.

 

9                        MS. MOGK:   Terry, thanks.   We appreciate your

 

10        comments, but I would urge everyone, as we are all trying to

 

11        do, and I would urge everybody who comments to start with the

 

12        premise that everyone here is trying to work in the interest

 

13        of those who are blind and visually impaired.     And I think

 

14        impugning the intentions of individuals is counter productive.

 

15        So I would admonish you to state your ideas and observations,

 

16        but without implying that there's an intention to undermine.

 

17        If the result is that, then that's a process we need to work

 

18        on, but the implication that there is a purposeful intention

 

19        to scuttle something I think is not helpful.

 

20                        MR. EAGLE:   With all due respect then, may I

 

21        have your personal --

 

22                        MR. RODGERS:   Do I get a chance to reply when

 

23        he's done?

 

24                        MR. EAGLE: -- e-mail address so that I can

 

25        communicate and communicate the facts with this Commission?



 

 

 

 

 

1                        MS. MOGK:   The Commission has an e-mail box,

 

2        which you are welcome to e-mail.    That is

 

3        bsbpcommissioners at michigan.gov.

 

4                        MR. EAGLE:   I'd like it uncensored through Mr.

 

5        Rodgers.

 

6                        MR. RODGERS:   I don't have access to it, Terry.

 

7        Nice try.

 

8                        MR. EAGLE:   It goes through your secretary.

 

9                        MR. RODGERS:   It goes through Sue Luzenski who

 

10        serves as the support person for the Commission.     She has

 

11        access, you're correct.

 

12                        MS. MOGK:   Would you like to respond, Ed.

 

13                        MR. RODGERS:   Yes.  Let's start with a couple

 

14        factual incorrect or factual incomplete facts dealing with

 

15        some of the facilities.   The Capitol building was one of the

 

16        dirtiest facilities or public places I have ever walked into.

 

17        I cannot speak as to what the prior administration did to help

 

18        that operator improve, but like I said earlier today, I can

 

19        train you for 87 hours on how to mop a floor, if you refuse to

 

20        mop the floor, another three hours of training is not going to

 

21        do any good.   That facility took a crew of people two days to

 

22        just clean it so you could get in there.    It cost us over

 

23        $3,000 to clean that facility.

 

24                        The Legislature was not going to let us put one

 

25        of our traditional operators in there for the summer because



 

 

 

 

 

1        we're in the process of completing an arrangement with the

 

2        Legislature for that facility and for the Anderson building.

 

3        And because of that, we had to go to the extreme measure of

 

4        having temporary people in there.    Some of them are my staff,

 

5        and we've got nothing but rave reviews from the executive

 

6        office, from the legislature, and from the public in general

 

7        as to how nice the facility is now.    I'm still talking, Terry.

 

8        I didn't interrupt you so I would ask the same courtesy, sir.

 

9        So that's why we have a temporary crew in the Capitol

 

10        Building.   The Anderson building is still not open.    We hope

 

11        that it will be open this fall.    That is our long range goal.

 

12                        As to the other two facilities that were

 

13        mentioned by speakers earlier, we explained to you what

 

14        happened in Port Huron and we explained to you what happened

 

15        at the Secretary of State's office.    There are times that I

 

16        will do things that people will disagree with, and I accept

 

17        that fact.   I try to make the best decisions we can at the

 

18        time and with the facts that are presented to us.     Sometimes

 

19        our critics will agree with what we did and sometimes they

 

20        won't.   It's just a simple fact of life that I'm not going to

 

21        be able to please a hundred percent of the people in any one

 

22        given day, and I accept that fact.    It goes back to my prior

 

23        position as a judge when half the people who appeared in front

 

24        me were mad at me because they lost.    Thank you.

 

25                        MS. MOGK:   Yes.



 

 

 



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