HomeMy WebLinkAboutBDACMinutes_2021_01_22Committee for People who have Disabilities
Date: January 22, 2021
Brookings City and County Government Center
520 3rd St, Suite 230
Brookings, SD
57006
Phone (605)692-6281
Attendance: Brianna Doran, Matthew Weiss, Mark Sternhagen, Carol Jung, Daniel Gissing, Jon
Stauff
SDSU student: Vacant
SDSU Liaison: Kendra Eichten
County ADA Coordinator: Kristen Witchey
City ADA Coordinator: Nancy Olson
Absent: Connie Lemke, Jenny Grendler, Rachel Holm, Destini Crevier
Guests:
1. The meeting was called to order at 12:00.
2. Approval of Agenda & Minutes:
a. A motion was made by Weiss, seconded by Jung. The motion carried by the following votes:
Yes: Doran, Weiss, Sternhagen, Jung, Gissing, Stauff. No: None.
3. Welcome to New Members and Liaisons:
a. Introductions made for all members, liaisons, and City staff, for benefit of new members.
b. Jon Stauff introduces himself as new member. States that he is deaf with cochlear implants,
recently moved to Brookings but has been engaged in these types of committies before.
c. Kendra Eichten introduces herself as new SDSU liaison.
4. Officer Updates:
a. Chair: No further updates.
b. Vice Chair: No further updates.
c. Recorder: Not present.
d. Publicity coordinator:
i. Did work through a full list for disability awareness days. Right now it is pretty
extensive, will need to look into a way of organizing into days and/or months that
are significant. There were a few that were missed in the month of January and
early February.
ii. The month of March focuses on Developmental Disabilities. Generally would like to
do a City proclamation for this if possible? Brianna asks if this is something we
should prepare for in advance of the next February meeting. Mark think so.
iii. March 1st is World Wheelchair Day. March 1st is also World Down Syndrome Day.
iv. End of March, there is a Cerebral Palsy Day.
v. Mark states that the facebook page would be where the “day” awareness events
would likely be posted, with “month” awareness events more likely a City
proclamation as well as facebook post. Nancy states that it would be helpful to have
the proclamation events listed out in advance, for formatting and getting into the
schedule with City staff.
e. County ADA coordinator: Not present.
f. City ADA coordinator: No further updates.
g. SDSU Liaison:
i. There is a diversity academy coming up soon, starting the 29th. It will consist of 8
programs. The 29th focuses around understanding diversity and how to talk about it.
The 30th focuses around safe zones.
ii. There was an SDSU accessibility committee meeting yesterday, in which they
worked on ideas for creating a culture of accessibility, to educate students, faculty
and staff.
5. Survey Results & Discussion:
a. Weiss leads the discussion, first recaps the reason for the survey, which was to make sure
everyone’s voices were being heard and to provide a means of figuring out where the
Committee is at, being relatively new as a group of people. The discussion is organized per
question, with answers by each individual in the same order each question:
b. What role do you see yourself on the committee? How do you want to be engaged?
i. Bri: Support and empower other voices, find any gaps in structure that needs to be
filled, further invest in community
ii. Matt: Idea implementation - really task oriented, not so much on creation of ideas
iii. Mark: Very happy with current role - willing to think outside the box and create wild
ideas, always looking from positive perspectives
iv. Carol: Community Outreach, get in touch with groups we can serve, worker at any
task
v. Danny: Advocate, wanting to share experiences and create a safe space for all ideas
vi. Jon: More implementation than idea but willing to do both; passion for inclusion
part of diversity, bringing inclusion into aspects of university and town
vii. Nancy/City: Supporting and helping committee be successful
viii. Kendra/SDSU: Build relationship between SDSU and community and learn more
c. Are you happy or unhappy with your level of engagement?
i. Bri: Happy - I feel well engaged and able to shift ideas/tasks around
ii. Matt: Happy
iii. Mark: Happy
iv. Carol: Figuring out level - new member
v. Danny: Figuring out - happy at the moment as new member
vi. Jon: Figuring out niche role quickly - ready to get started
vii. Nancy/City: Enjoy helping out as needed
viii. Kendra/SDSU: Getting there - just starting
d. Are the meetings structured well? Are there things we can do better as a committee?
i. Bri: Like agenda structure, finish on time, looking for improvements
ii. Matt: Can improve structure - look at redundancy, can move taskforce updates up
during report if no other updates during position report
iii. Mark: Be more concerned about actions of committee rather than structure- keep it
flexible
iv. Carol: Everything is fine right now
v. Danny: Like hybrid option, make sure to introduce self if speaking in room; look for
captions for zoom
vi. Jon: Just absorbing everything
vii. Nancy/City: Restructuring for no redundancy - move reports to end? Have action
items first?
viii. Kendra/SDSU: New member
e. What are some goals- committee or individual?
i. Bri: Engage committee and community, excited for more promotion in community
with Mark's position, be more efficient
ii. Matt: Be more familiar with bylaws
iii. Mark: want to engage the community better; try to flesh out simulation event; try
to increase accessibility and inclusion- instead of scrapping an idea, try to make it
work
iv. Carol: Be relevant in the committee, have action and tangible accomplishments
v. Danny: Be more inclusive on all committees
vi. Jon: Raise awareness of resources for advocates, support, etc, work in community;
be relevant
vii. Nancy/City: Get agenda and stuff out to community faster- have public
attend/participate?; Have annual list of proclamations
viii. Kendra/SDSU: Get awareness of what committee does, increase awareness
f. What are some things we do well?
i. Bri: Come up with ideas really well and look for improvements, seeing what we can
do better
ii. Matt: Engaged with each other, keep it fun when we're around
iii. Mark: Good at engaging each other in meetings and stay positive and upbeat; good
at reforming with COVID, figure out how to complete tasks
iv. Carol: Welcoming and open to new ideas, good discussion
v. Danny: No other notes
vi. Jon: Pass - new member
vii. Nancy/City: Committee is passionate
viii. Kendra/SDSU: Everyone has a voice and opinions are heard
g. What is one thing we do not do well/would change?
i. Bri: Have more of a presence/action in the community - tie with goals
ii. Matt: Can do more check-in meetings with taskforces before the general meeting
for reports - create consistency. More discussion in advance
iii. Mark: Have more people attend meetings and engage committee members during
meetings more; create a better public identity and increase awareness
iv. Carol: Nothing at the moment - will work out anything that needs to be changed
v. Danny: Nothing at the moment
vi. Jon: Changing the committee name - but being done
vii. Nancy/City: Considering starting from scratch & COVID - doing well, excited to get
back to normal and group up again, see where we can go
viii. Kendra/SDSU: No comments
6. Committee/Taskforce Updates:
a. Marketing Sub-committee
i. No updates
ii. Gave explanation of the task force to new members
b. Accessibility Taskforce
i. No updates
ii. Gave explanation of task force to new members
7. Public Promotions:
a. 2020 Awards
i. Chamber/Visit Brookings awards recording happened very last-minute right before
this meeting, will be edited and uploading soon for promotion. Brianna, Matt, Carol,
and Nancy were in attendance for this recording.
ii. Pheasant will be next award recording, and hopefully wil have more lead time.
8. Committee/Taskforce Updates:
a. Marketing Subcommittee
i. Mark motions to do a Mayoral Proclamation at the City Council meetings for the
month of March, being Developmental Disability Awareness Month. The motion
carried by the following votes: Yes: Doran, Weiss, Sternhagen, Jung, Gissing, Stauff.
No: None.
ii. Mark recommends as much of the committee in attendance at the proclamations as
possible.
iii. The Brookings Register reached out to Mark to do a story about the committee’s
name change (in progress). Nancy suggests to wait until the name change is
formalized thru City Council meetings. Mark agrees, won’t contact the Register until
he hears back from Nancy or Susan.
b. Accessibility Taskforce
i. No updates.
9. Other Items:
a. Next meeting date & format: February 26th, 12:00pm noon
10. Announcements:
a. Mark states that he is scheduled to speak with an Australian Rotary group, but that he
doesn’t know if this is opened up to the public. It is scheduled for March 3rd, exact time to
TBD but roughly mid-afternoon CST.
11. Adjourn:
i. A motion made by Jung, seconded by Weiss to adjourn the meeting. The motion
carried by the following votes: Yes: Doran, Weiss, Sternhagen, Jung, Gissing, Stauff.
No: None.
Adjournment at 12:58 pm
Submitted by Matthew Weiss, filling in for Recorder