[nfbmi-talk] Board Meeting Minutes August 26, 2017

Linda Bloodsaw lindabloodsaw at gmail.com
Tue Dec 12 02:43:21 UTC 2017


NFB of Michigan
Quarterly Board Meeting
August 26, 2017
Four Points by Sheraton Hotel - Kalamazoo, Michigan

President Powell called the meeting to order at 11:03 a.m. 
Board Members Present: Michael Powell, J. J. Meddaugh, Fred Wurtzel, Linda Bloodsaw, Mark Eagle, Melinda Latham, Mary Wurtzel, Diana Mohnke

Absent: Derek Moore
Quorum: Yes

Introduction of members, visitors and guests.
The agenda was read and approved. 
Secretary’s Report, Linda Bloodsaw. The Secretary’s Report was adopted. 
Treasurer’s Report, Mark Eagle. The General Fund has $24,802.59; Newsline $5,545.28; PayPal $173.87; Youth Account $6,037.42. Two checks are still outstanding for the Youth Account. one large for the Best Western for Bell and have alternative funding coming in in the next few weeks. The Treasurer’s Report was adopted. 

President’s Report, Michael Powell. The Detroit Chapter participated in a Housing Fair on June 9, which morphed into transportation also. There were a number of organizations who attended. Libraries Without Walls occurred on June 12 and NFB was represented that the event. Participated in a conference call on June 16 with Fred Wurtzel and Peter Gargiulo, Director of Strategy Management for the Wayne County Airport Authority. They have written down three things the NFB would like to deal with: 1) dealing with the airport issue; 2) doing a study on accessibility at the airport; and 3) putting together a group of people with all disabilities to form a committee to make the airport accessible. Unless issue 1) GETS ADDRESS, there is no point in pursuing issues 2) and 3). Attended NFB National Convention in July and our exhibit table made around $1,300.00. NFB MI held its first Bell the week of July 23. Science Camp was held the following week. Received notification in July that Dan Wenzel from Blind, Inc. will be our National Representative at state convention. President Powell will speak to him soon and also ask if he would chair a panel in addition to giving the National Report. Received a call regarding state legislative objectives, one being parental rights. We are trying to pass legislation that disability cannot be used against a blind person unless there is cause in a custody hearing. We cannot speak for other disability groups, but can work with them so that their issues are included in the legislation. Michigan has passed autonomous vehicle legislation. Anyone using an autonomous vehicle must have a driver’s license. We are trying to get that removed because we want disability to be part of the discussion. President Powell and Mark Eagle will work on this issue to try and introduce some changes in that regulation. Need to work on the Parental rights bill also. President Riccobono had a meeting with all affiliate presidents on August 3 regarding the Cardtronics ATM settlement. Each state needs 11 testers from various zip codes and Valerie Yingling will contact those people with their ATM test location. Testers will be Michael Powell, Jeff Crouch, Osman Koroma, J.J. Meddaugh, Georgia Kitchen, DeVall Baldwin, Sabrina Simmons, Fred Wurtzel and Derek Moore. Testing takes place September 1 through October 15. No tests have taken place in Michigan regarding Uber/Lyft. J.J. Meddaugh said he sent a couple in June. Fred Wurtzel has not submitted yet. The President’s Report was adopted. 

Airport Update, Fred Wurtzel. We need to continue NFB presence at the meetings. Next meeting is in October. Need members to come the third Wednesday of the month at the Berry Administration Bldg. We need to work on maybe doing a travel advisory for Detroit Metro Airport based on civil rights infractions for the disabled at this airport. He will bring a resolution to our state convention. Fred Wurtzel made a motion  that the NFB of Michigan board issue a travel advisory for the Wayne County Airport Authority and the DTW  effective as soon as we can get it done. Motion adopted.

Convention: J.J. Meddaugh provided convention details. 
Convention theme will be “Learning with  those who  live it”.
Convention Committee: President Powell, Fred Wurtzel, Elizabeth Mohnke and J.J. Meddaugh

Steve Handschu talked about an accessible poll book. We look at making voting machines accessible, but no one looked at the poll book. Some states have gone to online voting or using touch pads. Do we want a focus group to test the concept before it goes into production. 

Mr. Handschu is the first certified one touch coach in Michigan. Two hours is an introductory session. Suggested donation for this class is $5. 

J.J. Meddaugh Would like to see a senior seminar. Haley Dare will do some parent breakout discussions. Need to finalize agenda and get meeting room. Breakout to new users to sit down and talk about Newsline. Breakout with parents of blind students. I E p discussion. Conventions need to change from passive to active. We need membership development.  

MIPOBC may put together a board because there is enough interest. Trying to pull together breakout sessions for the parents. Has six different breakout sessions: Homeschooling a blind child, working with blind babies and toddlers, resources for partially sighted children, services of Blind Inc., blind culture for sighted individuals, What MDE-LIO offers 
creating appropriate braille goals. 

Steve Handschu did not think it was wise to separate partially sighted and those who are totally  blind. Ody Norkin suggestedinviting Kalamazoo Friend of the Court to sensitize judges to the issue.

A chair needs to be appointed to Resolutions Committee. President Powell said some of the parent items should be on the agenda for general discussion before the entire convention. Motion made and approved to have one hour breakout session before lunch. 

Marcus Simmons is founder of career and auto related specialties. He would like to be recognized as a division, but it seems IRS regulations prohibit it.  He wants to piggyback on an established division in order to collect money and sell die cast cars at conventions. Mr. Simmons will need an initial investment of $500 to get the cars. They will be sold at national convention and the money will be paid back to the affiliate plus 50 percent of the profit. A cars committee will be appointed and Marcus will chair. Money will be used to help provide incentives for blind people to get into the automotive related field. 

Motion made to appoint a car committee and Marcus Simmons will be the Chair. Mark Eagle had concerns about being in the same situation as the national office because Mr. Simmons’ group is national and not just in Michigan. President Powell  will appoint committee, Fred Wurtzel was appointed to the committee . 

Mary Wurtzel will talk about people who bring every sort of animal with them which causes problems for guide dog users. This will be a topic for NAGDU meeting. 

NFB MI Website, Taylor Arndt. Volunteered to work on the NFB of Michigan website to make it current. She wants to move the website to either Wordpress or Drupal. Ms. Arndt will be added to the website committee. Lydia Shuck and Mark Eagle have talked about getting a grant to fund someone running the website. J.J. Meddaugh Would like to unveil a new NFB MI website at state convention. It is an ambitious goal, but the team will try to do it. Taylor Arndt would like to train people on updating the website. Chapters should have a person responsible to send Ms. Arndt information to put on the website. 

Grant Writing and Our Mission, Lydia Shuck. We want to write a grant and submit to Blue Cross for $5,000 for Newsline. We want to revisit because the Blue Cross person did not have the vision for putting health info on Newsline. There are health magazines like Men’s Health and Prevention already on Newsline. They may fund equipment or an office. They think Newsline is cool, but that is not what they want to do. Money could be used for transportation for members to get to health fairs and sign people up for Newsline. Are we interested in using Newsline for membership? President Powell said yes, to a point. We need to go to Senior Centers. Steve Handschu talked about doing IEP and he cannot pay that out his own pocket. There is a large population of blind Chaldean refugees who need help. That group is large enough to form a chapter or join other chapters. Hire a 20 hour per week person and get shared office space. Fred Wurtzel suggested working with community partners as a goal because it would be more successful. Washington has a part time person that is funded. May be able to get a physical location in Lansing and we can network with other organizations. 

Bell Academy, Haley Dare. There were 10 students of varying degrees of blindness. Youngest was 7 and oldest was a 7th grader, just outside of target range. They took field trips. There were about seven volunteers. Three volunteers were sighted. Worked on Braille, cane travel, played on the playground. Everyone had fun. Volunteers grew and students grew during Bell week. Children felt safe enough to explore their surroundings. Pauline Smith will conduct Bell in Detroit next year. She will attend national with Haley for training. Best Western has invited the group back at the same rate. Christian Academy also invited them back to Kalamazoo. They stayed within budget. Ultimate goal is to have one Bell in every part of the state. 

Science Camp, Fred Wurtzel. They went to the Calder Farm and store near Ohio. Each scientist milked a cow. Trying to show farm to table and where food comes from. Donna Posont told the children about the life of a cow and production costs. The children were amazed at how big cows are. Henry Ford and Greenfield Village are very helpful in terms of accessible items. There are a number of blind mentors and role models. Jeff Crouch taught two classes. The long term commitment to the scientists pays off. They gathered data and wrote a story about the data. Donna Posont talked about Detroit Channel 4 coverage with the weatherman, Paul Gross. He met with the group and kept the children engaged for two hours. There are two days of staff training and scientists stay for eight days. There were nine boys and four girls. Need more volunteers. May look at having two science camps.

Diana Mohnke made a motion to allocate $3,000 for state convention assistance. Motion adopted. 

J.J. Meddaugh made a motion to support up to five rooms to be used for Bell and SASS participants and their families and cover associated banquet and registration costs if necessary. Motion adopted.

Old Business: Elizabeth Mohnke asked that someone attend a meeting with her and the Dean of Student Affairs at her college.

New Business: Haley Dare has ideas to get NFB MI more involved with outreach and working with TVIs. Work with Michiana Chapter in Indiana to do a mini Bell. Perhaps NFB MI  getting involved with the Western program. Could we sponsor a A refresher course for TVIs.

J.J. Meddaugh suggested discussing at the parent’s meeting. How will it be paid for and what is possible, and how to have a mini program.

Mark Eagle said August primary feedback regarding voting machines was not very good. Vote in November to find out if feedback made a difference. Some speech output was really bad. More machines will roll out in November, so report any issues.

The meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m.




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