Minutes for January 8/9, 2004

Meeting Location:  Four Points Midway Sheraton, St. Paul

Present:  Lois Johnson, Mark Eggen, Karen Larson, Bryan Jensen, Ann Zick, Roseann Faber, Sharon Johnson, David Hancox, William Bauer, Bradley Westerlund, Mary Pennington, Linda Lingen, Cory Heit.

Absent:  Janiece Duffy (excused), Phyllis Coppess, Clarence Jones.

Guests:  Barbara Deming (January 8), Marilyn McGuire (January 9).

January 8, 2004:  The January 8 SILC meeting was the preliminary planning session for the FFY 2005-2007 SPIL. Barbara Deming served as facilitator. A report, prepared by Ms. Deming, on the new SPIL's preliminary goals and objectives will be submitted to all council members. All SILC members present during the January 8 planning meeting were also in attendance at the January 9 business meeting.

January 9, 2004

Call to order, Introductions:  The January 9, 2004 meeting of the Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC) was called to order at 9:00 a.m. by Lois Johnson, chairperson. Introductions followed.

Approval of December 2003 Minutes and January 9 Agenda:  Lois Johnson asked if there were any revisions to the December 11 minutes. Mark Eggen moved, Karen Larson seconded, that the minutes be approved as written. The motion carried. The chairperson next asked if there were any additions to the January agenda. There were none, and the agenda was approved by consensus.

State Rehabilitation Council Report:  Lois Johnson reported that there has been no meeting of the SRC since the last SILC meeting.

State Rehabilitation Council for the Blind Report:  Roseann Faber reported that there has been no meeting of the SRCB since the last SILC meeting. The next SRCB meeting will be in early February.

Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities Report:  Ann Zick reported that the DD Council produced its Business Results Book patterned after the Baldrige
Criteria and distributed the book at the council's October meeting. Results were reported in several areas including customer results, fiscal results, human resources results, supplier results, and results based upon the federal outcomes of independence, productivity, self determination, integration and inclusion. The Results book will be submitted to the Commissioner of the Department of Administration in early January.

The council's federal Program Performance Report was completed and submitted on
December 19, 2003 in advance of the due date of December 31, 2003.

The DD Council conducted its own town meeting on health care issues with Dr. Mangnan from Minnesota Decides. The recommendations from the DD Council were forwarded to Senator Durenberger's Citizens Forum on Health Care Costs. Colleen participated in 10 of 12 town meetings with Senator Durenberger and the Citizens Forum on Health Care Costs. Colleen has prepared over 50 pages of notes from the town meetings and will post those on the Council web site in January. A public opinion poll of 800 Minnesotans was completed and will be released by Senator Durenberger in January. The poll highlights citizen opinions about health care issues including the topic of universal health care coverage. The Citizens Forum on Health Care Costs has two additional meetings in January and will prepare a broad set of recommendations for the Governor by February 2, 2004.

Advocacy and Education Committee Update:  Ann Zick reported that she has contacted Steve Thovson to seek his recommendations for speakers on rural IL issues and migrant populations. Karen Larson recommended that Ms. Zick contact someone with Region 10 Quality Assurance. Ms. Larson will e-mail Ms. Zick the organization's telephone number and a contact person.

Centers for Independent Living Report:  David Hancox reported that the next MACIL meeting will be on January 13during which Center directors will plan their legislative agenda. Mr. Hancox commented that this is not a budget session; thus, Center directors will be at the legislature just to say thanks.

The Abler report has been completed and sent off to the Capitol. Mr. Hancox will forward an electronic copy to William Bauer who will e-mail the report to SILC members. In brief, the report stresses that the Centers will continue to work cooperatively with the other organizations included in the report, but co-locating these entities is not possible due, in part, to the lack of statutory support.

The Kiscaden report is not completed. The deadline is January 15. Discussion followed.

The Centers' priorities for the new SPIL were included in the preliminary plan and will be discussed further during the upcoming planning sessions.

Ticket to Work:  Linda Lingen and Marilyn McGuire provided an overview of Minnesota's Ticket to Work programs. TTW is a Social Security Administration initiative that has a host of regulations and protocols. It's a voluntary program in which a person with a disability can select his/her vocational rehabilitation provider from the "employment network" list. Anyone receiving either SSI or SSDI is now issued a "ticket." Both public VR programs, as well as one CIL, community rehabilitation providers, workers' compensation firms and others are "ENs." The Ticket program is outcome based; i.e., the person using his/her ticket must be planning to go to work and get off of the Social Security roles. Funds under the ticket are approximately $11,000 for SSI recipients and about $17,000 for those on SSDI. One of SSA's new "work incentives" is "expedited reinstatement," which means if one loses his/her job, s/he can get back onto SSA benefits within thirty days. SSA then has six months to review the case, but one will not be required to repay those benefits should SSA find him/her no longer eligible. It must be noted, however, that if one loses his/her job due to poor work performance, s/he must go through the entire application process; i.e., there is no expedited reinstatement. A benefit analysis is strongly recommended for any person with a disability considering employment. It must also be noted that no "EN" provider receives any payment for services unless the ticket holder goes completely off SSI/SSDI benefits. No one with a significant disability undergoes a review while holding a ticket.

SSA contracted with a company named "Maximus" to coordinate/manage the program; thus, individuals with questions concerning their ticket must contact Maximus who provides information and the "EN" list. At this time, there are roughly eighteen tickets assigned in Minnesota. Minnesota's Public VR program continues to maintain its stand on informed choice. Nationwide, about 5,690,000 tickets have been mailed. Of that number, roughly 27,000 have been assigned, and of that 27,000 approximately 24,000have been assigned to Public VR programs. It's estimated that there are 103,200 Minnesotans eligible for tickets. People with disabilities between the ages of eighteen and sixty-four are eligible for this program. In that MN was one of the last groups of states to offer the program, there have been ample opportunities to learn from other states.

Review and Approval of FFY 03 704 Part 1 Report:  The annual report was submitted to all council members prior to the meeting. William Bauer provided a brief review of the data and accomplishments, and responded to questions and comments. Lois Johnson stated that she would entertain a motion to sign the FFY 2003 Part 1 report. Sharon Johnson so moved and Roseann Faber seconded. Discussion followed, which was primarily a review of 2003's activities, until Sharon Johnson called the question. This motion carried. Returning to the motion on the signing of the report, the motion carried. William Bauer will submit the report for the DSUs signatures, after which he will send, prior to the January 31 deadline, signed copies of the Part 1 report, as well as hard copies of all Part 2 reports to Region V RSA, ILRU, the SILC and Centers. Copies of the Parts one and two reports will be submitted to other interested individuals/service-providers upon request.

Expansion of Options CIL Service-Area:  Lois Johnson announced that Options will be adding four counties (Beltrami, Clearwater, Lake of the Woods, Hubbard) to the organization's service-area. She thanked everyone at Options for this effort to expand the statewide IL network, and the expansion of Options' service-area was approved by the council by consensus. William Bauer stated that these four counties have been added to Options' list of counties served. This expansion shall be noted in the FFY 2005-2007 SPIL.

Issues, Announcements, Correspondence:  Sharon Johnson announced that business is booming in the Duluth office. She has several new "priority one" consumers.

Brad Westerlund confirmed that all council members had received a copy of last month's SILC expenditures. He also asked if anyone wanted revisions to the lay-out or content of this financial report. There were no requests. He reminded council members to document mileage from their home to the destination on their non employee expense reports. William Bauer advised the council that copies of every invoice and non employee expense report are kept on file in the IL Section. Copies of these documents will be sent to anyone on the council requesting these bills.

Next Meeting, Adjournment: The January 9, 2004 meeting was adjourned at 11:15 a.m. The next SILC meting will be February 12, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Four Points Midway Sheraton.