Tacoma Area Commission on Disabilities Committee Minutes Hybrid Meeting, hosted virtually via Zoom and in person at Tacoma Municipal Building Friday January 12, 2024 Call to Order Chair Hester called the meeting to order at 4:06 PM ( via the staff liaison due to Hester being in van transit) Commissioners Present Commissioner Chair Hester Barfield Holloway Coleman McRae Edick Caldwell Commissioners Absent Periman, Williams, Waltier, Sidhu City Staff Present Lucas Smiraldo Guests Present – Community Julian Wheeler Ice Breaker “What are you looking forward to?” Adoption of Agenda Commissioner Coleman made a motion to adopt the January 12th agenda. Commissioner Holloway seconded the motion. The ayes have it and the agenda is approved. Acceptance of Minutes Commissioner Edick made a motion to adopt the December Minutes Commissioner Coleman seconded the motion. The ayes have it and minutes were adopted. Public Comment None Chair Report * The Work Opportunity Tax Credit ordinance I assisted in drafting passed in December The ordinance incentivizes businesses within Tacoma to employ more people with disabilities. * Bill HB 2191, which I’ve been working on with Disability Rights Washington was introduced on Jan. 5th and now headed to committee. The bill requires public transit organizations to appoint two transit riders to their board of commissioners. Making it possible for people with disabilities to have a seat at the big table. Liaison Report – Office of Equity & Human Rights – Lucas Smiraldo Lucas shared an update 1. Accessible Taxi Report – Rewrite underway to condense report and place data portions in appendix documents. Hope to present by second quarter 2. Light Rail Field Trip Audit * Lucas Submitted draft report from live audit and invited commissioner responses * Edick would welcome being on subcommittee that helps improve transit options for people with disabilities. * Coleman would like brochures to communicate work of commission and would like to create simple questionnaire about ADA needs in public transit. * Edick and Coleman are ready to serve on transportation/transit subcommittee and Edick happy to act as chair. * Coleman would like TACOD and City to help anyone with disabilities help fill out survey. 3. CBC Orientation and Open Government Training a. All commissioners will be asked to participate in orientation in 2024 and visit and complete Open Government Training b. Will invite input around access at the Attorney General site. Commissioners will visit cite and offer input about access as they make effort to complete this training 4. ADA Accessibility—City will do and internal review of this and offer upgrades for 2025. 5. TACOD Retreat—Plan is set for Saturday February 10th lead by Mariama Suwaneh, OEHR Assistant Director. A pre-meeting discussion will be held with officers and the facilitator in advance and a draft agenda will be offered to Commissioners for review. The event will be catered and offered as a hybrid event. 6. Nominations for Chair and Vice Chair can be offered at February TACOD meeting. Self-nominations welcomed. Vote will be held at March meeting. Action Items * “Transportation Committee” will be the broadly named subcommittee formerly known as “Accessible Taxi.” * Edick willing to serve as Chair of this committee. * Group will meet to discuss next steps including survey creation and scheduling meeting with Sound Transit. * Holloway and Coleman will send resource lists for needs of people with disabilities. * Ask TACID to join a future TACOD meeting and describe their current services. * Coleman will send Partner Café Invite to Lucas to share with commissioners. Emergency Management— * Warming shelters are opening. * Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness checking encampments to help prepare people living there for cold. * Power outages and impact on safety a real concern. * State group looking at carbon zero battery technology to provide back up to households * PCAC is developing one stop repository website where all resources would be available electronically. Ivan Tudela– Pierce County Human Services * No Report as Ivan was not present due to addressing access during current cold snalp Report from PCAC Included in Chair Report Committee Reports Accessible Taxi (soon to be renamed “Transportation”—Hayley Edick, Lukas Barfield, Wanda Coleman, Todd Holloway—(Report Integrated Into Liaison Report Above) Public Works—Advisory Meeting Report—Tony Caldwell and other members including Tony Amin Hester, Krystal Monteros and Luke Byram. (Former commissioners may serve on subcommittees) Individual Commissioner Reports Coleman: Have Partner Café on January 26th for anyone who wants to share services they offer from 12 PM to 2 PM. Barfield offered update on Cannabis legislation and will send links to bills and ask commissioners to individually contact their legislators to enable greater access to medical and entrepreneurial opportunities. Currently the state asks for a 37% tax on cannabis products, one of the highest in the nation and discourages access. Currently people with cannabis plant waiver can still be arrested in Washington and this needs to change. Invitation for Community Input None New Business or Good of the Order None Adjournment Motion was made to adjourn by Coleman and was seconded by Edick and passed Adjourned at 5:27 PM