HomeMy WebLinkAboutM2005_11_04Brookings Committee for People who have Disabilities
November 4, 2005
A meeting for the Brookings Committee for People who Have Disabilities was held at
2:OOp.m. on Friday, November 4, 2005 in the Brookings City Hall with the following
members present: Kurt Cogswell, Nancy Hartenhoff-Crooks, Dona Kornbaum, Dave
Bertelsen and Lisa Sonnenburg.
Members not present: Jessie Kuechenmeister, Emily Bennett, Lois Hatton, Kristie
Ching & Vickie Riggs
Guest — Ken
Next meeting of the committee is scheduled for Friday, December 2, 2005 at 2p.m.
Updates:
A) October Activities - Luncheon went very well. The Mayor did a great job
presenting the awards!
B) Cover to Cover — Kurt spoke with Judy and completed a site visit. Kurt
reported that he made a recommendation that Cover to Cover move a few
aisles around. for better accessibility. Kurt offered employee training on how
to aid a customer with a disability.
C) Capitaline - Kurt visited Capitaline and met with Kristie Lee. Kurt provided a
letter of recommendations and Kristie said she would take Kurt's
recommendations "under revisement." There are ramps that go into the
different levels and the restrooms are big enough to make accessible.
D) Special Olympics Involvement - Not much information on this right now.
Nancy said Jessie had an idea to work with the food entities in Brookings.
Nancy spoke with Dave from SDSU to talk about the possibility of educating
the Servers from various Restaurants in Brookings for when the Special
Olympians arrive.
New Business:
A) Scent -free restrooms — Ken talked about toxic free chemical restrooms. Wal-
Mart has a scent free restroom that has toxic chemicals to cover it. Kurt
reported that Ken has educated him on toxic free/chemical free restrooms.
Possible solutions are: less expensive. Life and death issue .... not too much
toxic chemical all at once. Scent and fragrance is there to conceal. Wal-Mart
used a chemical to cover up the first one, which makes Ken sick because he
does not have the scent to warn him. At least one restroom should be scent
and toxic free in the bigger companies such as Wal-Mart, Performing Arts
Center, Multiplex, City Hall, etc. Ken suggested that baking soda and vinegar
is a much better solution and will take care of the hygienic aspects. An
informational website to find chemicals that are safer and less dangerous is
www.ieq.nibs.org,. Other ideas are to upgrade ventilated fans to remove the
smelly air from the restrooms. The newer buildings have the suspended
ceilings that will help move the air through. Another idea is to protect the
toilets with flush valves. No scent or fragrance can be used at all. Ken would
like to see this happen within the next 2-3 years.
How we can approach this? New construction should have motion censers & a
heat detector to turn the lights on and then to turn the fan on. Nancy said
EPA came out with a 96 -page document that outlines indoor/outdoor
standards and policies. Brookings Avera Medical Clinic has taken off the scent
free boxes. The committee will investigate the issue further.
B) Arts participation for people with disabilities — Committee to possibly aid with
the state humanity's offices where disabled people would be apart of the
production of the events.
Announcements/Correspondence/Calendar: No announcements at this time. Will
talk about the Arts participation for people with disabilities at the next meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Lisa Sonnenburg