We are in session for the disabilities commission meeting today, Friday, January 23rd at noon time. In attendance, George Sanders, Bill Porter, Eric Manzer, and myself, Dian. Um, so today we have a short um agenda.
We have ADA title 2 update from Eric, town transportation project update from Eric, meeting minutes, action items, and then setting up our next meeting. So, would you like to get started, Eric?
>> Yeah, if if it's okay, I'd actually probably reverse the order of those and talk about the transportation thing first and then the ADA title two stuff second if that's okay. >> That's absolutely all right with me. if it's all right with the rest of the board. >> Absolutely. Yeah. >> Okay. All right.
>> All right. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Um yeah, before I dive in, Diane, I'm curious. Um like the mod grant like you know I know that we had specifically applied as a planning grant. So that if I understand correctly like that um uh
is specifically like the amount that we were granted is intended specifically for the assessment like the outside party that comes in and does the assessment like that is not funding that could potentially be pulled into other areas. Is that true? >> That's correct. Yeah. It's going to
basically look at to see where our all of our kind of downfalls are right now and where we should go from there. >> Understood. Okay, thank you. Um, so I think at our last meeting I had shared you know that I had a desire or an
intention to you know at least explore um or initiate uh you know the idea of proposing a a transportation study in town just um you know and I I think you know the suggestion had been made to connect with
Liz and you know kind of um you know do some preliminary investigation. So, now that we're in the new year, uh I do intend to kind of follow up uh with you know, at least taking a look at um you know, what might be involved in, you
know, getting a better sense of you know, how extensively the town transportation services have been utilized by our residents, right? Or even our constituents on the on this board, right? Um and so I wanted to also mention like as part of this you know
professionally like in my job at Harvard I am um almost coincidentally uh actively pursuing um you know there's a professional certification that people get called project management professional PMP certification and you
know um in my role at in my work um you know there's clear benefits >> I to me pursuing uh that certification. So as I'm doing that kind of concurrently um you know I do plan to use some of the
project management methodology. So I'm going to be incorporating some of that into this you know proposed transportation uh exploration. So, you know, my next step, um, you know, one of one of the most important steps in project management is to really have clearly
defined goals. >> Uh, and I realize, you know, at the outset here that, you know, obviously I'll connect with Liz and and have a conversation, but you know, without having direct feedback from, >> um, you know, the folks in town that are using transportation services, like it's
>> it's hard for me to define what the actual goals of such a project might be. So, you know, I'm >> imagining like my most important first step is to kind of cancel with Liz Liz at or connect with Liz at the Council of Aging. Um, and then also, you know, to
follow up with kind of the constituents in town who use our transportation services just to really, you know, kind of help really define what the goals would be of any such project. So, that's, you know, really the update that I had for the moment uh to come and share with this commission. but just a
kind of a progress or a status update and my next step will be to connect with Liz. So, I just wanted to open that up and see if there are any thoughts or >> question um >> any anybody like to
ask anything? >> Yeah, I'd like to make a comment. It's not uh it's indirect to the transportation. This past Saturday, uh, Jim Cerio was at
the 100 year old Jack birthday. We sit down. We was talking there. He was out u >> looking at Mark uh system and uh actually made the comment out of I think there's
>> 15 or 17 >> original >> and that so far I think he's visit maybe 13 or whatever but he found that Mark >> is probably the the most efficient uh
regional transit out of this uh 13 that he's visited uh so far there and I mentioned to him about that uh program that the state uh funded and they're working on that. They're working to try
to get uh uh a long-term uh funding program uh for the program that they put in place for I guess it was like 9 months give or take there on this mark program connector with u the various communities
out here. So he's uh he's looking into that uh as the chair of transportation there. So he says uh they're definitely working on trying to uh get uh another
funding uh program in place for Mark to uh continue the program that was in place. >> I I think that's exciting news, George, as you I think you know like you know I'm a big uh uh supporter of that
program. I I felt that it was extremely beneficial and you know there were a lot of things to like about it. So that that's good news. I think Bill you you've also had positive experiences with it. So I >> it was invaluable. Yeah. Really makes a difference in my life big time. Um just
to clarif My questions are really just on the people you're I'm sorry George. Were you just referring to Rip RCier? Who are you who are you referring to that's on the transition? >> Yeah. >> Okay. That's what I thought. Just want to clarify. And then >> sorry because I'm kind of new here. Uh Eric, who are you referring to? I think
the name was Liz. Somebody you referenced. Who is that? Uh Liz Triiac at she's with the Council of on Aging. Is that right? >> Little director. >> Sorry, I'm not familiar with Liz, so I just wanted to understand who you're referencing there. Thank you.
>> No worries. >> Yeah. No, I think it's a it's a great idea, Eric, that you connect with Liz and see, you know, what she's got for information over there and and how people are using um the transportation and and obviously, you know, it's great
news that um George has and um you know, from Representative Aierro and you know, him being the chair is huge for us. Um and he does attend a lot of things here in Littleton and you know to keep keep
his ear is important. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Excellent. Uh so yeah I have nothing further on that. That was just the update for the for the moment on on the transportation project. >> Okay. Great.
>> So the yeah thank you so much for doing that and continuing the work. >> So ADA title two update. Yeah, this is a followup uh to a conversation I had in the fall with Nancy Glen Cross um you know the town's IT uh director and um
you know I had connected with Nancy originally just you know as someone who works you know professionally in digital accessibility um you know I had been aware that you know the department of justice uh I don't know 18 months ago
now um uh made an update to title two of the Americans with Disabilities Act which would require all um you know public agencies uh you know federally funded agencies to update and or ensure
that their digital content uh whether it's websites or documents or whatever it might be uh is made to be compliant uh with the global standards for digital accessibility uh depending on the size of the organization you know if it was
an organization larger than 50,000 people, uh the due date for that is actually this coming April. So, just a couple of months away. And if it's an organization less than 50,000 people, it's a year uh from this April. So, I was, you know, having that background, I
I wanted to check in with Nancy and, you know, make sure that, you know, she felt um, you know, that they had the resources or whatever, you know, to to be able to kind of respond to that deadline, that that approaching deadline. You know, thankfully here in town, we're less than 50,000. So, you
know, we've got kind of the additional time. Uh, but that being said, it's still kind of a tight timeline >> when you think about the amount of work that's involved. Uh, and you know, I appreciated that Nancy was very candid with me and said, you know, I mean, it's
a lot in terms of trying to, you know, make sure that any of the existing content, uh, especially where in town, I think, you know, very commonly like all town meetings, you know, generally it's a PDF that's generated and not always necessarily in an accessible way. So
like you know the prospect of having to go back and remediate you know existing content or or previous things that were created uh is you know daunting I'd say to say the least. Um and in that conversation Nancy shared with me that
um you know she had an uh received like a webinar uh invitation from what is it mass mun municipalities or something like m Yeah. >> Yes. Yep. Um so you know just by way of update I actually you know attended that
uh it was on January 14th that webinar as well. Um a lot of it was very familiar. I mean it's it's where you know where I work uh in terms of you know the content that was covered but also there were some things very
specific to uh you know kind of the municipality aspect of this that you know that I hadn't considered or or been fully aware of. So it was it was valuable time spent for me to get on that call. Um, you know, I will say that
um I I just want to I'm I'm referencing a note here. Um, like I I knew that u you know the presenter on the webinar was a gentleman Adam Gajjanovich who's with the state of Massachusetts. I I have known him separately like
professionally. Uh he does a great job. uh in his kind of descriptions of the considerations for towns to be thinking about with this title two updates, right? Um, you know, so much of what he was describing is like they're basically
recommending that, you know, cities and towns that are responding to this coming deadline, uh, basically follow the essentially the exact same process we've been following at Harvard. uh in terms of you know
>> you know making sure that you know the the employees of the town all are at least aware of best practices around creating digitally accessible content right or you know procurement processes making sure that you're thinking about you know vendors that um you know that
prioritize accessibility and and their designs and things like that. So, you know, so much of what is being recommended by the state of Massachusetts is stuff that is very familiar just because it's it's what we've been doing at Harvard. Uh, and so I still with that like I know that it's
still a very big job to, you know, kind of, you know, kind of a heavy undertaking to, you know, think about all the PDF documents and stuff and I know that Nancy is just one person. So, you know, I am um you know, planning to
continue uh to to work with Nancy and and make sure and I I think you know, a couple other folks in town that have some um expertise in this area have also offered to kind of volunteer u assistance and stuff. So, you know, we we may have a few of us, but it's still
a very, you know, very heavy job. So like that's that's partly why I was wondering about the the grant because I think undoubtedly um through this process like there may be a need for like some budgetary stuff right like either to outsource
>> uh document remediation or some parts undoubtedly along this process may involve um a need for uh some budgetary allowance you know so that that's kind of why I was checking on that that like
Um I'm wondering if you know as April of 2027 you know draws closer um if you know working with Nancy there is the realization that additional funding might be needed what is the formal process Diane to like initiate
that within the town like if if we come across something where you know I'll just use that example like you know we have a collection of documents that need to be updated for accessibility like what what would the steps be involved in having those addressed if
>> D before you answer this I I just want to shoot a quick question to him this is a federal uh mandated and there's no funding there's no funding cited in this update by the feds
>> um no >> no I don't not to my knowledge not that it's been mentioned >> yeah so yeah and everything that we that I've received and everything that Nancy has received, there is no no monies. >> Yeah, >> it's just a you will,
>> you shall, and don't question. >> Um it so here's the problem, Eric. Um so we're already in fiscal year um 20 >> 27 budget season. Um, so all and the
mandate that came out to all of us in our bud in our budget season before we were able to present was you will you will level fund and you will level staff. Um because when we initiated the
um you know the budget, we were almost $2 million in the red. Um, so what we needed to do was look at what where we were at with our budgets and, you know, to to cut where we could and to pull
back where we could and to, as I said, level fund and level budget, um, funding. So, um, in order for us to add something, it really is on the department to, um, to be able to go out and find a
grant, to be able to go out and find some kind of funding that is outside the resources of our own budgets and and the town monies. So >> that's why us looking like so for the disabilities when we look at
>> um when when the disabilities projects um grant opens up in May well towards the end of May um we really have to think fast and hard about what kind of projects are are we going to really look
at and which we were looking at to try and do that trail to be able to make it fully accessible. And so Nancy would have to really look at, you know, we know that we have a time frame that has to be met. And
that's going to be, you know, not so not so much all on her, but really all on her because that's her purview. Her purview is the website. and you know she would be able to go to the the select board at some point in time
and say look the deadline is April we have to have this done by April of 2027 but your budget season is gone there's got to be some whether we we take it out of you know some other means
that we think we can and and when we go to special town meeting in October, you know, is there some kind of mechanism that we can get those monies to get this done? >> Okay, >> let me let me ask a question here,
Diane. In the in the >> in the meantime, >> uh it doesn't hurt. This this is my uh uh thinking here. Why can't we u go in with a special request and point this
out to the mod and said this is some that the that the fed is is is putting on the state that your municipalities is going to have to come up to par with this u amendment.
um and uh is there any help here from the state uh to help the municipalities in some fashion or form with regards to this? And I would think that um maybe Nancy could uh uh create a a typical
dollar value and say what she thought that you know it may take in funding uh to get this done. I think that if we could launch u a request to the mod and just ask I mean you never know if you
don't you you don't know whether you >> can get it or you can't get it. The most they can tell you is no >> and we already know that >> we we don't have anything. So why not just ask them >> to see if they would since, you know,
this is not just put on Littleton, but put on the state back. >> Yeah, >> I agree. I I agree. It's worth asking, George. But I'd almost suspect that like, you know, because on that municipalities call, I mean, it was clear that, you know, a lot of a lot of
towns and municipalities across the state have, you know, kind of I I mean, we're not alone in terms of responding to this, right? like a lot of towns are in the same boat of kind of clamoring now to better understand these requirements and like you know so I I'm
guessing that mod may be you know getting those sorts of queries from other towns uh you know >> but the thing is the the the state the state got money there. >> Yeah. >> Okay. There's no question the mod got money there. So, you know, they support
the the programs that they deemed this necessary that they need to be supporting. But at the same token, this is something that, you know, is being put down by the feds on this here, uh, the the state is is going to be the ones where the feds look at. If you if you
don't get the municipalities in compliance with what they saying needs to be done, then they're going to be looking at the state funding that's coming in. whoever is coming in that they can slap a ham on it and saying put a hole on it. So, I'm just saying it
doesn't hurt to ask them. If you if nobody asks, then that isn't a concern for them. But if somebody asks, that may be an opportunity to get something. >> Yeah. I mean, we can look into it and see see what the state says. And you
know, Nancy can, you know, have Nancy take a look at it, see what she thinks the dollar figure might be and and and go from there. I mean, I mean, like you say, it's not worth it if we don't not worth not asking. If if we don't ask, >> hey, Alexander,
>> the answer is always going to be no. Yeah, I mean at least if we ask we can u >> I mean I don't have even a good estimate at all like what the what the associated costs might be but I do intend to reach back out to Nancy and kind of you know follow up to that municipalities I I
understood she was going to be joining that as well but like you know I would like to better understand what we're talking about like what the what the environment is you know in Littleton in terms of how number of documents that are potentially subject to this number of websites like all of that And you
know, I think uh you know, if she can like I I can talk through that with her and have a better you know, it would be good to have our arms around like exactly what we're talking about here, you know. >> Yeah. So my my understanding in in talking with Nancy is anything that we
already have on the website is considered um archival documentation and so not necessarily required to be changed. because we've already
>> we've already um uploaded it to um >> have a great weekend >> to the to the to the cloud to as well as to our um older documentation, older records and so they are arch what what
is considered archival records >> but they have to be marked as such right? So that they have to be marked archived. So um if I understand what she was saying is
because anything that is in the past so anything 2025 24 23 anything that's in that um the older records the you know >> I don't know what what we can consider older records but you know um I guess
that's something that we'll have to have her define or have the state define as to what is considered an archived record. >> Okay, >> I guess that's the number one. And how do we go forward from here?
If anything that we put on the website that is from a past meeting, is that also considered archived records? I mean, I guess that's the that's >> I mean, I can reach back out to because on that on that webinar like Adam was
talking about that and it it felt a little funny in the description because it feels almost like a workaround, you know, it feels like, you know, and it's not dissimilar. I mean, at Harvard like our policy was written in a way that it is basically from this point forward like anything new that's create, you
know, so like I get the need to have that, but like I'd like to better understand that. So like I'll, you know, again, I can uh >> you like I I I'm comfortable enough to kind of reach back out to Adam at the state and like so yeah. Anyway, I'll
circle back with Nancy and we'll get a better >> Okay. All right. That sounds great. >> Yeah. So those are the two updates I had. >> All right. >> Yeah. just to chime in I guess on this one. I understand that some of the challenges I've been to, you know, in my role at Leslie University, I work in
academic technology specifically, but you know, I've had to I've attended many of these type of webinars about this stuff just to get a sense of what's going on. And I work directly with faculty on making sure that their course materials are accessible. And um the strategies I keep hearing over and over and I think we should consider here and
I think we're already talking about are things like um assessment. So yeah we need to assess what you know what the regulations are what we have as far as you know documents that need to be converted things like that so you can understand what the scope of it is the scale of it and then you can't really ask for money
till you know what you need to address right and then the other part is really focus on that you know going forward as the priority so you know we do need to concern ourselves potentially with some things that that exist or archived or not I don't know as we need to assess but it is important to consider you know
making sure that whatever we're doing going forward We're talking about like you were referencing training staff um employees making sure that we implement best practices now as soon as possible ahead of that deadline. Um and really put a lot of detail into making sure that we have that in place and then make
sure it's working. Um and then also a mechanism in place that as you know as we should already have that if there's individuals in this community that want to access some public records and they're not accessible doesn't meet their access needs that there's a mechanism for ensuring that is a priority to be you know um converted so
that that individual can get it in a timely manner right things like that right no very good points bill like especially like >> you know the point about >> um you know kind of taking a future focus like I I feel that um
>> you know no matter >> you know if it's archived or whatever you know if someone raises a concern that they're experiencing a barrier like we need to be ready to respond to that you know and address those concerns no matter if it's archived or not right so
like um you know and and we need everyone in town that you know every town employee to be on the same page about that right so like so you know one good thing is that some of this can be very low cost like you know it's nothing for me in a voluntary way to kind of run
a workshop uh you know if there if we could get enough awareness or interest from town employees to like you know present a slide deck on accessible best practices and how to create things that are accessible right so like some of it can be low cost but yeah exactly right Bill about you know having a better
sense of the scope will be important in this so >> yeah and it's also important to understand that there is a There's a lot here. It's like anything that we do, right? There's >> if we're trying to, you know, consider the civil rights of the individual you represent, there's a lot of work that needs to be done to get there, but we have to, you know,
>> it's overwhelming to the point where sometimes it's it holds people back. But like we can't do it. It's too much. But we have to chip away, right? And just have a good attitude about you later. >> And you know, appreciate the accomplishments we can make in in striving towards the goal of getting to that deadline. And so uh but yeah if we
are thinking about outsourcing like a big archival switch we also need as I was I can to sort of solidify my point another in-house mechanism for quick turnaround of of requests you know so that there's somebody in town that's trained that can quickly take that archive and make sure that people have access and things like that which may
already be in place because I would imagine you know these things come up right so I'm not familiar so but yeah I'm glad yeah more information would be great so we can understand it but I'm glad that we're on top of it so thanks Eric. Great.
>> All right. Um, so did everybody get the meeting minutes that I sent out? >> Yeah, I got them. >> Okay. And, um, any questions, comments, or concerns? If not, I'll ask for a
proposal to uh, we accept uh, two minutes there from whatever the dates are there. >> Okay, I'll second. All right, Eric second. All right, so that one. >> Okay.
All right. So, George, >> yes. >> Bill, >> yes. >> Eric, >> yep. >> And Diane is an I. Okay. So, that's unanimous. So, any action items other than what we are looking at for the two
um two items that we have for today? Yeah, I'd like to uh say one of the things that uh we need probably to uh consider is uh doing the not this budget
cuz this budget is pretty much set and I guess they done trimmed it down to they got it balanced because every municipality has to have a balanced budget when they go forward. uh according to the do
um I would say next year as we get um this assessment put in place, we may want to look at uh trying to increase uh our budget. I know we've been set at uh $1,200 for god knows how long and we
really haven't uh used it that much because we really hadn't had a whole lot to go in on because um we needed to get um this assessment of the town in place before that uh we could do certain
things in the town. Some of it may be down to the point that we have to do it as a local uh versus um the mod given but we would try to get money that we
can u from the mod. So, I would like to say that um we may want to look at next year and see if we need to maybe up the Annie for you know different uh training
or seminars or whatever that may be available that people can get paid for the transportation travel to those locations and and back. And the other article that I would like to mention
about is that uh I would like for us to uh authorize the chair to send a letter to uh the planning department primarily um to MREN and ask her for the
contact information for um uh the 550. 50 uh project uh team there because they need to come before the disability commission with the first phase of the plan. So on the
29th of uh I thought I had this cut off. Excuse me. uh on the 29th of this month, they're supposed to come back and get the permit
uh to start phase one at 550 up there, which is going to be 44 U housing units and five um retail uh facility up there. And I uh spoke with the
uh the superintendent of building and uh he suggested that um when we do have that meeting that he be at the meeting so that we can uh go through for them to blame bring in the blueprints and show
us on the ADA as to what the minimum stuff that they're going to be doing in this uh phase one up Yeah. And if uh he has any question then they can answer it at that time or if we have question we
can answer at that time. So if they get the permit on the 29th I would like for us to uh submit uh a letter to them telling that they need to come before the disability commission uh at that
time. And I would say at being in person, being in room 103 uh at the town hall there so that um we will get the opportunity to uh see exactly what is going to be done over at
that project. >> Okay, any >> Yeah, I'm I'm in in favor of that. I I think it would be uh you know reasonable for us to request that of them. So yeah, no objection.
>> Bill, >> is that the King Street comments, >> right? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah, absolutely. We've been I mean I've been trying to I spoke to the town administrator back in August or July. Um haven't heard anything back, but he said he was going to try to connect us and then I haven't followed up, but uh I I think we should be definitely a part of
uh I want to I want to learn as much about their plans and you know give as much feedback as they're open to. Yeah, it's it's in the uh it's in the F
EID report, the the environmental impact study. Uh a lot of disability was in that that was brought out by the chair of the planning board that uh we needed to um have them to come before us and um
the superintendent of um of billing was uh at that meeting as well and I talked to him later and uh I suggested that when we do that we invite him to
come on board And that way he can point out any particular things that we have question about as well as if they have questions about in terms of uh what it should be. >> Yeah. >> So he said that was no problem. He'd be
willing you know to be there. So >> help me to connect on that. It's important valuable. Thank you. I spoke to M uh with regard to giving us contact, but I think uh we need to have the chair just to send a letter over to her and for her to u feed that data back
to us. Exactly. And then we can send authorize send uh based on the schedule and when we probably could get in to 103 is to then send a letter out to them inviting them to appear at that time.
What is Marin's title again, George? >> Huh? She's a planner for the town. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> All right. We can do that. >> I mean, we've been we've been talking about the last few meetings. I know Gary was talking about how the select board is he he's least in favor of them, you
know, making sure that we are considered or, you know, they come through us when major projects that are developments in town. And so, this is as big as it gets. >> Yeah. the uh the the the the commission there, superintendent of
building, he said that he was definitely going to uh put us on the agenda uh with all projects and instead of uh doing it later, he going to do it sooner to tie us in on everything that's uh
going to be happen. >> That's always preferable. >> Always advantageous. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we've talked about that. You don't do it. You don't want to have to fix something later. It's better to get the beginning for everybody. Yeah. >> All right. Sounds great.
>> That's all I got. >> All right. Anybody else have anything? All right. So, I'll take a motion to Oh, actually next meeting uh February um let's see
>> 13th like like the 13th is the 2nd. >> That works. >> It's already on my calendar. >> All right. >> Let me take a quick look here because >> Okay, >> we said
yes on that. Uh, so I got a few pointers here. Okay, the 13 is good. >> All right, great. Now, I'll take a motion to adjurnn. >> So move. >> All right, George. >> I,
>> Bill. >> I >> Eric. >> Yep. >> Dian's and I. We are adjourned.