STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL
November 15, 2023
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 and Immediate Past Chair Jeff Dickinson (Remote), Second Vice-Chair Randy Pierce, Secretary Sarah Sweeney (Remote), Member Ryan Donnelly, Member Erin Hall, Member Michelle McConaughy (Remote), and Member Ryan Witterschein  
Staff: Jennifer Beaulieu (SILC Assistant) and Amy Clark (Interim DSE Representative)  	
Guests: Matthew Greenwood (Member of the Public) 
Communication Access: Laurie Meyer (ASL Interpreter) and Rachel Farrell (ASL Interpreter)

The SILC (Statewide Independent Living Council) meeting was called to order at 1:07 PM by Chair Carrie Dudley. 

*Quorum was not reached. 

Discussion on the DSE Change
Carrie Dudley moved on to discuss the DSE (Designated State Entity) change. Amy Clark will be temporarily taking on the role of DSE Representative after Lisa Hatz, the former VR State Director and DSE Representative, stepped down from her position. Amy Clark mentioned that she has received some documentation and is slowly going through the trainings that Lisa Hatz passed her way. She is looking for the DSE login information for submitting the PPR (Programmatic Performance Report). Randy Pierce noted the idea of resetting the password or asking Lisa Hatz for the login information. 

Discussion occurred on the Part B consumer satisfaction surveys. Randy Pierce asked if they need to include the executive summaries of the surveys with what they send to Amy Clark. Carrie Dudley noted that last year they were looking for the executive summaries from each Part B vendor. She further noted that the SPIL (State Plan for Independent Living) requires executive summaries of the surveys. 

Discussion occurred on the DSE’s review of the Part B vendors. Carrie Dudley noted that it is a requirement of the SPIL for the DSE to conduct on-site visits, at least once a year. Jennifer Beaulieu noted that she thought that a policy was created by the Governance Committee addressing the evaluations of Part B vendors. Erin Hall responded that the Governance Committee would not make something like that because it is an ACL requirement. We must follow what the ACL states as its regulations for the Part B funding itself. Discussion ensued. 
Amy Clark went into detail about some of the changes the DSE position has went through. After Joan Holleran retired, the management of the Part B funding was officially placed in the job description for the SBVI (Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired) Administrator. She noted that the position is currently not filled, but they hope it will eventually go back into that position’s hands. She still might continue to help even when the position is filled. 

Discussion occurred on the lack of contingency planning in the DSE’s position. This is in regard to on-site visits and the loss of information from previous DSEs such as financial information. 

Carrie Dudley noted that at our last Executive Committee meeting, we looked at job descriptions from ILRU. They decided to use the ILRU job descriptions and edit them to fit the council. There are also DSE assurances. Amy Clark read off some of the assurances. 

Carrie Dudley thanked Amy Clark for stepping up to be the Interim DSE Representative. 

Approval of Minutes of 9/20 Full SILC Meetings
The approval of the minutes was tabled due to not meeting quorum. 

Randy Pierce noted that he would like to have a timeline for when members should send their RSVPs for meetings. If there is a danger that we won’t have quorum, the Chair can be notified and decide if the meeting should be canceled. Jennifer Beaulieu mentioned that currently, she sends out a request for RSVPs three weeks before a meeting. Discussion ensued. 

There were questions on how HB 308 would affect the in-person quorum requirement of RSA 91-A. RSA 91-A requires a quorum of the voting membership to be in-person to be able to vote. HB 308 modified that law to allow a council or board to have a policy to allow remote participants count towards a quorum as long as certain conditions are met. Discussion ensued. A council or board would need to do the following to include remote voting members in their quorum: (1) A policy in accordance with HB 308; (2) All votes would need to be by roll call; (3) The reason why a voting member needs to be remote would need to be in stated the meeting minutes; and (4) One-third of the quorum need to be in-person. She noted the policy would need to state how members are going to be remote, how would remote participating be defined, and how they would contact the Chair who will decide if they can be remote. She also noted that she would bring the issue up at the next Governance Committee meeting. Jeff Dickinson noted that he will send the report he has on HB 308 to Jennifer Beaulieu to send it out to everyone.

Erin Hall noted that the Governance Committee is changing some of the language in the bylaws in regard to quorum. It would be a quorum of the people in attendance.

Matthew Greenwood noted that there should be something in the Bylaws that if you don’t show up so many times, the member would be removed. Discussion ensued. Erin Hall noted that she will look into the matter. 

Committee Updates
Membership
Jeff Dickinson reported out for the Membership Committee. He noted that they have finished up the orientation packet which has been sent to everyone. Moving forward, the orientation packet will be sent out to new members as well. They plan to put them up on the website at some point in the future. 

As far as new members, Ryan Donnelly got his letter from the Governor in record time. Carrie Dudley noted that an applicant, Matthew Goodness, would be unable to be a member due to his work schedule. 
Governance
Erin Hall reported out for the Governance Committee. She noted that she will bring up the idea of creating a HB 308 policy at their next committee meeting. This is in regard to the creating a remote attendance and quorum policy following the requirements of HB 308.  

The Part B vendor surveys have been completed. The results just need to be compiled. 

Advocacy 
Randy Pierce reported out for the Advocacy Committee. He noted that they have been meeting regularly. There were some concerns over if people would be able to attend the next meeting because the next meeting was close to Thanksgiving. Discussion ensued. It was decided that the committee will still hold that meeting but there may not be a meeting in December. Currently, the committee is working on creating a script for its members to use to make outreach calls to organizations that are on our website. They will be calling to touch base, get connected, and find out what the organization’s key issues are. Next meeting, they are going to polish up the script and assign who will call which organization. There were questions on what we would do with the information that is collected. Randy answered that he will create a report to bring before the council. Carrie Dudley noted the idea of sharing the script with the council so they can see what the committee is doing. 

Carrie Dudley noted that she got a message from someone from the Community Action Program. The message mentioned that it is a requirement for someone from the SILC to attend their meetings. She hasn’t responded to the email. Randy Pierce noted that he would ask for a reference to that requirement because he is unaware of said requirement.  He further noted that he would be willing to contact the individual to ask what requirement they are referencing. He would take that information and report it out to the council who would decide on what to do. 

SPIL Progress
Carrie Dudley moved on to discuss SPIL progress. There were questions on if both the tracking tool and the list have been updated. Jennifer Beaulieu answered that the list has been updated but not the tracking tool. 

Carrie Dudley went through the list. She first went through the in-progress items. She noted that the awareness action plan and the recruitment plan are being worked on. Ryan Witterschein created both plans using AI generated information. She further noted that there needs to be work done on the action plan for continuing education opportunities. An action plan for continuing education opportunities was later created by Ryan Witterschein using AI generated information. 

Matthew Greenwood noted that there are trainings available, but some cost money. He asked if the SILC would reimburse that cost. Discussion ensued. Erin Hall noted that it something to figure out later, they need to first figure out their finances.

Carrie Dudley moved onto the item that needed to be started. The objective was to develop a process to disseminate funds should an existing CIL close or if SILC removes funding from a vendor. The objective was assigned to the DSE. Erin Hall noted that it was talked about loosely. If a vendor loses their Part B funds or a CIL is closed, the remaining funding would be delved up among the other vendors. Discussion ensured. Erin Hall noted that it would be up to the DSE for what they would do. It could be they reevaluate the funding percentages that are on the RFPs or they just divide by the number of remaining vendors. The SILC could recommend a policy but it’s still up to the DSE. She lastly noted that she will put this down as an item to be discussed at the next Governance Committee meeting. 

Other Business
Amy Clark reminded everyone that the 2023 data collection tool for Part B vendors was recently sent out. She noted that they are thinking of changing the yearly data collection tool to a quarterly data collection tool. She asked what people thought about that change. The spreadsheet that is used with stay the same. Erin Hall noted that they need to make sure they speak with contracts because they can’t make those types of these decisions. She noted that she tried to do that with their contract with BDS (Bureau of Developmental Services), but contracts told them they couldn’t do that. She further noted that instead they bill monthly and do a quarterly report on what they are doing.  They send the monthly bills to contracts and send the quarterly reports to BDS. Erin Hall noted that she will provide her contact at contracts if Amy Clark is unable to find who their contracts contact is. 

Amy Clark noted that the Part B vendors RFPs have been approved. The agencies are Brain Injury Association of NH, Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing, GSIL, and Future in Sight.

Adjournment 
* Member Erin Hall made a motion to adjourn the meeting. 
Second: 			Second Vice-Chair Randy Pierce 
Discussion:			None				
All in Favor: 	Yes		Abstaining: None
Motion Carried.

Meeting adjourned at 2:30pm. 

Minutes Recorded by Jennifer Beaulieu