[0:04] [music]

[0:09] » Okay, [music] welcome to the Tuesday,

[0:11] July 14th, 2026 meeting of Grafton Mass

[0:15] Accessibility Advisory Commission. I'm

[0:17] Roger Trahan, the chair, and I call this

[0:19] meeting to order.

[0:21] And first, because we're meeting via

[0:23] Zoom, I will uh

[0:25] make sure everyone is here and

[0:28] can be seen and heard. So, I'm going to

[0:30] call a quick attendance. Christy

[0:32] Proctor.

[0:35] » Here.

[0:36] » Tracy Sharkey.

[0:38] » Here.

[0:39] » Sarah Salbu Young.

[0:41] » Here.

[0:42] » Roger Trahan, here, of course. And um

[0:45] All right, first item on the agenda,

[0:47] welcoming our newest member, Sarah Salbu

[0:50] Young.

[0:50] » Yay.

[0:51] » And uh do you include the uh Salbu in

[0:54] your when being introduced formally?

[0:57] » Yeah, I it really doesn't matter. You

[1:00] can just call me Sarah Young, that's

[1:01] probably easier. But whatever you want

[1:03] to do, I go by Sarah Salbu Young, so.

[1:06] Um but I'm not picky.

[1:08] » [laughter]

[1:09] » Well, welcome aboard, and uh

[1:11] » Thank you.

[1:11] » Uh just by way of introduction, Christy.

[1:16] » Yes, hi.

[1:17] » About yourself.

[1:18] » Yeah, I'm Christy Proctor, and I've

[1:21] lived in Grafton since 1998,

[1:24] and I am a post-secondary

[1:27] disability specialist, which means that

[1:30] I work in the college setting to provide

[1:32] accommodations

[1:34] and access for students, visitors, and

[1:37] faculty

[1:38] at now currently at Quinsigamond

[1:41] Community College.

[1:44] » All right, Tracy.

[1:45] » Hi, Tracy Sharkey. I'm the building

[1:47] commissioner, also the ADA coordinator,

[1:50] and the select board delegate for the

[1:54] commission. I live in Oxford, and I've

[1:57] been working for the town since November

[1:59] 2023.

[2:02] So, welcome and I appreciate you

[2:03] volunteering your time

[2:05] » Sure.

[2:06] » For this good cause. It's

[2:08] very noble of you and we really

[2:10] appreciate you for coming on board.

[2:13] » Of course, yeah, happy to be here.

[2:15] » And Roger Trahan, current chair. I can't

[2:19] seem to shake that.

[2:20] » [laughter]

[2:20] » And um

[2:22] but um it's been great uh

[2:24] the commission was originally formed in

[2:26] 2009, but then had a an 8-year hiatus

[2:29] between 2011 and 2019.

[2:32] And so I I took the initiative to kind

[2:34] of get it back on its feet. So, I've

[2:36] been

[2:37] one of the uh

[2:39] sort of quote-unquote re-founding

[2:41] members as as Christie since that time.

[2:45] And um

[2:47] I just stepped off a board of library

[2:48] trustees, so now I have just one

[2:50] committee.

[2:51] Whereas you, Sarah, tell us about

[2:53] yourself and how busy you are.

[2:56] » Sure.

[2:56] » [laughter]

[2:57] » I mean, you guys are very sound very

[2:59] busy and so cool to meet you. This is

[3:01] why I'm interested in doing this. So, um

[3:04] my husband and I moved to Grafton in

[3:06] 2020. So, we were living in Boston and

[3:08] then we were like, oh, work from home.

[3:10] Let's start driving towards Connecticut

[3:13] cuz that's where my family is and his

[3:15] family's in Ohio. So, we're like, okay,

[3:16] at least we'll be like somewhat close

[3:18] and found Grafton and absolutely love

[3:20] it. This is definitely home. And so, I

[3:23] have two young boys. I'm now a full-time

[3:25] parent and uh 2 years ago got involved

[3:29] in the Affordable Housing Trust, um

[3:31] which I've increasingly really enjoyed.

[3:33] And so, I I just have found it to be so

[3:37] I I just

[3:39] want to contribute to the town, A,

[3:43] because I have young boys here and so

[3:45] that's my goal, but then my second

[3:47] reason is I really want to learn. And

[3:49] so,

[3:50] Roger, I saw you speak at the town

[3:52] meeting and then again on the select

[3:53] board meeting and I know that some

[3:56] committees just aren't that active and

[3:59] so given your enthusiasm, I was like,

[4:02] "Okay, that's a committee I'd like to be

[4:03] a part of." Um and then I do have a

[4:05] friend actually because I joined the

[4:08] affordable housing trust then she lives

[4:11] in Shrewsbury, she joined the

[4:13] accessibility commission for Shrewsbury

[4:14] and so then I've been hearing about that

[4:16] experience cuz she's like, "Oh, well you

[4:17] did it there." So she was inspired to

[4:20] get involved in that and so it kind of

[4:22] then bounced back to me and I'm like,

[4:24] "Okay, now I'm going to get involved in

[4:25] that one." [laughter]

[4:26] Um in Grafton. So that's why I'm here.

[4:28] So just I don't have

[4:31] the accessibility um experience that you

[4:34] all have um

[4:36] but I am here to learn and I just want

[4:39] to contribute and um my background

[4:41] professionally is communications. Um so

[4:43] I feel like that's

[4:45] hopefully where I can maybe help with

[4:47] outreach or um things like that that cuz

[4:50] that's kind of my my area of expertise

[4:52] but yeah, anyway, so just here to learn

[4:54] and contribute as best I can.

[4:56] » All right, thank you Sarah and welcome

[4:58] aboard and without you we wouldn't have

[5:00] a quorum. So

[5:01] » Okay.

[5:01] » [laughter]

[5:02] » There you go.

[5:04] » That works.

[5:05] » No, that is really awesome and um

[5:07] uh our next item on the agenda is uh

[5:10] remembering Paul Letourneau. Uh Paul uh

[5:14] had been on the commission uh Paul

[5:16] passed away back on June 26th

[5:19] and he had been on the commission 2023.

[5:22] So

[5:23] um I will say uh a few words uh about my

[5:27] thoughts regarding Paul but first I I

[5:29] want to offer a moment of silence.

[5:44] Okay.

[5:45] All right, Paul Eterno. He

[5:49] It was

[5:50] It was cool that Paul was able to be on

[5:52] the commission. I know that Paul

[5:54] had um

[5:56] you know, he didn't have his own

[5:58] transportation and

[6:00] uh coming going to and fro from

[6:03] uh in-person meetings really would have

[6:05] been

[6:06] a challenge for him. So, the fact that

[6:08] we met via Zoom really allowed him the

[6:12] accessibility to

[6:14] uh consistently be able to join our

[6:17] meetings and um

[6:18] so I I think Zoom has been um

[6:22] a sort of godsend to a lot of people and

[6:24] I think it was for you know, Paul being

[6:26] part of our commission and and he was uh

[6:29] he brought a unique perspective um

[6:32] uh including his age. He was in his

[6:34] early 80s

[6:36] and he was um

[6:38] he was a real disability advocate who

[6:40] had served with me on the board of

[6:42] Genesis Club in Worcester. For those who

[6:45] uh

[6:46] uh supporting those in recovery from

[6:48] mental illness. And so,

[6:50] you know, I had known Paul for almost 20

[6:52] years and so um

[6:54] it was kind of neat that we reconnected

[6:57] in Grafton and he was living up at

[7:00] at Forest Lane. So, um

[7:02] so I you know, I had visited him a few

[7:06] times in recent months, you know, before

[7:08] he fell ill you know, for the final

[7:11] time. And so um yeah, he was just a all

[7:15] around great guy. So, um

[7:17] uh I'll I'll miss him uh

[7:20] you know, as a member of this commission

[7:21] and as a friend. So.

[7:29] Okay. Um

[7:35] Catherine Dupuis

[7:37] um

[7:39] who had

[7:40] whose term expired back on June 30th,

[7:44] uh did not re-up. She had since moved

[7:46] out of Grafton.

[7:48] And

[7:49] that um

[7:52] kind of blends into the fact that we now

[7:54] have three

[7:56] uh vacancies on the commission.

[7:59] Uh one expiring

[8:02] next June 30th, '27, and two

[8:06] on 6/30 of '28. But before uh

[8:10] making further comments on that, uh

[8:12] Catherine

[8:14] um

[8:15] had been

[8:16] a sort of re-founding member back in

[8:18] 2019 along with Christie and myself.

[8:21] Um

[8:23] and you know, I I really appreciated her

[8:25] input. Uh she was someone who who uh

[8:29] uh was great to work with, a really a

[8:32] really just kind human being, and um

[8:36] uh she in the past had um

[8:40] uh hopped on board uh and you remember

[8:42] this, Christie, with National Night Out

[8:45] when we hosted a table and

[8:47] you know, pause for people and our

[8:49] our accessible Barbie um

[8:52] set up that year. That was That was

[8:54] cool. Um but always uh contributing and

[8:59] um

[9:00] um just a a great person and she's since

[9:03] moved out of Grafton. And what I'd like

[9:06] to do is I'd just um

[9:08] uh

[9:08] have

[9:10] uh

[9:10] I wish to write a letter of of thanks on

[9:13] behalf of the commission for her 7

[9:15] years. So.

[9:17] » Do we need to make a motion?

[9:19] » Uh probably not. I think we can do that

[9:21] by consensus.

[9:23] » Okay.

[9:24] » Anyone object?

[9:25] » [laughter]

[9:26] » All right.

[9:27] Uh

[9:28] We're pretty informal here, Sarah.

[9:31] You know, I

[9:32] we don't get wound up in Robert's Rules,

[9:35] so.

[9:36] » Sounds good to me.

[9:37] » Yeah. And so getting back to the three

[9:39] vacancies uh

[9:41] I had

[9:42] uh come before the select board and and

[9:45] Sarah had

[9:46] I I saw that the meeting where you you

[9:48] applied. So thank you for your kind

[9:50] words, by the way.

[9:52] Um

[9:52] you know um

[9:54] it was good to hear that um

[9:57] you know uh

[9:58] the

[9:59] you know that that

[10:01] it caused you to you know to to come to

[10:04] action, which was neat. And um

[10:07] and so

[10:09] I then put something on All Things Graft

[10:11] and recently

[10:13] um making note of the

[10:15] uh

[10:16] the the three vacancies. I I don't know

[10:19] if I mentioned three vacancies. I I may

[10:21] may have. Um I I'll say tongue-in-cheek

[10:24] that maybe I think I'd get more traction

[10:27] if I sort of offered some

[10:29] random free town trash bags and then

[10:32] you had to read the if you read the post

[10:34] and commented on it, you know,

[10:37] maybe that would would gain some

[10:38] traction, but um

[10:41] it

[10:42] I

[10:43] I don't know really and may maybe Sarah

[10:46] with your communications expertise uh

[10:49] kind of get more word out um

[10:51] regarding um

[10:53] uh trying to advertise and at a high

[10:56] level what we do and what the

[10:58] commitments are. Um so I included that

[11:02] as sort of a placeholder on the agenda,

[11:04] but

[11:05] I

[11:06] getting back Sarah to you and I and we

[11:08] had a uh

[11:10] a chat back and forth uh texting

[11:12] regarding a friend of yours

[11:14] um

[11:16] who who was deaf and we were had chatted

[11:19] about

[11:20] uh close caption capacity and and I

[11:23] doubled back with Christie on this as to

[11:26] and I will ask Christie to to weigh in

[11:28] on

[11:30] um

[11:31] just the close captioning piece, how

[11:33] accurate

[11:35] it has been for you

[11:38] as far as your experience for someone

[11:40] who would need captioning

[11:42] in a live setting and

[11:44] how much of a delay there is just for

[11:47] that versus uh

[11:50] using other assistive means.

[11:58] » So, to answer this question, I just have

[12:00] to ask Sarah, are you used to closed

[12:02] using closed captioning as a default?

[12:05] » So, I yeah, I I mean, I've just

[12:09] at the last company I worked at when we

[12:11] had like all company meetings, they

[12:13] would turn it on to I don't know the IT

[12:17] about that. I know it's not always

[12:19] accurate, um, but at least you can kind

[12:22] of in get a sense of what's being said.

[12:25] Um, and I just think

[12:26] So, yes, my friend my good friend Laura,

[12:28] she's uh our sons know each other.

[12:30] That's how we became friends. Um, and so

[12:33] actually being on that these meetings

[12:35] are only held on Zoom actually puts us

[12:38] potentially at a you know, at the

[12:40] opportunity to include her um, without

[12:43] having to bring an interpreter.

[12:45] Um,

[12:46] so

[12:48] So, yeah, cuz I don't sign. I actually

[12:50] just um, we just use notes app on our

[12:53] phones.

[12:55] Uh, so that's how we communicate.

[12:57] Um,

[12:58] but yeah, so I don't know if if that's

[13:01] something that we could enable and I'm

[13:02] actually going to see her tomorrow so I

[13:03] can even like talk to her about um, her

[13:06] interest. But in addition to Laura, what

[13:08] I'm thinking is and this is why I I'm

[13:12] excited to get involved and learn more

[13:13] about these different projects. What I

[13:15] would say from a communications

[13:16] perspective is

[13:19] I think it's great to reach out broadly

[13:22] in the selectboard meetings and all

[13:24] things Grafton meetings, but I think we

[13:26] can also think about, you know, who are

[13:28] the populations of people that are

[13:30] affected by the projects

[13:32] that we're involved in. So, is it

[13:35] um you know,

[13:37] student populations and their families.

[13:39] So, maybe a parent or a grandparent that

[13:41] would want to get involved. Um you know,

[13:44] someone related to someone you know, in

[13:46] connection to the senior center or

[13:48] something. So, you know, where where can

[13:50] we be just a little bit more focused and

[13:52] targeted um with our outreach, even if

[13:54] it is like one-on-one conversations.

[13:57] Just thinking about just kind of the the

[14:00] populations that are being affected by

[14:02] the group that we're doing. I think

[14:03] that's going to be kind of lead us to

[14:05] potentially sourcing people. I mean, the

[14:09] broad getting the word out there is

[14:10] needed, is a must, it's useful to get

[14:12] that awareness, but then getting that

[14:15] next level to actually get that

[14:17] engagement for someone to, you know, get

[14:19] really engaged is um kind of breaking

[14:22] that down and then thinking about what

[14:23] groups of people would want to go out,

[14:25] even engaging the library, you know, is

[14:27] there anything

[14:29] Are there any groups that participate in

[14:31] things that use the library space? Maybe

[14:32] we could connect with them. You know,

[14:34] I'm not sure. I'm just kind of throwing

[14:35] ideas out there.

[14:38] » Well, if Laura uses sign language, then

[14:41] we would have an interpreter for our

[14:43] meeting because that's her first

[14:45] language.

[14:46] » Okay. Okay. Yeah.

[14:48] » And whether it's using video remote

[14:50] interpreting, which means that we would

[14:52] have an interpreter join us in the

[14:54] meeting remotely, or if we would have

[14:58] someone um you know, the town might have

[15:00] a contract with interpreting services or

[15:03] an interpreter.

[15:04] You know, that would be set up, I guess,

[15:06] through Tracy or you know, the TA's

[15:09] office, but you know, again, it goes

[15:11] back to if that's her first language,

[15:14] that's what we need to have interpreted,

[15:16] not the captioning cuz the captioning's

[15:18] okay for us who understand a lot of the

[15:21] words as they're spoken. And even though

[15:24] the pronunciation, excuse me,

[15:27] the spelling can be atrocious.

[15:30] » [laughter]

[15:31] » Um

[15:33] um

[15:34] you know, that it's not our first

[15:36] language, so we kind of live with it.

[15:38] But for someone whose first language is

[15:40] sign language, then we would because

[15:43] that's their first language, they need

[15:45] it.

[15:46] And to provide access to her,

[15:50] um now with the new regs for the ADA, we

[15:52] need to be able to provide

[15:55] the chosen communication method in real

[15:58] time.

[15:59] And yes, there is a lag to some

[16:01] captioning.

[16:03] Um I

[16:04] I use captioning all the time, so even

[16:08] in meetings with no deaf people, I I I

[16:10] just always use it now. So,

[16:12] um

[16:13] you know, please let Laura know that um

[16:17] not hold her back

[16:19] or preclude her from from joining the

[16:21] commission.

[16:22] » Yeah, okay. Awesome.

[16:25] Cool.

[16:25] » And and I would I would add um

[16:28] that

[16:29] it would um

[16:31] because we meet predictably on the

[16:34] second Tuesday of each month

[16:36] that that should be um

[16:38] something that

[16:40] be

[16:41] it's not like a last-minute thing. The

[16:43] you know, there would be proper

[16:44] planning.

[16:46] I would simply want to be sure that um

[16:51] if there's ever a last-minute

[16:52] cancellation

[16:54] that we have a backup because I recall

[16:57] one recent time meeting where we were

[16:59] actually planning on having uh an

[17:03] interpreter

[17:04] or interpreters

[17:06] um and one or both couldn't make it.

[17:10] And so we had to on short notice

[17:13] nix that idea, and that should that

[17:16] shouldn't happen.

[17:17] But and that may have been different. I

[17:19] don't know.

[17:21] Um

[17:23] I I I think that for a town meeting that

[17:25] has gone multiple hours, I know that

[17:28] it's preferred uh to have two

[17:31] interpreters and they they

[17:34] do 15, 20 or so minutes and then they

[17:37] trade off.

[17:38] Um I don't know whether our meetings,

[17:41] which typically don't go beyond

[17:44] 60 to 75 minutes, would require two

[17:46] interpreters.

[17:48] Um Christie, would you have uh or Tracy

[17:51] have an um

[17:52] a sense of whether uh

[17:54] a committee meeting such as ours

[17:57] typically doesn't go beyond 75 minutes,

[18:00] whether that would require one or two?

[18:03] » Two.

[18:03] » And Would it Okay.

[18:05] » And then we would also send the meeting

[18:07] agenda in advance for the interpreters

[18:10] to read.

[18:11] » Okay.

[18:12] » And review.

[18:14] » Okay.

[18:16] All right.

[18:17] Yeah, Sarah, I would I would encourage

[18:19] her to to apply and we would arrange for

[18:22] an interpreter services for the select

[18:26] board meeting.

[18:27] » Okay.

[18:27] » Um and um

[18:29] the select board meeting doesn't require

[18:31] in-person attendance. They they are

[18:34] hybrid.

[18:35] So, if however, it would be easiest

[18:39] I I know that some interpreters um

[18:42] are not as close by

[18:44] and so

[18:45] um

[18:47] you know, so however that would work,

[18:49] either in person or both being Zoom for

[18:53] the application um in interview,

[18:56] uh we'll just make it happen.

[18:58] » Okay.

[18:59] » Yeah.

[19:00] » And then

[19:00] the other thing you mentioned, Sarah, to

[19:02] even extend this further,

[19:04] » Yeah.

[19:05] » You know, the populations that we want

[19:08] to touch upon may not only have um

[19:12] you know, a disability, but what if

[19:14] they're second language um users? So, uh

[19:19] you know, I just think of how with

[19:20] Worcester Public Schools, every meeting

[19:22] we have with them, there's always a

[19:24] Spanish language interpreter every time

[19:26] we have parent meetings.

[19:28] And you know, I don't know if we're

[19:30] going that way, but I know that a lot of

[19:33] our websites, when you uh log into them,

[19:36] they or even let's be honest, even if

[19:39] you're on the phone and you're calling

[19:41] Verizon, they say, "What language do you

[19:42] want this to be in?" You know, they have

[19:44] like three choices. Or the hospital has

[19:46] 10 choices.

[19:48] So, um you know, well,

[19:51] that I'm sure will become um something

[19:53] we're going to talk more about in the

[19:54] coming coming year.

[19:58] » All right.

[19:59] All right, yeah, awesome. Uh

[20:02] So, um moving on uh with announcements,

[20:07] Americans with Disabilities Act 36 uh

[20:10] 36th anniversary

[20:12] on July 26th. So, that's right around

[20:15] the corner.

[20:16] I know that um

[20:18] we have typically

[20:20] uh not done a whole lot

[20:22] regarding the recognition other than put

[20:24] something on the uh town webpage

[20:27] or even on the town website.

[20:30] Um Christie, what's the most recent

[20:32] thing we had done as far as advertising?

[20:34] » I'll I'll I'll show you right right now,

[20:36] the ribbon for the Accessibility

[20:38] Advisory Commission just shows the roof

[20:41] of the high school that says Grafton

[20:43] High School.

[20:44] » Okay.

[20:45] » It's okay. Nothing great. But, if you

[20:47] happen to go to the Facebook page for

[20:50] Student Accessibility Services, you'll

[20:52] see we have the 36th anniversary, and we

[20:55] also have

[20:57] um the flags for Disability Pride Month.

[21:00] » Okay.

[21:00] » Have two things going on.

[21:02] » Okay.

[21:03] » So, um you know, and that's in many

[21:05] places. If you're looking at different

[21:07] types of

[21:09] either services or or programs that

[21:12] support people with disabilities, so.

[21:14] » Right.

[21:15] I I know that on social media, I've seen

[21:17] numerous things regarding disability

[21:19] pride and the flag and

[21:22] almost

[21:24] almost um

[21:26] universally, the folks that I've spoken

[21:29] with regarding disability pride month

[21:32] have confused it as a sort of offshoot

[21:35] or an extension of

[21:37] um June's pride month and um

[21:41] I've gotten confused as to what it is um

[21:44] because they both have multi-colored

[21:47] flags and um

[21:49] and so I don't know if anyone else has

[21:51] run into that, but I certainly

[21:54] would uh on my own social media,

[21:57] uh I've always done this

[21:59] uh

[21:59] advertise the um

[22:03] the ADA anniversary on that day.

[22:05] Um

[22:06] and maybe we could also put something on

[22:08] the

[22:10] uh

[22:11] on our webpage ASAP.

[22:15] » Would that be through

[22:19] the existing ADA?

[22:21] » Would that be or yeah, probably William.

[22:23] » William?

[22:24] » I I would think so or I'm sure Amber or

[22:27] Cindy have um sort of equal access to

[22:30] put those logos up.

[22:34] With whatever we would send to them.

[22:41] Anyone want to volunteer?

[22:43] » [laughter]

[22:43] » Well, do you want me to send along the

[22:46] um

[22:46] disability pride month flag because the

[22:49] one I use

[22:50] um explains what each color means and

[22:53] what the black background means. I mean,

[22:56] it's

[22:56] where did I steal it from?

[23:00] » Super.

[23:00] » Uh

[23:01] Humanware. I think I took it from human

[23:04] wear.

[23:05] But because

[23:07] um

[23:09] it and it's tagged. So, that's good. It

[23:11] has the alt tags on it for anyone who's

[23:14] looking at it.

[23:15] But

[23:16] » Where um

[23:19] There's only so much real estate on our

[23:21] our page. Where would where would we put

[23:25] where and when would we put the Pride

[23:27] Month

[23:29] in where like half we into that right

[23:30] now and then the

[23:33] ADA anniversary logo

[23:36] on those on the page.

[23:39] Because if we're going to contact

[23:40] William or someone else in the TA's

[23:42] office, we would want to give them

[23:45] some specific direction of

[23:48] how prominent and where we want that

[23:51] without bumping the con- without bumping

[23:54] the content. And so, I don't know

[23:56] whether we

[23:59] we take up a lot of real estate with the

[24:01] vacancy ad on our page.

[24:05] » Well, here's my question. You know, not

[24:07] many people go to our commission's

[24:09] website.

[24:10] Let me go home to the home page

[24:14] of

[24:15] um

[24:16] See, I don't think they're going to put

[24:18] anything up. It just says events and

[24:20] spotlights and it has meetings

[24:23] and the floating wheelchair ribbon

[24:25] cutting ceremony and the pay as you

[24:27] throw trash bag increase. You know, I

[24:29] mean, it's not it's not really newsy

[24:32] news.

[24:33] » Are you talking about the town web page

[24:35] or the

[24:35] » That would be a great way to you know,

[24:38] really place it. The banner right now

[24:40] shows, in fact, let me just share my

[24:42] screen because it's just so inspiring.

[24:45] You you need to see this.

[24:49] Let's see. Oh, sharing's not turned on,

[24:51] Roger. So, let me describe this for you.

[24:54] It's a winter scene.

[24:55] » Can I do share How do I do I screen? All

[24:58] right.

[24:59] » Yeah, it's a winter scene of the new

[25:02] » I think you can share now.

[25:04] » Firehouse. Okay, let's see.

[25:08] » Can you share?

[25:09] » Yep, here we go.

[25:11] » It on. Okay.

[25:12] » Unfortunately, this is not uh

[25:17] anything that's

[25:20] I mean, in fact, it's interesting cuz we

[25:23] view this banner there's so many

[25:25] different banners that you

[25:27] actually have a slideshow with different

[25:29] events coming up. Like, you know, for

[25:31] our programming, that's what we do.

[25:34] And instead, they just kind of have a

[25:36] static which, you know, that's their

[25:39] decision. Maybe it doesn't use as much

[25:41] bandwidth, but you know, it's a pretty

[25:45] um

[25:47] pretty bit um pretty long uh scroll here

[25:50] to get to anything that even is timely.

[25:53] You know?

[25:56] So, it it's unfortunate that this just

[25:59] this is what you come up to and

[26:00] nothing's going on here. This would be a

[26:03] great space to put, say, Disability

[26:05] Pride Month,

[26:07] Grafton um Night Out, Grafton celebrates

[26:11] the end of August. You know, it would be

[26:13] interesting, but that's not my

[26:16] » And then the ADA anniversary. So,

[26:19] » Because

[26:20] this is our website, it just has this.

[26:26] You know, so we don't really even get a

[26:27] lot to do um

[26:29] a lot of room to play with. So, anyways,

[26:31] I'm just sharing that.

[26:32] » Do you know do you know one way or the

[26:33] other, and Tracy, maybe you may know

[26:36] being in town hall,

[26:38] um

[26:39] whether those can be interchanged

[26:41] without much fuss?

[26:43] » I believe it's page-by-page, so my

[26:46] landing page is a little different.

[26:49] Um it shows, I think, uh a building in

[26:52] the common.

[26:54] What would ideally you like to see?

[26:57] Would you like it to be scrolling

[26:59] photos?

[27:01] » No, uh scrolling slides, like digital

[27:03] slides, so that there's different things

[27:05] that are coming through.

[27:07] If each slide contained a graphic um or

[27:10] a photo, that would be great, but at

[27:11] some point we're going to have to make

[27:13] sure that's all accessible.

[27:16] Um

[27:16] » So, this is mine. This is my photo. So,

[27:19] you have a different photo than me. On a

[27:21] landing page.

[27:22] » And they all And it looks like they all

[27:24] um

[27:26] Yeah, it looks like whatever time you

[27:28] log in at, that's the photo you get, so

[27:30] it can be very random.

[27:33] » Okay, so you're looking for slides

[27:35] sliding through at the top here.

[27:38] » Yeah.

[27:39] » Okay. And what would you want the slides

[27:43] to show?

[27:46] » Well, it depending on what their what

[27:48] their design is, if they had four

[27:52] you know, the next town meeting is, the

[27:55] Grafton You know, like you know, you

[27:56] just have the upcoming events, but this

[27:58] month is

[27:59] like we could have had the um parade

[28:01] information for

[28:03] the 4th of July. I mean, I I I feel like

[28:06] they're missing an opportunity to use

[28:08] that space

[28:10] um

[28:11] to really promote Grafton instead of

[28:13] these pictures that just

[28:16] um are static and there's not even an

[28:19] explanation. This is Grafton's new

[28:22] uh municipal building or whatever it is,

[28:24] you know.

[28:25] So, Sarah, you're the communications

[28:27] person, you probably know web design

[28:28] much better than I do, but

[28:31] um it's just

[28:34] it it's just hard to see something

[28:36] I'll be honest with you, stay the same

[28:39] since we got the new website. So, this

[28:41] is old in media terms. Like it not

[28:45] rotate and keep things fresh. Um

[28:49] it, you know, but maybe that's their

[28:51] goal. So, I don't want to be too um

[28:55] uh quick

[28:55] » Yeah, and it just depends on um you

[28:58] know, staffing and time and like how

[29:00] many people actually visit the website

[29:02] versus like

[29:03] you know, you got to think about what's

[29:05] the

[29:07] um

[29:08] you know, what's the biggest bang for

[29:10] our buck here and in terms of people's

[29:12] time and and effort and I I totally

[29:15] understand what you're saying um and

[29:17] that's valid, but it's possible that

[29:19] people aren't primarily getting

[29:20] information about town news on the

[29:22] website. It could be mostly on Facebook.

[29:25] Um I don't know. I don't know, but

[29:28] that's a a potential just what I'm

[29:30] gathering from these clues that um

[29:35] Yeah, so tough to say. Yeah, I'm just

[29:37] not, you know, I I can't speak on behalf

[29:39] of who's involved in running it. So.

[29:42] » Yeah, it may be the setup. So, this is

[29:45] Shrewsbury's

[29:46] » Yeah.

[29:46] » Landing page and it may be this

[29:50] um Civic Plus. Yeah. So, this Civic Plus

[29:54] layout

[29:55] may only offer uh

[29:59] » Yeah.

[29:59] » Picture, but I can absolutely

[30:02] double check that.

[30:04] » And so, who would uh and would we want

[30:07] to then are you saying request that um

[30:10] both Disability Pride Month and the ADA

[30:13] Anniversary

[30:15] be superimposed side by side

[30:18] on the town webpage or at the very least

[30:21] our accessibility webpage?

[30:25] » And and technically, you're right,

[30:26] today's the 15th, so

[30:28] » I know.

[30:29] » It's already too late, but

[30:32] something for next year to remember. And

[30:34] as we come

[30:35] » It's it's not too late if we get it done

[30:37] in the next day or two. It may seem like

[30:39] it's being announced later than we would

[30:42] like, but there's still 2 weeks left in

[30:44] the month.

[30:45] » And we can always really strive to get

[30:47] the um National Disability

[30:51] um Awareness Month Employment Awareness

[30:53] Month in October. That can be our next

[30:55] target.

[30:56] » Mhm.

[30:58] So, what would we want to do and where

[31:01] would we want to put it?

[31:03] On and just our web page for starters?

[31:07] » For starters.

[31:09] » And what would we do? Would we

[31:11] I'm I'm of the opinion that if we were

[31:13] to get it done ASAP

[31:16] um

[31:17] that even though Disability Pride Month

[31:19] is half over, that any advertising days

[31:22] are better than none.

[31:24] Um and we are also um we have time

[31:29] in advance of

[31:30] the

[31:32] ADA anniversary.

[31:34] So,

[31:36] do you want to pick a couple logos and

[31:39] then ask that they be put side by side

[31:43] on the top of our web page?

[31:45] » Yep, I say we ask. Now, since you're a

[31:48] communications person, um

[31:50] can you define that a little bit because

[31:52] there's that's pretty broad. Like, can I

[31:55] just throw something at you and you can

[31:57] whip something up in Canva? I don't

[31:58] know.

[31:59] » [laughter]

[32:01] » So, I just want to take a step back. I

[32:02] want to understand Are you so Oh, you

[32:05] were directing that to me. Uh Okay.

[32:07] Okay. Um

[32:09] So,

[32:10] uh okay, just taking a step back, this

[32:12] sounds very tactical to put a logo or an

[32:15] image up on a website and I think we

[32:18] need to think first about what is the

[32:20] strategy, what are the goals, and who is

[32:22] the audience. So, before a tactic

[32:25] happens, what would we even want What's

[32:28] the purpose? What's the goal of having

[32:30] someone read this cuz it it's potential

[32:33] someone wouldn't they might see oh a a

[32:35] picture with colors and then not get any

[32:38] value from it, not take any action, or

[32:39] not learn anything.

[32:41] Um

[32:42] So, I think

[32:44] my communication expertise is this is

[32:46] actually and sorry, I'm jumping right

[32:48] here. I think this is too tactical.

[32:50] Um and I think this is fine I think this

[32:52] is a good direction, but I think we

[32:54] first need to define like what what is

[32:57] the strategy, and what do we want even

[32:59] people to do or learn or understand?

[33:07] » I I I I understand where,

[33:10] you know, exactly what you're saying. I

[33:12] I know that in the past we had discussed

[33:16] having regular

[33:18] sort of a switcher roo each month.

[33:20] Um

[33:22] and and sort of doing some

[33:25] planning

[33:27] of this, not just one-off.

[33:33] » So, it sounds like you we want to do a

[33:34] content calendar. So, we want to have a

[33:37] plan, like a a document that we can look

[33:40] ahead. So, for example, October is the

[33:43] employment um

[33:45] Oh, so thinking about, okay, in support

[33:48] of that, what would we want employers to

[33:51] know? What would we want employees to

[33:53] know? Yeah, it sounds like it's all

[33:55] education based. Um

[33:59] And so, that would be an opportunity for

[34:01] us to maybe pull in articles, videos,

[34:04] literature, and kind of provide

[34:06] supporting materials, whether that's

[34:08] linked to on the site. Um

[34:12] But yes, I think that's

[34:14] maybe I mean, this is fine. I think

[34:16] given the timing and wanting to support

[34:18] and acknowledge the anniversary and this

[34:21] month. I think there's nothing wrong

[34:23] with that, but I think um

[34:27] just my perspective

[34:29] uh Uh, my experience doing

[34:31] kind of campaigns or anything like that

[34:34] is you you definitely plan ahead and

[34:36] think of, you know, what are supporting

[34:38] materials, what do you want your

[34:39] audiences to do,

[34:41] um,

[34:42] what do you want them to understand,

[34:43] that type of thing. So, I think we need

[34:45] to like answer those questions before we

[34:46] start jumping to,

[34:48] um,

[34:49] yeah.

[34:50] So,

[34:51] I don't want to take anything away from

[34:53] the momentum or anything. I don't, but

[34:55] » That's

[34:56] » Yeah.

[34:58] » And and I know that we have discussed

[35:00] this where on under the announcements

[35:03] section of the

[35:05] top of the meeting,

[35:07] I've tried to sort of cherry-pick some

[35:09] of the {quote} {unquote} uh, important

[35:12] or more prominent, um, type of, um,

[35:16] recognitions throughout the year.

[35:18] But, when you really look at it, there's

[35:20] probably a dozen. January is

[35:24] And there's a a list of a dozen. It's

[35:26] it's

[35:28] name, um,

[35:29] uh, a condition, um, an illness, or

[35:33] whatnot, where it's this month and

[35:36] there's a dozen or more. In every single

[35:38] month throughout the year,

[35:40] a different color for a wristband.

[35:42] And so,

[35:44] you know, it

[35:46] I found myself sort of

[35:48] in an attempt to be inclusive,

[35:51] the list gets so long, you know what I

[35:53] mean, that it's like, okay, it it became

[35:56] almost too expansive. That it isn't just

[35:58] one thing in January, one thing in

[36:00] February, one thing in March. There

[36:02] could be 10, there could be 20.

[36:06] So,

[36:08] » Well, wait, I believe we did have this

[36:10] discussion a couple

[36:13] months ago and we were going to have

[36:15] kind of a main highlight, you know,

[36:18] we're highlighting this, but there's

[36:20] others and

[36:25] I just think we

[36:27] didn't quite get to it.

[36:29] And I think it's mostly public outreach,

[36:31] public awareness,

[36:33] not really much more than

[36:36] um

[36:37] kind of doing the best we can to

[36:40] increase our awareness. If someone calls

[36:43] me, I can just point them

[36:46] to

[36:47] whatever

[36:48] whatever is on our website. I think

[36:50] that's really great if it's already set

[36:52] up and then they can they can you know,

[36:56] if somebody calls me and says, "Oh, I'm

[36:58] interested in what's going on?" And then

[37:00] I can just send them the link. Let me

[37:02] email you the link and then they go and

[37:04] they can they can poke around

[37:06] themselves. But if there's not even any

[37:08] information at all

[37:10] on the website,

[37:12] I think just participating, community

[37:14] participation, and increasing

[37:17] um

[37:18] you know, the availability

[37:20] to the public.

[37:22] For us, um

[37:24] I did get a copy of a survey that

[37:27] Shrewsbury did.

[37:28] I don't know if you guys took a look at

[37:30] that. I did send that to the commission

[37:32] a little while ago.

[37:34] Um so, I can send it again and I'll

[37:38] include you, Sarah, but you know, kind

[37:40] of um

[37:42] what is our I guess what's our mission

[37:44] statement? And for me, it would be if

[37:48] there's an issue, we're here. We there's

[37:51] available avenues to have your issue

[37:54] addressed and then for educational um

[37:58] and just

[37:59] general knowledge. Say, "Oh, wow, I

[38:02] can't believe, you know, I have this

[38:03] disability and it's this disability's

[38:06] month." Type of thing, the camaraderie

[38:08] and finding common ground and um

[38:11] recognition for the people that it's you

[38:15] know, their disability month. I suppose

[38:17] that's why right you use flags, you use

[38:19] this.

[38:20] Um

[38:21] I think that's the only it's as far as

[38:23] that and maybe somebody would reach out

[38:27] to us and say, "Hey, there's this really

[38:29] cool event or can I present, you know,

[38:32] to your commission about this? I think

[38:34] this would be helpful for

[38:36] whatever disability, you know, other

[38:39] people going through it.

[38:41] You know,

[38:42] um, I think that's

[38:43] for me, I think that would be useful.

[38:47] » Mhm.

[38:49] » How about um, then maybe it maybe

[38:52] beneficial to

[38:54] this table this for more long-term

[38:56] planning that then could be

[39:00] an extension of, you know, not

[39:02] necessarily a subcommittee but um, uh,

[39:05] Sarah, uh, couple three years ago we did

[39:08] have a subcommittee where

[39:10] uh, we got together and we the

[39:13] commission eventually voted on it that

[39:16] if you go on the accessibility advisory

[39:19] commission's web this is whole um,

[39:23] column of items that have hyperlinks

[39:26] behind them. That was all the result of

[39:28] subcommittee work. Um, all these

[39:31] resources that are available and and

[39:33] such and perhaps it may be as simple as

[39:37] adding one more that happens to coincide

[39:41] with monthly recognitions. So, we

[39:43] wouldn't necessarily have to prominently

[39:46] put it on the web page but it could we

[39:49] could consider it as part of other, you

[39:52] know, part of the resources that already

[39:54] exist.

[39:59] So, are we in agreement then to just

[40:01] table any action on this?

[40:05] Okay.

[40:06] » Yeah, I think so. I mean if if if I just

[40:09] want to go I don't want to quash the

[40:11] idea of of putting that um, you know,

[40:14] July awareness month on the

[40:18] accessibility page. I think if I think

[40:20] that is a great idea. I just think it

[40:22] also prompts me to think about more of

[40:24] kind of stepping back and um and I'm

[40:27] happy to Is it okay if I Like I can put

[40:31] together like an outline um that's

[40:34] it's kind of a communications outline um

[40:36] and then it would lead to us building a

[40:38] content calendar, but I think it it it

[40:40] gets back to kind of back to our mission

[40:43] statement, our kind of our goals. Um Is

[40:47] that a Is that something like Would it

[40:48] be okay if I put a draft together and it

[40:50] would just be like and I can email it to

[40:52] you guys and then it would be prompts

[40:54] for us to discuss.

[40:55] » Right. Yeah, that would be great. The

[40:57] only thing we couldn't do is

[40:59] um

[41:00] a while a quorum of us equals four and

[41:02] we have right now three vacancies, but

[41:05] what we couldn't do is

[41:07] um have a seri- a concurrent or a serial

[41:11] conversation

[41:13] outside of a posted meeting that

[41:14] included all four of us.

[41:16] So, it would be permissible for

[41:18] any up to three of us to sort of go back

[41:21] and forth on this, you know, um

[41:24] you know, in between in between

[41:26] meetings. It just couldn't

[41:28] entail what eventually would be a quorum

[41:30] of us

[41:32] quote unquote deliberating through a

[41:34] serial conversation.

[41:36] » Sure. Okay, I think we would Yeah, so

[41:38] this wouldn't I would maybe just send it

[41:40] to you, Roger, and then we could like

[41:42] post it on the agenda and then we could

[41:44] just review it a day or two in advance

[41:46] and then discuss it.

[41:47] » That would be great That would be great.

[41:49] Oh, she's She's up and running. I love

[41:51] [laughter] it.

[41:52] » I just did this for the Affordable

[41:54] Housing Trust, so I'm already I'm like,

[41:55] "Oh, yeah, my outline." I I I just I got

[41:57] it out It's different topic, but I'm in

[42:00] the zone.

[42:01] » Mom- momentum. Thank you for doing that,

[42:03] Sharon. So, yeah, [clears throat] just

[42:05] send that over and I'll include it

[42:07] on the next agenda. So, I'm just

[42:10] July agenda.

[42:12] And it's funny. I have I'm a visual guy

[42:14] and my to-do or I have my blue highlight

[42:19] and I highlight things in blue as action

[42:22] items, so

[42:22] » Mhm.

[42:23] » Um

[42:25] I'll include that on July's agenda.

[42:28] Uh

[42:28] we have a couple uh more announce two

[42:31] more announcements

[42:32] under uh item F, the floating wheelchair

[42:35] ribbon cutting ceremony

[42:37] which is Tuesday

[42:39] August 4th at 11:00 a.m. on Silver Lake

[42:42] Beach. So, Grafton Rec Department

[42:46] um

[42:47] was uh accepted as a grant recipient

[42:50] through Smile Mass.

[42:52] And so, there's going to be a ribbon

[42:54] cutting ceremony on Tuesday, August 4th

[42:57] at 11:00.

[42:58] And I actually have that on my calendar

[43:00] to attend.

[43:01] So, um

[43:04] it was interesting when you uh

[43:06] put the town website on there, it was

[43:08] prominently

[43:09] displayed in that

[43:11] you know, this I don't know if you can

[43:15] My camera's just kind of blurry.

[43:17] » That's good.

[43:18] » Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[43:21] Anyway, but um

[43:22] so, that was really cool that uh we got

[43:24] the grant and Adam LaPoint really did a

[43:27] great job and

[43:29] this was I think the third attempt at

[43:32] securing this grant and so, it's been a

[43:35] few years and um

[43:37] so, one more piece of accessibility

[43:39] within the recreation

[43:41] uh s- uh space, so.

[43:48] And the final

[43:52] announcement Families Recover Together

[43:55] 26 and Wiffle Ball Tournament

[43:58] which is uh not for a couple of months,

[44:00] Saturday, September 12th from 11:00

[44:04] a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Nelson Park.

[44:08] And it's hosted in partnership with

[44:11] This is an acronym Miracle Mama's Inc.

[44:13] and Gap Recovery

[44:15] in recognition of National Recovery

[44:17] Month.

[44:18] And

[44:20] the day is focusing on connection

[44:22] awareness recovery support

[44:24] and celebrating the strength of

[44:26] individuals and families impacted by

[44:28] substance abuse recovery. So

[44:31] this going to be a ton of activities um

[44:34] bouncy house face painting tie dye

[44:37] ice cream

[44:39] um

[44:40] And so the it's all centered around a

[44:42] whiffle ball tournament and there will

[44:44] be music

[44:46] uh recovery speakers and information

[44:49] that will be handed out. So

[44:51] uh

[44:52] I think that's a block party I will not

[44:54] be missing. So

[44:56] uh

[44:59] And I included in the meeting packet

[45:02] a couple of the uh

[45:05] flyers

[45:08] uh

[45:08] for that

[45:09] particular event.

[45:12] So anyone else have any community

[45:14] announcements that I

[45:16] didn't include in the agenda?

[45:19] Okay.

[45:21] And moving on external correspondence

[45:26] there wasn't any external correspondence

[45:28] and

[45:30] sometimes that has been sent to me

[45:33] but other times

[45:35] it's been to the accessibility at

[45:37] grafton-ma.gov.

[45:40] There's also disability commission at

[45:42] grafton-ma.gov which is no longer in use

[45:45] it flows into the accessibility web

[45:48] distribution list.

[45:50] um

[45:52] Sarah did you

[45:55] um

[45:56] I actually sent

[45:59] the meeting packet link out to you both

[46:02] through

[46:04] the accessibility

[46:07] and your personal email.

[46:10] Did you receive it twice, which would

[46:11] tell me that you are now part of the

[46:14] distribution list?

[46:16] » I did get it twice. Mhm.

[46:18] » Oh, good. All right, good. All right.

[46:20] So, um we didn't receive anything

[46:23] collectively, but what I end up doing is

[46:25] outside of the town clerk's office in

[46:26] that little room

[46:28] the mail room with a photocopier

[46:30] » If I'm in the neighborhood, I will pop

[46:32] into town hall and see if we've gotten

[46:35] something uh

[46:38] you know, paper versus electronic

[46:40] communications, and there hasn't been

[46:42] any for months, so.

[46:44] And I went there just a couple of days

[46:45] ago.

[46:47] Uh

[46:48] All right, agenda item three, meeting

[46:50] minutes, April

[46:52] 28th regular meeting.

[46:55] And

[46:57] I will accept a motion to approve the

[46:58] draft minutes of our meeting of April

[47:01] 28th, 2026.

[47:04] » I'll make the motion.

[47:06] » All right, do I have a second?

[47:08] » Second.

[47:09] » All right, motion made by Chrissy,

[47:11] seconded by Tracy. Any discussion on the

[47:13] motion?

[47:17] All right. I have

[47:20] one item

[47:22] and I don't know, Chrissy, if you need

[47:24] to

[47:25] share the screen or

[47:26] » Share them right now if you don't mind.

[47:28] That way everybody can see.

[47:30] » Okay. All right.

[47:32] » Okay.

[47:39] » Okay.

[47:42] My only comment was um

[47:45] a grammatical

[47:46] correction on the second page

[47:50] 1D

[47:53] under announcements

[47:56] um it

[47:57] is it's um, transposing the C and the L

[48:02] after the word park.

[48:04] » Yep.

[48:05] I thought you were going to ding me for

[48:07] the spelling of the word Engvall.

[48:12] » Uh, no. I think Engvall No, I think that

[48:14] is correct. Engvall, yeah.

[48:17] Yeah, so that that was the only

[48:20] item I had.

[48:22] And uh,

[48:23] thank you once again, Christie, for

[48:26] unbelievable minutes.

[48:29] » I'm just looking for anything else

[48:31] that's red.

[48:33] And

[48:35] C-C-ing. Let me just

[48:38] Okay.

[48:40] Okay.

[48:44] » Awesome.

[48:45] And the

[48:47] other thing is um,

[48:51] So So,

[48:53] sorry, you

[48:55] may not be aware of how efficient,

[48:57] organized, and resourceful Christie is,

[49:00] but um, like literally after this

[49:02] meeting is over, very shortly after,

[49:06] you'll get the draft minutes from

[49:07] tonight.

[49:09] And then what, you'll be on the copy end

[49:12] of Christie's email to the town clerk of

[49:15] the approved minutes from April. So,

[49:19] So, Christie

[49:20] » Amazing.

[49:21] » Christie never let

[49:23] » To get it over with.

[49:25] » Okay. [laughter]

[49:26] » Yep, good for you.

[49:27] » I do not let it sit.

[49:29] » You not ever leave us. Do not ever leave

[49:31] us.

[49:32] Um,

[49:32] » [laughter]

[49:32] » And uh, I I just wanted to

[49:35] They used to be part of the open meeting

[49:37] law, which is no longer.

[49:39] Uh, Sarah, that um,

[49:42] you can choose to abstain, but you don't

[49:44] have to.

[49:45] Um,

[49:46] you are allowed to actually vote on the

[49:49] on any minutes of

[49:51] any draft minutes for which you weren't

[49:54] present.

[49:55] Uh that used to be a no-no, but um

[49:58] it was preventing

[50:00] as committees change, it prevented

[50:04] a quorum from ever approving some older

[50:07] minutes. So, they realized that that was

[50:09] probably not the greatest idea.

[50:12] Um and so, it just to let you know, you

[50:14] can either abstain or vote yay or nay on

[50:16] those.

[50:17] So, um any other discussion on the

[50:21] motion to approve the draft minutes of

[50:22] April 28th?

[50:25] All right, hearing none, all those in

[50:27] favor by roll call.

[50:30] Um

[50:32] Christie.

[50:33] » Yes.

[50:35] » Tracy.

[50:35] » I.

[50:37] » Sarah.

[50:38] » I.

[50:39] » Roger, I declare the motion carried

[50:41] unanimously 4-0.

[50:43] Awesome. Our first vote. Yeah.

[50:46] All right.

[50:47] » [clears throat]

[50:48] » You are now officially in.

[50:51] » [laughter]

[50:52] » That that that's that's the hazing.

[50:54] That's it.

[50:54] » We're making things happen.

[50:56] » Yep.

[50:57] So, um

[50:58] All right, moving forward, um

[51:01] US Department of Justice memorandum, how

[51:04] is Roger or why is Roger included

[51:09] national

[51:10] US Department of Justice items into a

[51:12] local

[51:14] advisory committee meeting. Here's why.

[51:17] And I actually had

[51:20] made note of this, and it it

[51:22] kind of snuck by

[51:24] all things Grafton

[51:25] because I was announcing basically an

[51:27] agenda item.

[51:29] And

[51:31] within this a

[51:34] I put on the agenda the scope of

[51:36] Olmstead versus L.C. decision

[51:39] regarding individuals with mental

[51:41] disabilities having a right to live in

[51:43] the community rather than in

[51:44] institutions.

[51:46] And

[51:48] what I ended up doing is and and this

[51:51] maybe was a bit random

[51:53] in the meeting packet

[51:55] the the Arc Massachusetts nonprofit

[51:59] had a uh

[52:01] it's the Arc of Mass.org

[52:04] had a

[52:05] three-page summary

[52:07] of

[52:08] what you know, how this all came about.

[52:12] Uh

[52:13] there was a Supreme Court ruling

[52:16] um

[52:19] should know what year it was.

[52:23] 1999

[52:26] and that ruled that unnecessary

[52:28] institutionalization is discrimination

[52:30] under ADA.

[52:33] And the court at that time held that

[52:34] people with disabilities had the right

[52:36] to receive services in the most

[52:38] integrated setting appropriate

[52:41] to their individual needs and there were

[52:43] three things uh when community-based

[52:45] services were appropriate

[52:48] that the person wants to receive

[52:50] services in the community and that the

[52:52] community placement can be reasonably

[52:54] accommodated.

[52:56] And

[53:00] what happened in June of 26, just last

[53:04] month

[53:05] is that the DOJ uh

[53:07] DOJ Department of Justice Office of

[53:09] Legal Counsel

[53:11] issued a legal opinion that actually

[53:13] narrowed how the federal government

[53:15] interpreted and enforced

[53:18] Olmstead and the ADA.

[53:20] And

[53:22] the DOJ basically argued that the ADA

[53:25] did not broadly require states

[53:27] to provide community-based services

[53:30] through an integration mandate

[53:33] and suggested that states have greater

[53:35] flexibility to determine when

[53:36] institutional settings are appropriate.

[53:39] Um

[53:42] leading to my final point, which all of

[53:45] these points I lifted from the ARC

[53:46] summary,

[53:48] that

[53:49] the Olmstead decision remained a binding

[53:52] uh law. However, the DOJ opinion may

[53:54] change how aggressively the federal

[53:57] government investigates and enforces

[53:59] integration requirements.

[54:01] And that there was a concern that this

[54:03] could make it more difficult to uh

[54:05] to protect community living rights. And

[54:08] and so

[54:09] um

[54:11] the extent to which we're an advisory

[54:14] commission to the select board,

[54:16] and we are in that capacity focusing on

[54:22] the greater community, which includes

[54:24] um

[54:25] community living environments, including

[54:27] group homes,

[54:29] that uh or public housing or other

[54:31] settings

[54:33] that in yesteryear

[54:35] would have been

[54:37] um

[54:38] maybe even a forced institution

[54:39] institutionalization.

[54:42] Um

[54:43] I I think we've come too far,

[54:46] and that there could be if if we

[54:50] if we were to slip back to the sort of

[54:52] old model,

[54:53] there could be people uh numerous people

[54:56] within the Grafton community in

[54:57] different uh housing settings

[55:00] uh that could be impacted. And so

[55:03] I wanted to

[55:05] at least bring it to the attention of

[55:08] the

[55:08] commission and to the public through our

[55:11] meeting

[55:12] that this national issue

[55:15] and you know, this 19 1999

[55:20] uh Supreme Court decision

[55:22] now 27 years later gets kind of turned

[55:25] on its ear

[55:27] through a DOJ

[55:29] ruling that says, "Well, yeah, that's

[55:31] not really how it should be

[55:33] interpreted."

[55:35] And then we go back to this model where

[55:39] somehow institutionalization is the

[55:41] default versus

[55:43] community housing when appropriate.

[55:46] So,

[55:47] that's my spiel. So,

[55:50] I'll sort of open open it up to any

[55:52] comments or impressions regarding um

[55:56] this particular agenda item and the the

[55:58] meeting packet.

[56:09] Don't all jump in at once.

[56:10] » [laughter]

[56:12] » Um

[56:13] » Thank you for the information. I think

[56:16] we'll have to kind of digest that and

[56:18] see

[56:18] » Yeah. I know.

[56:19] » Opinions.

[56:20] Um

[56:21] » Yeah.

[56:23] » Yeah, it's

[56:24] » No, that's fine.

[56:25] » It's a challenging topic.

[56:28] » It it really is because um and it can be

[56:31] an emotionally charged topic, you know,

[56:33] um as well. Um

[56:36] So, I just wanted to at least throw it

[56:39] out there that

[56:41] that um maybe to be a little bit

[56:44] provocative, too, that we also in in

[56:47] expansive of what some people may

[56:50] consider our role as a commission.

[56:52] I know that I had thrown um

[56:55] on the agenda various housing issues in

[56:57] the past regarding

[57:00] you know, accessible and adaptable uh

[57:02] apartments within multi-family housing.

[57:05] Um

[57:06] You know, when when are elevators

[57:08] required, you know, uh

[57:11] you know, four stories and above, those

[57:13] types of things. So,

[57:15] um

[57:16] I'm kind of

[57:19] bringing in sort of um

[57:23] more items than maybe

[57:26] other accessibility advisory commissions

[57:28] may consider to be sort of local issues.

[57:31] Um

[57:32] but in the end even Supreme Court

[57:34] decisions have

[57:36] by and large risen out of local issues.

[57:39] Like almost every single one of them is

[57:41] some impacted individual who says, "Wait

[57:43] a minute. I think I've been wronged, you

[57:45] know?" It goes all the way to the top.

[57:48] And um

[57:50] and so

[57:51] I figured I'd throw it out there

[57:53] uh for everyone to to digest. Um

[57:57] It's I certainly don't expect this to be

[58:00] an action item tonight.

[58:02] But I wanted to at least call it to

[58:05] everyone's attention.

[58:07] So.

[58:10] » Yeah, I I think this is great. I don't

[58:12] have um I mean, yes, it's a complicated

[58:15] topic and um

[58:18] it's something

[58:19] I definitely need to learn more about

[58:20] specifically. But I appreciate and I

[58:24] understand what you're doing is as an

[58:27] accessibility commission, we should be

[58:29] aware of larger things happening because

[58:32] yes, it feels like, "Oh, it's a Supreme

[58:34] Court decision." But that ultimately

[58:36] impacts everyone. Um or you know, it it

[58:40] it will have an have an impact. So, it's

[58:43] I think it's

[58:44] it's nice for us. It's a good motivation

[58:48] or like a good push for us to be in the

[58:51] know and aware of what are these things

[58:54] happening nationally, even potentially

[58:57] globally, even for inspiration. You

[58:58] know, what are some cool things

[59:00] happening all around the world um

[59:02] that could potentially influence or just

[59:07] help us feel more informed as kind of

[59:09] accessibility experts as we're you know,

[59:12] growing into that. Mhm.

[59:14] » Right.

[59:15] Right, cool.

[59:16] All right. Um

[59:19] Yeah, there's a lot of reading to do.

[59:21] So, I I you know, we we never know

[59:23] everything, but I try to

[59:27] sort of do as much reading as possible

[59:29] on pertinent things.

[59:31] Kind of I'm that nerd that will go on

[59:33] and start browsing through the

[59:34] Massachusetts Office on Disabilities,

[59:36] you know, website.

[59:38] See what's going on because there are

[59:39] things that are pertinent to what we do

[59:41] in the greater community, so

[59:43] um

[59:44] All right, moving forward to old

[59:46] business. Um

[59:49] Annual town meeting.

[59:50] Um

[59:52] Yeah, back on May 11th,

[59:54] town meeting voted to appropriate 90,000

[59:56] in community preservation funds for the

[59:58] feasibility and concept study

[1:00:00] regarding the Blackstone Valley

[1:00:02] Walkway/Bikeway.

[1:00:04] And I spoke in favor of that as we had

[1:00:07] done um

[1:00:09] in advance, we had talked about uh

[1:00:12] and I had included, after the fact,

[1:00:15] the letter that I wrote

[1:00:17] on behalf of um

[1:00:20] Accessibility Advisory Commission to uh

[1:00:23] Community Preservation Committee.

[1:00:25] Um so, that was formalized and then I

[1:00:28] spoke in front of town meeting

[1:00:30] in favor of that and it passed

[1:00:32] overwhelmingly and so

[1:00:34] uh

[1:00:35] I actually look forward to any expansion

[1:00:37] of that uh walkway/bikeway because it's

[1:00:42] as we discussed previously, it adds more

[1:00:44] accessible space, so.

[1:00:46] Um

[1:00:48] All right, under old business, um oh

[1:00:51] god, this one. 5B outstanding meeting

[1:00:53] minutes, we we had started to chip away.

[1:00:56] Thank you, Kristy, for the ones you got

[1:00:57] to the town clerk.

[1:00:59] I'm going to have to look at these.

[1:01:01] These were all during 2020.

[1:01:04] And I'm pretty sure that there weren't

[1:01:06] any meeting minutes that we didn't

[1:01:08] approve.

[1:01:09] And I think out of these six dates that

[1:01:12] I had listed for 2020,

[1:01:15] the under the town clerk's webpage, five

[1:01:17] of those six dates have little uh

[1:01:19] television icon,

[1:01:21] which means that those were televised.

[1:01:24] So,

[1:01:25] um I'm going to have to I I I've put

[1:01:29] this as a placeholder so I wouldn't

[1:01:30] forget it. So, I'm going to have to go

[1:01:32] back and and check it out because

[1:01:36] the Attorney General's office routinely

[1:01:39] um

[1:01:39] reminds, and I'll use that term gently

[1:01:42] reminds, town clerks to

[1:01:45] be up to speed on all committees that

[1:01:48] have posted an agenda

[1:01:50] did they meet? And if you did, where are

[1:01:51] the minutes? So,

[1:01:54] uh

[1:01:55] All right, town survey, old business 5c.

[1:01:59] Um

[1:02:01] I don't know.

[1:02:04] I don't recall where we left off on

[1:02:06] this. I know Tracy, you had um been in

[1:02:08] touch with Shrewsbury.

[1:02:11] I know that

[1:02:13] um without getting into details yet

[1:02:16] about what a survey would look like, at

[1:02:19] the last

[1:02:21] select board meeting,

[1:02:24] it was mentioned that what's this, a

[1:02:25] SurveyMonkey or one of those

[1:02:28] sites

[1:02:30] is

[1:02:31] set up to do those types of things.

[1:02:34] Where did we leave that

[1:02:36] as an action item?

[1:02:38] Anyone recall?

[1:02:42] Was I supposed to do something? Tracy,

[1:02:44] you had

[1:02:45] you had contacted Shrewsbury. How did we

[1:02:47] leave it? Because we

[1:02:48] there was a few meetings where we didn't

[1:02:50] have quorum, so we haven't discussed

[1:02:52] this in a few months.

[1:02:54] » I emailed the survey questions. I

[1:02:57] received the copy, and I think it was

[1:03:02] Google. Let me just take a peek.

[1:03:05] I sent it over.

[1:03:07] Um

[1:03:10] And I sent it to the commission's

[1:03:12] email. I believe

[1:03:14] » One a point.

[1:03:17] » I'll tell you the date.

[1:03:18] » Sorry, yeah, please.

[1:03:26] Get out my blue marker again and

[1:03:28] put it as an action item to

[1:03:31] » It was just kind of like, okay, what did

[1:03:33] they ask?

[1:03:41] » Was it um short and sweet? Is that the

[1:03:44] sort of um

[1:03:47] uh approach that works? Don't overload

[1:03:50] people with too much.

[1:03:55] » Uh 5:27:26,

[1:03:58] I said below are the questions from

[1:03:59] Shrewsbury. Let's review for the next

[1:04:01] meeting. So, I sent it to you personally

[1:04:03] plus the commission.

[1:04:05] And um

[1:04:08] if you wanted, I can share it right now

[1:04:10] on my screen.

[1:04:12] » Yeah, could you?

[1:04:13] » Yeah.

[1:04:13] » Yeah, I that slipped me to include in

[1:04:15] the meeting packet.

[1:04:16] » It's okay.

[1:04:26] Okay.

[1:04:28] Um

[1:04:31] So,

[1:04:39] I'm trying to

[1:04:40] move this

[1:04:42] so I can see.

[1:04:49] » All right,

[1:04:50] it's now.

[1:04:50] » Can you see?

[1:04:51] » This. Yeah.

[1:04:52] » Okay.

[1:04:56] And I

[1:04:57] and he actually I think changed all the

[1:05:00] words for me

[1:05:02] he

[1:05:03] to town of Grafton.

[1:05:08] » How many questions are there total?

[1:05:11] » Uh and he used Google Suite.

[1:05:14] Um, there are 10 questions.

[1:05:18] » Okay.

[1:05:21] » About you.

[1:05:26] Accessibility of town services. How

[1:05:28] accessible do you find the following in

[1:05:30] Grafton?

[1:05:32] That could be interesting.

[1:05:35] Sidewalks, public buildings, park

[1:05:37] wrecks, town website.

[1:05:43] Public restrooms.

[1:05:46] And then if there's a challenge, kind of

[1:05:48] identifying the shortfalls of

[1:05:51] accessibility within the town, and maybe

[1:05:53] getting feedback from people going

[1:05:56] through it, you know, having the

[1:05:58] challenge.

[1:05:59] » Okay.

[1:06:03] » Which of the following services or

[1:06:04] supports would be helpful to you or your

[1:06:06] family?

[1:06:15] Do you feel informed about

[1:06:16] disability-related resources available

[1:06:18] through the town?

[1:06:22] And how would you prefer to receive

[1:06:23] updates or information?

[1:06:26] Sarah must be loving this.

[1:06:28] All the communication.

[1:06:33] One thing the town could do better. I

[1:06:35] mean, even if

[1:06:37] a person answered one of the questions

[1:06:39] or one and set of questions,

[1:06:42] I think it would be helpful.

[1:06:44] » Awesome. So, how many did they When When

[1:06:46] did they do the survey and how many

[1:06:48] responses did they get?

[1:06:50] Like, how in what manner was it, um,

[1:06:53] put forth to the community? And are

[1:06:55] these like editable docs? Like, and then

[1:06:58] you go next, next, next, and then fill

[1:06:59] them in, and then submit. Is that how it

[1:07:01] works?

[1:07:03] » So, it was

[1:07:06] we could use Google Suite. That's what

[1:07:09] Shrewsbury uses.

[1:07:12] You can paste this in the prompt box

[1:07:14] when creating a new Google form. It

[1:07:16] should format it perfectly for you.

[1:07:20] And then what we had seen at a previous

[1:07:23] meeting maybe last year,

[1:07:26] um they actually had it on their

[1:07:28] homepage

[1:07:30] and click for the survey

[1:07:32] to take the survey.

[1:07:34] And I cannot remember, I believe they

[1:07:37] did publish their numbers.

[1:07:43] Let me see if I can

[1:07:45] find it.

[1:07:47] And the results of the survey.

[1:07:58] » And this was Shrewsbury's Yes.

[1:08:01] Commission that initiated this and ran

[1:08:03] it?

[1:08:04] » Mhm.

[1:08:05] » They have

[1:08:06] » Last last spring they did this.

[1:08:09] » Okay.

[1:08:10] » I lost April.

[1:08:12] » I have lost track of time.

[1:08:16] » Well, that's okay. We kept kicking the

[1:08:18] can down

[1:08:18] » You're you're saying 2025?

[1:08:21] » Yeah.

[1:08:22] » Okay.

[1:08:22] » They they did it I want to say they did

[1:08:24] it in the spring, so it must have been

[1:08:26] spring of 2025.

[1:08:33] » That's fantastic. I mean, some of the

[1:08:34] find not directly, but some of those

[1:08:36] findings would be relevant for us, too.

[1:08:38] I've just kind of general concerns and

[1:08:41] » Mhm.

[1:08:42] » They would just be actually really

[1:08:43] helpful for us to have that info if we

[1:08:45] could get like a summary of the survey

[1:08:47] results.

[1:08:48] Um and then the specific stuff for

[1:08:50] Grafton and town website, etc.

[1:08:53] » I wish we there was some way to reach

[1:08:56] people who are younger to do it, too.

[1:08:58] Like those in school school-aged because

[1:09:01] they're still using the town and they

[1:09:03] have disabilities like

[1:09:05] you know, even if we can make the

[1:09:07] language as simple as possible and have

[1:09:09] it go out in a variety of places.

[1:09:14] » They do not have any of their minutes

[1:09:17] posted, but I'm seeing on the June 2nd

[1:09:19] they did go over the community survey

[1:09:21] results.

[1:09:22] » Okay.

[1:09:23] » So, they might still be going over them,

[1:09:25] but I don't they do not have their

[1:09:28] meeting minutes posted.

[1:09:31] At least for this year.

[1:09:33] Oh, they have October 7th was the last.

[1:09:37] Uh-oh, they might need you, Christie.

[1:09:40] » Yeah.

[1:09:40] » [laughter]

[1:09:41] » Nope, she's taken.

[1:09:44] » Christie has a new gig, right?

[1:09:46] » Really.

[1:09:48] » Yeah, they're

[1:09:50] they're a little behind.

[1:09:56] » Some of that survey though, I feel it's

[1:09:59] too open-ended.

[1:10:01] And I don't think we're going to get

[1:10:03] what we really want. Um

[1:10:05] » Too much too many options for writing

[1:10:09] it?

[1:10:09] » No, it's too it's too general. So, what

[1:10:11] do you think the challenges are? Like

[1:10:15] you know

[1:10:17] like what are the challenges that you

[1:10:19] encounter in communication?

[1:10:22] What are the challenges you um

[1:10:24] encounter in um traveling around

[1:10:28] Grafton?

[1:10:29] You know, just

[1:10:30] » Uh

[1:10:30] » Keeping it general, but let's give it

[1:10:32] some context.

[1:10:34] » Yeah.

[1:10:35] So, I will I will share with you the

[1:10:38] meeting minutes from the October.

[1:10:41] And

[1:10:44] can everyone see my screen?

[1:10:46] » Yes, now we

[1:10:47] » 34 people responded.

[1:10:50] » And they're a city.

[1:10:53] » Yep.

[1:10:54] » No, they're not a city.

[1:10:56] » Yeah, it's city well, it's town of

[1:10:57] Shrewsbury, but they're considered a

[1:10:59] city in terms of their population.

[1:11:01] » Oh, okay. Yeah, 40,000 or so, 30,000.

[1:11:04] » Yeah.

[1:11:04] » They still They still have the

[1:11:05] government of an admin. They have and a

[1:11:08] select board.

[1:11:10] » Yeah, but we I mean, when you compare

[1:11:12] them to us

[1:11:14] » 34 of them. Terrible.

[1:11:17] » So, that's that in a nutshell.

[1:11:22] I think we'd have to do some sort of So,

[1:11:25] seven emailed stating they'd like more

[1:11:27] information.

[1:11:29] Um

[1:11:32] You know,

[1:11:33] Ooh. I think

[1:11:36] the person that is upset or negatively

[1:11:40] affected, I think to have these things

[1:11:42] available to them to speak their mind

[1:11:45] and to have an a way to get answers.

[1:11:49] Um I think that's what the goal is, not

[1:11:52] necessarily trying to improve the entire

[1:11:54] town. I think it's that person that ran

[1:11:58] into this odd thing that we don't know

[1:12:01] anything about, and then it's brought to

[1:12:03] our attention, and we can address it,

[1:12:05] and that makes a big difference in their

[1:12:06] life.

[1:12:08] Um you know,

[1:12:09] a lot of things I I deal with a lot of

[1:12:12] complaints, and

[1:12:15] I would never know about them until

[1:12:16] somebody actually called me and said,

[1:12:18] "Hey, there's this

[1:12:20] thing happening over here." And then I

[1:12:22] I'm able to address it if I can.

[1:12:26] So, it brings attention to whatever

[1:12:29] shortfall that we have,

[1:12:32] and it makes the person, instead of

[1:12:34] feeling like they're not heard or that

[1:12:37] it doesn't matter, at least there's

[1:12:39] something like this, maybe even if it

[1:12:41] makes one person's life

[1:12:44] different, you know, and and better, and

[1:12:46] it they've been living with it for

[1:12:48] years, and no one's ever asked them,

[1:12:50] "Hey, can I do anything for you?"

[1:12:53] If even there was, you know, 10 people

[1:12:56] saying, "Oh, this is this sidewalk is

[1:12:59] broken and every time I do this and, you

[1:13:02] know, I fall almost fall over." What

[1:13:05] whatever it is.

[1:13:09] » Let me ask you this, Tracy and and and

[1:13:12] um

[1:13:13] well, and Christie and Sarah as well.

[1:13:16] Um

[1:13:16] however we do a survey,

[1:13:20] um

[1:13:21] I'm thinking that it's standard that

[1:13:24] at the top of the survey,

[1:13:27] um it's advertised what the running time

[1:13:30] is. So, people know that, okay, what's

[1:13:33] the expiration date of this survey?

[1:13:35] And whether we put some of these in hard

[1:13:38] print as well for various areas of town.

[1:13:42] Um not everyone uses computers.

[1:13:44] And

[1:13:47] is there a typical window

[1:13:51] of number of weeks

[1:13:53] that is sort of standard

[1:13:55] um

[1:13:56] for these types of surveys? 3 weeks? A

[1:13:58] month? What what

[1:13:59] » I think it should be rolling. I think

[1:14:02] you should just leave it up there.

[1:14:04] » All right.

[1:14:04] » You know,

[1:14:05] you want to send us some feedback. These

[1:14:08] are kind of inquisitive and

[1:14:09] thought-provoking questions.

[1:14:12] And maybe we have a clipboard with a,

[1:14:14] you know, hard copies and we go to the

[1:14:17] senior center or we do our the big truck

[1:14:20] night and we Would you like to

[1:14:22] participate in the survey? It's

[1:14:24] anonymous and then, you know,

[1:14:27] maybe we do it that way. Maybe we don't

[1:14:29] call it a survey. Maybe we just say

[1:14:31] questionnaire or

[1:14:33] » Get your opinion on some things.

[1:14:34] » Yeah.

[1:14:35] » Yeah, maybe yeah.

[1:14:37] » Counts.

[1:14:39] » I saw a paradigm shift then because I'm

[1:14:41] thinking that,

[1:14:42] you know, this whole boxing myself into

[1:14:46] this window and then we have to gather

[1:14:48] the results, but really it it's it's

[1:14:52] more just

[1:14:53] feedback. Like I don't I don't Like for

[1:14:56] me, I don't need the formality of

[1:15:00] you know, {quote} {unquote} results

[1:15:02] other than

[1:15:04] what are what's being brought to our

[1:15:05] attention, and what's being done to

[1:15:08] address it.

[1:15:10] » Well, I think it could be possibly very

[1:15:12] productive for this commission to

[1:15:15] actually work towards addressing the

[1:15:17] concerns from

[1:15:20] these pieces of paper or these

[1:15:21] questions.

[1:15:23] » Right.

[1:15:24] » You know, we want to have more community

[1:15:26] involvement and make a difference not

[1:15:28] only with just putting information

[1:15:31] on the website and having these meetings

[1:15:34] and hoping somebody will call us and

[1:15:36] tell us, "Hey, this you know, I'm having

[1:15:39] an issue with this." But

[1:15:41] you know, life is very busy. So, if

[1:15:44] we're at the senior center, if we're at

[1:15:46] the various

[1:15:48] um events,

[1:15:50] and just have it available, have it on a

[1:15:54] a table,

[1:15:56] you know, you could get creative where

[1:15:58] because you know that when you have an

[1:16:00] issue, you want to tell somebody. You

[1:16:02] want to tell the right person. So, if

[1:16:04] this is a just an available form,

[1:16:08] you know, you might be able to get your

[1:16:10] concern to the correct person.

[1:16:12] » Right.

[1:16:15] » And these people have good ideas that

[1:16:17] are living it. They have good ideas on

[1:16:19] how to fix things. They have good ideas

[1:16:21] on you know, so no one else can

[1:16:24] have the challenge, whatever it may be.

[1:16:27] » Right. And even absent someone tackling

[1:16:30] one or more of these questions, uh I

[1:16:32] guess also

[1:16:34] uh

[1:16:35] more prominently and frequently

[1:16:37] advertising our own commission's uh

[1:16:40] email.

[1:16:42] » Yeah.

[1:16:42] » The people may just want to sh-

[1:16:45] one-off shoot us a question or a

[1:16:47] or a uh some feedback or opinion or

[1:16:51] an area of improvement or something.

[1:16:54] compliment Hey, those are always good.

[1:16:57] You know.

[1:16:59] » Yeah, we can we can hope.

[1:17:02] » Yeah. I'll tell you when I was on

[1:17:03] library trustees, there when I first

[1:17:06] that was on from '23 to '26.

[1:17:09] And for the first year, there was this

[1:17:11] awesome part of the agenda where the

[1:17:16] um library I think they still

[1:17:19] keep track of these opinions where

[1:17:22] someone will either send an email or

[1:17:24] write a little note on a uh uh uh uh a

[1:17:27] little piece of paper and it's all these

[1:17:29] positive comments and they're like pages

[1:17:31] of them. So-and-so So-and-so helped my

[1:17:33] child do this or so-and-so was really

[1:17:36] gracious in addressing my frustration

[1:17:38] regarding

[1:17:40] log- logging on to genealogy and there's

[1:17:42] like they'd usually be a few pages of

[1:17:44] these um

[1:17:46] sort of kudos um and and

[1:17:50] it's it's refreshing

[1:17:52] compared to just hearing when people are

[1:17:54] dissatisfied.

[1:17:56] » Yeah.

[1:17:57] » So.

[1:17:57] » That's like. No, I'm just kidding.

[1:18:00] » Yeah, but that's why they pay you the

[1:18:02] big bucks, Tracy, right?

[1:18:03] » Yeah.

[1:18:03] » Yeah. All right.

[1:18:04] » Yeah, exactly. I can take it. I can take

[1:18:07] it.

[1:18:07] » There you go. So what what do you

[1:18:09] » Yeah, I think um

[1:18:12] through my experience of dealing with

[1:18:15] the challenges

[1:18:18] having an avenue for someone to

[1:18:21] communicate with us what it is is just

[1:18:25] everything.

[1:18:26] So even if we put it out there forever

[1:18:28] and we get two people a year

[1:18:31] you made that person's year.

[1:18:33] If you could fix what their concern is.

[1:18:35] » Right. All right, so let me ask you this

[1:18:37] then uh

[1:18:40] time frame All right, what are the next

[1:18:42] steps, action items, time frame,

[1:18:45] the scope of what we'll do and and and

[1:18:48] » We could reduce the We could reduce the

[1:18:51] questions

[1:18:52] if we think it's too long.

[1:18:54] Um you know, take a 30-second

[1:18:59] questionnaire.

[1:19:00] » Mhm.

[1:19:01] » Leave your comments in 30 seconds.

[1:19:04] People will do that.

[1:19:06] I don't even think they would do 2

[1:19:07] minutes.

[1:19:08] But they do 30 seconds.

[1:19:10] » I think to ask people for their specific

[1:19:12] disability information,

[1:19:15] I mean, we don't need to know there

[1:19:17] this, that, or the other thing. Just say

[1:19:20] Um do you have a physical,

[1:19:21] psychological, learning I mean, just

[1:19:23] keep it again broad, four categories or

[1:19:26] and another.

[1:19:28] You know, we don't need to say, are you

[1:19:30] deaf? Are you blind? Are you

[1:19:33] um

[1:19:33] chronic health? Are you medically I

[1:19:36] mean, you know, we don't need to know

[1:19:37] that information.

[1:19:39] Just some

[1:19:40] » Right.

[1:19:40] » Just some broad brush

[1:19:42] categories, not the specifics, you know.

[1:19:45] » Yeah, because if people are leaving any

[1:19:48] if they come from a It becomes actually

[1:19:50] technically anything is a public

[1:19:52] document if it's electronically

[1:19:54] transmitted.

[1:19:56] Um with an identifiable email uh no less

[1:20:00] that I would not want to

[1:20:04] elicit private information,

[1:20:07] but we certainly

[1:20:09] There's ways to sort of tap dance around

[1:20:11] that to get useful information of how

[1:20:15] certain

[1:20:17] facilities or services are impactful

[1:20:20] either positively or negatively.

[1:20:22] » I think it's fine to remove

[1:20:26] the uh the question.

[1:20:28] » Mhm.

[1:20:31] » Or is there an option to have some

[1:20:33] questions required and some not? Like

[1:20:34] maybe we have like the what is the

[1:20:37] challenge or comment as the only

[1:20:39] required question or something I don't

[1:20:41] know. Um

[1:20:43] and that way someone can still

[1:20:45] go through and fill out as much as they

[1:20:47] want.

[1:20:48] I agree with simplifying and even taking

[1:20:50] out some of those questions, but we

[1:20:52] could just even do that so that way you

[1:20:53] can participate in the survey to the

[1:20:55] extent that you want to.

[1:21:01] » Do you want to re- Do you want to uh

[1:21:03] Tracy resend what you sent us back on

[1:21:07] the 27th of May?

[1:21:08] And then we can

[1:21:10] maybe have some I bring some ideas to

[1:21:12] how to

[1:21:14] truncate it.

[1:21:15] » Yes, are you mind reader?

[1:21:20] That's exactly what I was doing.

[1:21:21] » Oh, why I am a mind reader.

[1:21:23] » Oh, good. That's a good skill to have.

[1:21:26] » There you go.

[1:21:27] » Yeah.

[1:21:29] So everybody should have that fresh

[1:21:31] right now.

[1:21:32] » Okay.

[1:21:34] » And we can

[1:21:36] I'm okay with keeping it casual, too.

[1:21:40] And if you know, you never know which

[1:21:42] direction this could take off in.

[1:21:45] » Mhm.

[1:21:46] » Okay.

[1:21:49] All right. So

[1:21:53] So let let's um

[1:21:56] think about some of these things and

[1:21:57] then we can

[1:21:58] maybe

[1:21:59] bounce things around in our August

[1:22:01] meeting.

[1:22:02] » Sure.

[1:22:03] » All right.

[1:22:05] All right. Thank you. Awesome.

[1:22:08] All right, moving on.

[1:22:11] Um any other old business I threw on

[1:22:13] there. I I can't think of anything.

[1:22:17] Um

[1:22:19] then new business which

[1:22:23] could have been old business now that I

[1:22:25] think about we spoke about it at our

[1:22:27] last meeting, but new business.

[1:22:29] Uh National Night Out is Tuesday, August

[1:22:31] 4th. So, in the morning, I get to go to

[1:22:33] Silver Lake Beach, and then in the

[1:22:35] afternoon,

[1:22:36] uh we are hosting South Coast Wheelchair

[1:22:40] Tennis Foundation again

[1:22:43] at the Grafton High School tennis courts

[1:22:45] as part of National Night Out.

[1:22:47] I think that National Night Out,

[1:22:49] technically, the window is 5:00 to 8:00

[1:22:51] p.m.

[1:22:52] And I have been in touch Everything's in

[1:22:55] place. Uh Tom Dodd at the found tennis

[1:22:58] foundation,

[1:23:00] he and I connected.

[1:23:02] Uh

[1:23:03] He's up and ready to go.

[1:23:06] And I obtained I booked the courts.

[1:23:10] Funny

[1:23:12] thing is that

[1:23:13] we really only needed one set of courts,

[1:23:15] but there's no way to book just one set

[1:23:17] on the school website. So, we have the

[1:23:20] tennis courts between 5:00 and 8:00 p.m.

[1:23:24] And I obtained the insurance certificate

[1:23:26] that the school needed, the general

[1:23:28] liability certificate.

[1:23:30] And um

[1:23:32] So, everything's in place for the

[1:23:33] facilities and the insurance uh

[1:23:35] certificate

[1:23:37] to move forward with this. So,

[1:23:41] we will not be and we discussed this uh

[1:23:43] where we had the pause for people

[1:23:46] uh

[1:23:47] last year and in prior years, and

[1:23:50] we will not be doing that again this

[1:23:52] year. So, the only thing we'll be uh

[1:23:54] doing is

[1:23:56] the hosting the tennis.

[1:23:59] So,

[1:24:01] I will be there.

[1:24:03] Anyone else planning on being there

[1:24:06] that would want to represent uh

[1:24:10] us?

[1:24:12] » I'll be around.

[1:24:13] » Yeah, but I'll be out of town that week.

[1:24:15] I'm so bummed.

[1:24:15] » Maine.

[1:24:17] » I'm in Maine that week.

[1:24:19] » Oh, okay. Well, I will definitely be

[1:24:21] there.

[1:24:22] I was able to make it last year. I was

[1:24:24] in Nova Scotia.

[1:24:26] And I heard it went I heard it went over

[1:24:28] very well.

[1:24:30] And um

[1:24:32] I guess

[1:24:33] uh

[1:24:35] they also invited um

[1:24:39] folks to either play against them on

[1:24:41] foot or in wheelchairs.

[1:24:44] And so, I know they'll be bringing extra

[1:24:46] chairs.

[1:24:47] And

[1:24:49] so, just as a reminder, the only

[1:24:51] difference between

[1:24:53] uh wheelchair tennis and non-wheelchair

[1:24:56] tennis is

[1:24:57] um

[1:24:59] using the entire court

[1:25:01] the doubles perimeter

[1:25:04] uh for singles and

[1:25:07] being allowed two bounces of the ball

[1:25:10] versus one.

[1:25:12] And that that's basically it as far as I

[1:25:14] understand.

[1:25:15] So, so

[1:25:18] uh and then what they have is what's

[1:25:19] called one up, one down.

[1:25:21] Where if I'm not in a wheelchair and I'm

[1:25:24] standing and playing against someone

[1:25:26] from the foundation

[1:25:28] um I'm only allowed one bounce, but

[1:25:30] they're allowed two.

[1:25:31] So.

[1:25:32] Yep.

[1:25:34] And that that's advertised on their

[1:25:35] website. They call it one up, one down.

[1:25:38] So.

[1:25:39] Um

[1:25:40] So, Sarah, you've been to National Night

[1:25:42] Out, right?

[1:25:43] » I actually haven't.

[1:25:46] » It's like the biggest, hugest block

[1:25:48] party on the planet. It's um

[1:25:50] it it's held on the police station

[1:25:54] grounds and and it extends into the high

[1:25:57] school. Um

[1:25:59] uh just it's a it's a um

[1:26:03] it's really primarily advertised as a

[1:26:05] public safety event, but it's really

[1:26:07] more of a community block party where

[1:26:10] all the committees in in in town have

[1:26:12] tables set up.

[1:26:14] Uh the sheriff's department has tables

[1:26:16] set up. They have the SWAT team there.

[1:26:18] They state police have come in with

[1:26:20] their

[1:26:21] with their dogs and in the past and

[1:26:24] they have games and prizes and helmet

[1:26:27] bicycle helmet giveaways and

[1:26:30] all sorts of swag and

[1:26:31] » Oh, yeah. It's

[1:26:33] and it's a 3-hour event that um

[1:26:37] Yeah, it's it's on

[1:26:39] Yeah, it's on the police station uh

[1:26:42] uh

[1:26:43] grounds.

[1:26:44] So.

[1:26:46] So, it's a it's a Yeah, how did you miss

[1:26:49] that? Yeah, that was

[1:26:50] » I don't know.

[1:26:51] » Yes, so that's that's so that yeah

[1:26:55] told anyone with kids, it's like you got

[1:26:58] to you got to go there, you know? And so

[1:27:01] um

[1:27:02] so I don't know if if now that you'll be

[1:27:04] there, whether you want to get bogged

[1:27:06] down as as trying to

[1:27:08] you know, hold down a place as part of

[1:27:10] the accessibility advisory commission,

[1:27:12] but versus going there as a mom.

[1:27:16] Um

[1:27:17] but I will definitely be there um

[1:27:20] the entirety.

[1:27:22] And I think last year they

[1:27:25] We did Christie on the front end of

[1:27:27] things last year.

[1:27:28] » One there last year.

[1:27:30] » Was it 4:30 from 4:30 on?

[1:27:34] Or

[1:27:34] » I was there from 4:30 on.

[1:27:36] » Okay.

[1:27:37] » A long night, but you know, it was fun.

[1:27:40] » It was. And they the year before they

[1:27:43] couldn't even though it stopped raining,

[1:27:45] unless the court is completely dry, it

[1:27:48] it stopped raining in the morning,

[1:27:50] but the court

[1:27:51] was not completely dry and that was a a

[1:27:54] slip hazard. So, we had to like

[1:27:57] cancel it literally last minute. So.

[1:28:01] Anyway. Um

[1:28:03] so all right, then I will I will take

[1:28:06] charge of this and I will take plenty of

[1:28:08] pictures. And I'm wondering um

[1:28:11] you know what I'll do? I'll call a

[1:28:13] community advocate.

[1:28:15] If everyone's okay with that, maybe they

[1:28:18] could, uh, cover that and the Graph the

[1:28:20] News

[1:28:21] as well as the Graph the News.

[1:28:29] All right.

[1:28:30] I'm just going to highlight that in

[1:28:31] blue. All right.

[1:28:36] Any type of, um,

[1:28:39] advert tising of those types of events

[1:28:41] is awesome.

[1:28:43] And, um,

[1:28:45] any other new business?

[1:28:47] Um,

[1:28:49] are we premature in discussing Graph the

[1:28:51] Celebratory Holidays?

[1:28:53] I think we may be.

[1:28:58] » But, I think we did a lot of great work

[1:28:59] tonight.

[1:29:01] » Cool. All right.

[1:29:03] » Off.

[1:29:04] » Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah,

[1:29:07] it's already We're already 8:00. All

[1:29:10] right. Any other new business? I just

[1:29:11] put that in as a placeholder. Um,

[1:29:14] so, uh, does anyone else have any new

[1:29:17] business?

[1:29:21] Okay. Our next meeting

[1:29:23] will be, um, Tuesday, August 11th at

[1:29:26] 6:30.

[1:29:28] And via Zoom. And on that note, I'll

[1:29:32] certainly entertain a motion to adjourn.

[1:29:38] » So moved.

[1:29:41] » All right.

[1:29:42] And do I have a second?

[1:29:45] » Second.

[1:29:46] » All right, Sarah. Second.

[1:29:48] All right.

[1:29:50] All right. Um, motion made and seconded.

[1:29:52] All those in favor by roll call.

[1:29:54] Christie.

[1:29:56] » Yes. I.

[1:29:57] » Sarah.

[1:29:59] » I.

[1:29:59] » Tracy.

[1:30:00] » I.

[1:30:02] » Roger, I declare the motion carried.

[1:30:04] This meeting is adjourned at 8:03 p.m.

Accessibility Advisory Commission 7-14-26

Agenda

Transcript