Easy Does It
Board of Directors Meeting
Meeting Minutes for June 27, 2002

 

Meeting called to order at 6:35pm

Attendance: Todd Groves, Peter Trier, Jonathan Gold, Leslie Gordon, Jonah Markowitz, Winston Ching, Hale Zukas, Jesse Townley, Dina Valicenti, Daniel Drake (arrived at 6:41) Kyle Eminger (arrived at 6:46), Bill Goebeler (web master)

Public Comment:
Jonah: 1. Remember Justin Dart, he passed this week. He was an activist for the ADA.
2. EDI President should not spend funds without the Boards approval.
3. Clients that choose to be verbal towards staff and board members should
receive basic service and nothing beyond the scope of services.
4. Commission on Disability is looking for comments about the new library and
access issues. Their meeting will be at 2:30 on July 2nd at 2180 Milvia, 3rd
floor, and again at 6:30 on July 10th at the North Berkeley Senior Center.
Jonathan: Memorial for Alan West will be at the North Berkeley Senior Center at 1:45 on
Sat. June 29th.
Bill: He wanted to meet the Board. He is building the new website. He is requesting the
requirements for accessibility. He wants a slot on the July agenda for feedback.
Bill states that we need a privacy policy on our page, and that we should also
post the monthly statistics.
Daniel: He apologizes for something he said at that last meeting. Kyle has a good spirit
when he helps people. Daniel appreciates his efforts for helping disabled
people.

Minutes from May 23rd.
Jonah: Motion to table to July meeting.
Peter: second
Jonathan: Move to accept minutes to approved version with Dina to replace with edited
version.
Jesse: second.
Motion passes, - 2 abstentions.

Agenda:
Jonah: Motion to move executive session first.
Jesse: second.
Motion passes

Hale wants to see on the agenda, the attendant coverage between Midnight and 6am.

Jonah wants to move newsletter to action.

Jesse: Motion to approve changes.
Peter second.
Motion passes.
Peter: Motion to move to executive session.
Jonah second.
Motion passes.

7:30 return to regular meeting

Peter: Motion to move attendant coverage to #4, after Executive Session.
Jonathan second.
Motion passes.

Hale: It is going to cost $200/night to keep two people on a night between midnight and 6am.

Jonathan: We need 1 male and 1 female.

Peter: Would like to save money but we should talk to City and Commission on Disability.

Daniel: There might be another way to have coverage and not pay for it.

Jesse: We are a 24-hour service. Not having 1 male and 1 female can be dangerous. It comes too close to leaving clients in the lurch. It is hard to find someone when you need another attendant. It could be dangerous for the clients. We are a direct client service. There is an idea on contracting out.

Dina: We need to give clients an option; we need to keep in mind the refusal list policy.

Felix: This shift spends $73,000 a year. In a 6-month survey, there has been exactly 1 call per night. This is a contract issue as well as a political issue. Of that 1 call per night, it has been a true emergency, and the city and community expect it from us.

Jonah: Keep it the way it is. We do not want the City or the Commission coming after us.

Hale: Public Authority issuing agency for Rapid Response. Felix should explore what is possible.

Jonathan: What about holidays?

Jesse: There are seasonal changes.

Peter: This is Hale's job to bring this issue up.

President's Report
Leslie: I don't have much, a letter was sent out about the pay raise.
Office to cc: all letter to Board members.

Peter: There was a meeting today with Felix and Phil Kamlarz. They were agreeable to fee increase and everything except for Workers' Comp increase. City is working on complaints.

Felix: City is very accommodating to the budget that starts July 1, 2002. But putting $100,000 in workers comp. is not conceivable. They want to know what we are doing about it to fix it for next year. The city is giving us a year of grace. Felix a radical idea that he wants to speak with everyone individually about it. What is the best that we can do? We want to show a strong faith effort.

Jesse: Thinks we should put an effort into raising some money by the end of the year. The cost of living increase will put us into debt. Have to start expanding more aggressively.

Daniel: Anyway we could have attendants as independent contractors.

Jonathan: We did that for 12 years until 1998.

Felix: Would like to see the Development committee get moving on that in July.

Peter: Curious to what monies are in the trust fund.

Jesse: You have to ask the city.

Executive Directors Report:
Felix: His mailing was sent out on Monday. He received e-mail from Steve Mantz thanking us for paying his acupuncture bill. It was a generous comment for all of us.

Jesse: Alzheimer's services, describe where and how we access these clients. What is the current disaster preparedness. Can we get a report for the next meeting?

Felix: Alzheimer's would be between Mon-Thurs at certain hours and Fri. 6am-10pm, Sat./Sun. 8am -10pm. They would have to preschedule. We will need 5-6 volunteer attendants. These attendants will have walk through homes. It is in the contract and the staff is excited about it. Hope to have training in July. There are a total of 12 families in Berkeley.

Peter: We don't expect either the Board or the staff to continually accept abuse.

Felix: Gave summary of particular incident of abuse that was outside scope of services.

Jesse: Boards backs Felix.

Consent Calendar:
Jesse: Everyone will get a packet of all committees that are a part of the consent calendar. In the beginning of the meeting we will discuss what items we want to be pulled for discussion. We vote to accept reports except for the pulled items.

Peter: Put it back on the agenda in July.

Executive Committee: Felix, Leslie, Peter, Hale, Dina
Development Committee: Leslie, Winston, Felix and Todd

Four Policy Questions:
1. Table Arrears
2. Gratuities: Policy
Jesse: Motion to approve.
Jonathan second.
Motion passes.
3. Release of Liability - Cannot hold up in the court of law.
4. Standard Emergency Service Call
3-hour limit to standard emergency call with a 2-hour extension with the approval of the supervisor.
Jesse: We have the right to change it, as long as we have flexibility. 1. Why now? 2. Are we directing this at a particular client?

Felix: It is a new year and we are trying to save money.

Jonah: Motion to change standard call to 3 hours with an option of up to an additional 2 hours with the approval of the supervisor.
Jesse second.
Jonah: amendment - Felix, go to the city to approve.

Peter: This is a bad idea. Would like to know next month the number of calls over 3 hours. We always have the right to pull an attendant.

Peter: Motion to table to next meeting.
Jonathan second.
Jesse: Will back board, we need to protect the community as well.
Leslie - Nay Winston - Nay Jesse - Nay Dina - abstain
Daniel - Aye Peter - Aye Todd - Aye
Kyle - Aye Jonah - Nay Jonathan - Aye
Motion passes to table.

Action:

Dina: Motion to table Mission Statement.
Jonathan second.
Motion passes.

Newsletter: Felix: Put on the agenda closer to the top. What do we want.

Dina: Motion to adjourn.
Jonathan second.
Motion passes.

Meeting adjourned at 9:17 pm.