Minnesota Statewide Independent Living Council"Creating the future of Independent Living through guidance and direction from people with disabilities"
September 11th , 2008
Meeting Location: Four Points Sheraton Midway
Members Present: Judy Sanders (Vice Chair), Ann Zick (Secretary), Barbara Chromy, Roberta Cich (Chair), Connie Lee Berg (Treasurer), Vicki Dalle Molle, Larry Lura, Hulet Sherry, Julia Washenberger (Member-at-Large), Jeffrey Nurick, Ann Roscoe (Ex-officio).
Members Absent: Jim O'Neill.
Staff Present: David Sherwood-Gabrielson, Gail Lundeen, Brad Westerlund.
Staff Absent: Linda Lingen
Guests: David Hancox.
Approval of June 2008 Minutes and September 2008 Agenda
Roberta Cich asked if there were any revisions to the June 2008 minutes. Judy Sanders moved to approve the minutes as written. Ann Zick seconded. The motion carried. Roberta asked if there were any changes or additions to the agenda. The agenda was approved by consent.
DEED-RS Update
Many state funded programs, such as the Extended Employment (EE) program, operate on the state fiscal year which ended June 30th. The Department anticipates $180,000 to $200,000 in EE dollars will be redistributed through a request for proposals (RFP) for supported employment services. More information on the RFP will be made available in October.
This week, Larry Vrooman, from the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) visited Minnesota and spent time with staff of both Rehabilitation Services and State Services for the Blind. Mr. Vrooman is the RSA liaison to Minnesota from the federal agency that funds rehabilitation services activities in our state. The purpose of his visit was to lay ground work for a federal review of Minnesota's programs that will take place in 2010. Roberta Cich along with Steve Ditschler, the Chair of the State Rehabilitation Council, had dinner with Larry Vrooman and Kim Peck last night. Brad Westerlund and Gail Lundeen were also in attendance at the dinner.
SILC/SRC Public Forum
The September 24 SILC/SRC/DEED public forum will be held in St. Cloud at the St. Cloud Radisson Suite Hotel, 404 West Saint Germain Street. Gail Lundeen will resend flyer and public information announcement. She requested that the SILC distribute information to all who might be interested.
The Council discussed covering travel costs for Center for Independent Living staff. It was decided to not fund CIL staff and consumer travel costs, because travel expenses could be covered under the IL/VR grants.
The following members stated that they planned to attend the forum.
- Ann Zick
- Judy Sanders
- Ann Roscoe
- Roberta Cich
- Barbara Chromy
- Vicki Dalle Molle
NCIL Conference
Cich, Westerlund, Zick and Chromy attended the National Council on Independent Living (NICL) conference. Bulleted below are some of the highlights of the Council's discussion of the conference.
- Many legislative laws, including the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Act (SAFE), Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act are due to be renewed. Because of the economic realities facing government, a continuing resolution may be advisable, rather than opening these acts up to discussion.
- 500 NCIL conference participants marched on the Capitol. Walking, talking, and networking with other march participants was a remarkable experience.
- Zick stated that, based on the issues presented and discussed at the workshops, Minnesota has made good progress on disability issues.
- Conference attendees felt that that the networking at the conference was very valuable.
- Barbara Chromy attended the Assisted Suicide: Why Leading Disability Advocacy Organizations Oppose Its Legalization workshop. Barb found this workshop and others to be very informative, and worthwhile.
Emergency Preparedness-RFP Discussion
At the last RFP committee meeting, it became apparent that several of the members could be perceived as having conflicts of interest. Lundeen reported on her subsequent discussion with the Office of Grants management.
How does a Council manage a grant development process when there are numerous potential conflicts of interest among the membership?
- Give the Council one time to give their input on the content of the grant. Based on these comments, have the paid staff develop the grant. A facilitated discussion might be considered. (Kristen Batson has background in facilitation and offered to do this.) It needs to be understood that input may not be used to shape the grant.
- Members of the Council who do not wish to apply for the grant and have no connection to entities that might apply for the grant could serve on the grant development and review committee.
- An outside entity, again with no connections to those who might apply, could be hired to develop the grant.
- A public forum could be used as an opportunity to get public input on the direction of the grant.
- Seek copies of similar grants from other states. Use this as the RFP.
How does a Council award a grant when there are numerous perceived or real conflicts of interest?
- Council members can sit on the grants review panel If the reviewer has a conflict (especially if they work for a grant applicant) they may not rate nor comment on their own proposal.
- Anyone involved in the grant review must sign a conflict of interest disclosure. This form should be kept on file in the Council's archives.
- Seek community experts with no interest in applying for the grant. The community experts would vary from grant to grant. In the example of disability emergency preparedness, some suggestions included:
- Courage Center
- Department of Public Safety staff who work with emergency preparedness
- Staff from the Office of Grants management. (Kristin Batson has a background in rehabilitation and indicated that she might be interested in doing this.)
- Use a formula approach. Give each applicant a percentage of the pool of dollars based on predetermined criteria.
Essential practices
- Keep minutes for the committee meetings to demonstrate all of the actions that were taken to keep conflicts of interest from affecting the decisions that were made.
- Consult with the Office of Grants Management each time a grant is developed. Each grant will pose its own challenges.
- Kristin Batson has offered to meet with the Council and discuss conflict of interest and how to avoid it.
Options for avoiding perceived conflict of interest were listed:
- Ask the DSU or an outside source to rewrite the grant.
- Any entity where there could be perceived conflict of interest could remove themselves from the application process.
- The full council reviews the draft RFP, comment at the October meeting, and request the designated state unit develop a RFP.
- All applicants are given a portion of the grant, based on some predetermined formula.
- Seek an emergency preparedness RFP that another state has developed and use as Minnesota's RFP.
The SILC preference is option 3. Lundeen will consult with the Office of Grants management.
Visitors' Comments
David Hancox announced that Representative Jim Ramstad will not be running for re-election. Ramstad has been a long time supporter of disability issues and was one of the founders of the Metropolitan Center for Independent Living. Hancox encouraged those Council members who knew and appreciated Representative Ramstad's legislative work, to send him a thank you note. The Minnesota Center for Independent Living will be awarding Rep. Ramstad a lifetime achievement award at their annual dinner.
2009 Meeting Schedule
The SILC discussed possible meeting dates for the upcoming fiscal year. The following dates were approved and will be submitted to members and also posted in the state register.
| DATE | LOCATION | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| October 9th | Four Points Sheraton, Minneapolis | 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. |
| November 13th | Four Points Sheraton, Minneapolis | 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. |
| December 11th | Four Points Sheraton, Minneapolis | 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. |
| January | No Meeting | |
| February 12th | Four Points Sheraton, Minneapolis | 9:00a.m. to 3:00 p.m. |
| March | No Meeting | |
| April 9th | Four Points Sheraton, Minneapolis | 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. |
| May 14th and 15th | Mankato | 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. |
| June 11th | Four Points Sheraton, Minneapolis | 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. |
| July | No Meeting | |
| August 13th | Four Points Sheraton, Minneapolis | 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. |
| September 10th | Four Points Sheraton, Minneapolis | 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. |
Issues, Announcements, and Correspondence
Bob Zimmerman will be at a booth at the International Code Conference. Building a ramp proved to be unfeasible, but plans to provide information on ramp incline will be provided. The SILC would like an update at the next meeting.
Adjournment
The September 11, 2008 meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.
