STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL
March 16, 2022
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
FULL SILC Meeting
IN-PERSON AND ZOOM

Members and Ex-Officios Attending:  Chair Carrie Dudley, First Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey, Immediate Past-Chair Jeff Dickinson (Remote), Member Marcia Golembeski (Remote), Member Erin Hall (Remote), Member Michelle McConaghy (Remote), Member Sarah Sweeney, and DSE representative Daniel Frye (Remote).
Staff: Jennifer Beaulieu (SILC Assistant) 	
Guests: Matthew Greenwood (SILC Nominee, Remote)
Communication Access: Laurie Meyer (ASL Interpreter, Remote), Jola Lindstorm (ASL Interpreter, Remote), and Denise Gracia (CART, Remote)

The SILC meeting was called to order at 1:11 PM by Chair Carrie Dudley. Attendance was taken via introductions.

*Quorum was reached. 

As the chair of this council, Carrie will follow the federal health emergency guidelines as it relates to the rising cases of COVID and allow this body to be remote with the ability to meet with quorum while being remote.

Approval of Minutes of 11/17 and 1/19 Full SILC Meetings
*First Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey made a motion to approve the 11/17 Full SILC Meeting Minutes as written.
Second: 			Member Marcia Golembeski 
Discussion:			None				
All in Favor: 	Yes		Abstaining: None
Motion Carried.
*First Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey made a motion to approve the 1/19 SILC Meeting Minutes as written.
Second: 			Member Marcia Golembeski  
Discussion:			None				
All in Favor: 	Yes		Abstaining: None
Motion Carried.

Committee Updates
A.	Membership Committee Report
Jeff reported out for the membership committee. 

The following goals related to membership were discussed: (1.3.2.a) Form an Outreach & Membership Committee to develop and implement an Awareness Action Plan to improve statewide awareness of the SILC and broaden the scope of its membership; (1.3.2.b) Outreach & Membership Committee will develop a SILC member orientation & training manual to include the history of the Independent Living movement, the IL philosophy, the Rehab Act, the ADA, the Olmstead decision, etc.; (1.3.2.c) Outreach & Membership Committee will develop a Recruitment Plan, designed to recruit new members, both those living with a disability, and/or family members, and those interested in supporting the independence of those living with a disability; and (1.3.2.e) Provide continuing education opportunities for SILC members to learn more about IL history and philosophy, new developments in IL, and what other SILCs are doing. They have met the first goal of forming a membership committee. Jeff plans to have the awareness plan done by March 1st. With the orientation process/manual, he plans to have the committee work on it during the summer. His goal is to not recreate the wheel but come up with a dossier of some of the better disability rights and independent living materials for new members and existing members. He has set the date for completion for September 1st. He set the date for completion for the recruitment plan for December 31st. 

Jeff reported that today the committee will be putting his name forward. He noted that we have a few other individuals in the pipeline and two people we just heard about. 

Marcia asked if the applications are coming from various organizations or are there people getting involved from different areas of disability. Jeff mentioned there seems to be a little more diversity coming in. Where they are coming from is mostly from word-of-mouth referrals from members on the SILC not from agencies. That’s probably an area that the council needs to do more outreach to. 

Erin asked if there was an advertisement that we could post in our newsletter or our website. Jeff noted that we have been working on something like that in the committee and it’s about ready to go out but there had some inconsistencies about the language regarding how we identify as the SILC. Carrie raised the idea of having something in the NH Business Magazine’s advertisement section for the NH Employment Leadership Awards. Carrie asked about budgeting for such. Daniel noted that he thinks it would need to come from the GCD budget that Department of Education has over there. Deborah mentioned that based off that, we should be asking for some type of financial accounting from the GCD from Chuck or his designee to show us, what is our budget and where the money is so we can make decisions like this. Deborah noted that Carrie should have this conversation with Chuck that as financial intermediary, they should be providing financial reporting Jeff mentioned that he thinks the idea and ideas like it are good but part of him is wondering if it is more applicable to educate the public on what the SILC does and what we are involved with. Discussion ensued. An idea was raised about paying for someone to create an advertisement for the SILC to share with the organizations they are involved with.

Sarah asked if we heard anything from the Governor regarding Matthew Greenwood’s appointment. Jeff noted that Jen reported that she did try to contact the governor office’s and they told her that they changed personnel so there is a new person doing the nominations and putting those in front of the governor. 

Michelle asked how many members on the SILC are active members. Discussion ensued. Deborah noted that Carrie should reach out to the two members who haven’t been active and have them write a resignation letter. These people are part of the quorum, every time we don’t have them here, we risk having no quorum. 

B.	Governance Committee Report
Deborah reported out for the Governance Committee. She went over the goals related to governance. The goals that were discussed were the following: (1.3.2.b) The formation of a Compliance & Evaluation committee, the design and implementation of an ongoing assessment tool to track compliance of Part B regarding delivery of IL services, and performance improvement plans if necessary; (1.3.2.c) The Compliance & Evaluation Committee will oversee and audit contractors to ensure their ongoing compliance with Part B funding requirements; and (1.3.2.d) The Compliance & Evaluation Committee will develop a standardized consumer satisfaction survey of contracted Part B providers to document the effectiveness of IL services they provide. 

Deborah noted that we have already talked about the Governance Committee taking on the tasks of the Compliance & Evaluation.  Daniel is going to design the assessment tool with feedback from the Governance Committee. Daniel has been clear that his assessment tool will include a site visit, a documentation or chart review, and an in-person meeting with the individuals at the agency or organization that are running the Part B services. For the next committee meeting in April, he'll be putting together a one- pager to explain the process. He’ll work with the Governance committee to implement the tool within the assessment period. Once Daniel has completed the task of conducting the audits, the governance committee would then ensure that the Part B contractors are in good standing and are doing what they are supposed to be doing. The committee has spent time looking at what questions have been historically asked of recipients of Part B services in surveys. They likely will keep the seven questions that have been asked in the past. Discussion ensued. She will have a meeting with the vendors and Daniel to create a survey that will work for all the Part B providers. The process for the implementation of the surveys will be like what has been done in the past. The agencies will send out the surveys and they will be returned to the SILC because we want the survey takers to feel comfortable that the surveys are going back to a neutral party. She’s hoping to have the survey done and sent out in the next couple of months. 

C.	Advocacy Committee Report 
Due to unfortunate circumstances, the Advocacy Committee no longer as a Chair. Deborah mentioned that it needs to be addressed. Carrie noted that the last thing the Chair, Ellie, did was donate a lot of clothes. Discussion ensued. Carrie and Marcia will work together to write up a narrative of what Marcia remembers about the Advocacy Committee’s work. 

D.	Executive Committee Report
Deborah reported out for the Executive Committee goals. The goals that were discussed were the following: (1.3.1.e) The Executive Committee will ensure that consumer satisfaction surveys are completed every year by the consumers of all Part B contracted providers; (1.3.1.f) The Executive Committee and Compliance & Evaluation Committee will review results of annual consumer satisfaction surveys to develop action plans for areas of non-compliance that require improvement; (1.3.3.a) The Executive Committee will develop a detailed work plan to track progress made on goals, adherence to deadlines, and measurable compliance with commitments made in the SPIL; (1.3.3.b) The Executive Committee will identify & implement current best practices relative to bylaws, policies & procedures, and operations of other statewide SILCs; (1.3.3.c) Executive Committee will develop and adopt updated SILC By-Laws; (1.3.3.d) The Executive Committee will develop and adopt updated SILC Policies & Procedures; and (1.3.3.e) The Executive Committee will update the job descriptions for all members, officers, administrative support staff, and the DSE representative. 

Deborah noted that we are not there yet on ensuring the surveys are done. With reviewing the surveys and what we do with them, we need to decide what to do with them because if nothing is done with them it would be a waste of time. Discussion ensued. Deborah noted we have already created a workplan to track progress of the SPIL. The task regarding best practices will be taken up by the Governance Committee. Deborah doesn’t want to take it up until we have completed the survey and gotten the other Part B vendors to join the SILC. Daniel has reached out to the other two Part B vendors. Randy from Future in Sight said he would join, but the other vendor won’t be able to participate in-person. Daniel noted that he has a meeting with him next week. Deborah noted that we will get to updating the bylaws but not until we get to the survey. With the policies and procedures, updates will be made when needed. The other thing the committee are working on is developing job descriptions. Deborah noted that Jennifer was able to find an older job description which is fairly accurate. She has updated it a little and will send it out to the executive committee for review. Once it’s approved, we will bring it to the next full council meeting. Discussion ensued.

Q & A and Vote on Applicant(s)
Carrie asked Jeff to give a history of how he got involved with the council, to give highlights of why he is here, and what he likes most about being on the council. Jeff noted that he worked at GSIL for 23 years now. For the first period of time, he wasn’t really involved with the SILC. He kind of became involved because the CEO at the time appointed him to be his representative when he wasn’t able to attend. Jeff noted that as a person with a disability, he’s fortunate to be living in the time he's living in because a lot of people before us have had to make a lot of sacrifices that have made life for individuals with disabilities better. Part of his participation is trying to give a little bit back to the movement and just push the pebble forward a little more. One thing he enjoys about his job is working with the legislature on disability-related policy, laws, and rules. He also would like to bring some of that information back to the SILC. Jeff noted that will be applying as an individual with a disability. 
*First Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey made a motion that we nominate Jeff’s application to the Governor’s committee.
Second: 			Member Marcia Golembeski 
Discussion:			None				
All in Favor: 	Yes		Abstaining: None
Motion Carried.

Other Business 
Discussion ensued on finding a new Advocacy committee Chair and finding someone to be the secretary. 

Carrie talked about a memorial idea of Ellie. She asked what we did in the past. Discussion ensued. It was agreed that Jeff will create a short narrative thanking and appreciation for all she did for the SILC and the disability community through her life. 

*First Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey made a motion to adjourn.
Second: 			Member Marcia Golembeski 
Discussion:			None				
All in Favor: 	Yes		Abstaining: None
Motion Carried.

Meeting adjourned at 2:14pm.

Minutes Recorded by Jennifer Beaulieu