STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL
May 17, 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 Deborah Ritcey, Secretary and Immediate Past Chair Jeff Dickinson (Remote), Member Michelle McConaughy, Member Sarah Sweeney and DSE representative Lisa Hatz (Remote). 
Staff: Jennifer Beaulieu (SILC Assistant) 	
Guests: Matthew Greenwood (Member of the Public) and Jennifer Cook (Nominee, Remote) 
Communication Access: Laurie Meyer (ASL Interpreter) and Rebekah Mallory-Patten (ASL Interpreter)

The SILC (Statewide Independent Living Council) meeting was called to order at 1:05 PM by First Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey. 

*Quorum was not reached. 

Deborah Ritcey noted that we can still have a meeting we just can’t vote on anything. All votes will be held till the next meeting. 
Approval of Minutes of 1/17 Full SILC Meetings
The approval of the Minutes was deferred to the next full SILC meeting due to not having a quorum. 

Committee Updates
A.	Membership Committee Report
Jeff Dickinson reported out for the Membership Committee. He noted that the Membership Committee has been working on the orientation packet. The packet includes a table of contents, information about SILCs, SPIL (Statewide Plan for Independent Living), CIL (Center for Independent Living), Independent Living Philosophy, disability etiquette, person first language, and a legislative primer.  

In reference to the page about the SILC, Deborah Ritcey noted the idea that the Advocacy Committee could work on creating a letter for the Governor that raises awareness of the council. It could be an annual letter. It could include the following: (1) A list of accomplishments; (2) What is important to the council; (3) What we as a council need to work on; and (4) What is our role.  She further noted the idea of being more active with the Governor’s Office. Jeff Dickinson mentioned that the letter could reference the status of the council. This could raise awareness of the council and smooth our ability to get people appointed to the council.  
Jeff Dickinson noted that the committee thought about including a copy of the SPIL, bylaws, etc. with the packet. There needs to be some changes to some of the documents such as making the table in the person first language section screen-reader accessible and including more recent accomplishments in the Independent Living history section. The committee thought about having an acknowledgement form or signature form that one would sign or check off when they have reviewed the packet.  Jeff Dickinson mentioned that this could be useful for reporting to the federal government. 

Deborah Ritcey mentioned the idea of including a list of expectations in the packet. The list could include the mention that to be a member one is required to be on a committee and attend council meetings in-person. Matthew Greenwood mentioned the idea of including the list of expectations with the application. Deborah Ritcey noted that there should be several documents that go out with the application such as the orientation packet, confidentiality agreement, non-disclosure agreement, or whatever documents we want. 

Jennifer Cook noted concerns over her application not being approved yet by the Governor. Deborah Ritcey noted that we have reached out to the Governor’s Office, and they said that they will be looking at the application this week. Lisa Hatz noted that she can reach out to the Governor’s Office as the DSE (Designated State Entity) for the SILC if they don’t hear anything. 

B.	Governance Committee Report 
Deborah Ritcey reported out for the Governance Committee. She noted the committee is currently working on updating the bylaws. The committee believes that they will have a standard document to submit at the July SILC meeting and it will be included as an item on the agenda for that meeting. The committee is also looking to update the policies and procedures. She asked that if anyone had any ideas for the policies and procedures to let her know. She noted that each committee would have their own policies and the SILC as-a-whole will have policies. There were questions on how the policies and procedures will be accessed. Deborah Ritcey responded that there will be a repository housed with the admin support. When it comes to approving the policies and procedures, the committee where the policy originated from will vote to forward the policy to the council. 

C.	Advocacy Committee Report
Carrie Dudley mentioned that the Advocacy Committee is working on finalizing their committee’s mission statement, vision, and elevator pitch. The committee is also looking to formulate a plan on how they will raise awareness of the SILC and how they are going to work with community partners. Deborah Ritcey raised concerns over a committee having a mission statement that is separate from the mission statement of the council.  Discussion ensued. The purpose of the mission statement was to define the committee’s role. An idea came up for the Advocacy Committee to look at the mission statement for the council and see if it needs to be updated. The mission statement for the Advocacy Committee with some edits could be the new mission statement for the council. Jennifer Cook will bring that idea up to Randy Pierce, who chairs that committee.  Discussion occurred on outreach ideas such as working with community partners and going to events.  

Statewide Plan for Independent Living Progress
Carrie Dudley moved on to discuss SPIL progress. Carrie Dudley and Jennifer Beaulieu worked on making the SPIL a bit easier to read. Carrie Dudley noted that they took what was Deborah Ritcey’s SPIL grid and put it in a form that is more user-friendly. The list is organized into three categories; completed objectives, in-progress objectives, and objectives that need to be started. The list contains blank spaces under the in-progress objectives and the objectives that haven’t been started yet, where someone can put down their name if they are interested in that objective. Deborah Ritcey noted that with the objective concerning the monitoring of Part B vendors, Daniel Frye (the previous DSE) told the Governance Committee that that objective was his responsibility and his alone. That’s what she has in her notes. It was originally assigned to the Governance Committee. Part of the monitoring was to visit each Part B vendor.  Lisa Hatz responded that the monitoring process should be a collaborative effort between the council and the DSE. As a collaborative effort, she could see a SILC member attending the Part B vendor visits or/and the data received from those visits be shared with the Governance Committee. If there are any action items that need to be done it would need to be brought up with the full council. There were questions on how far Daniel Frye got with the Part B visits. Lisa Hatz noted that she has access to his email account and will look for any data regarding the Part B vendor visits. She will report what she has found at the next Governance Committee meeting. Carrie Dudley asked about the objective where we need to develop a process to redistribute funding if a CIL closes or the council removes funding from a Part B vendor. Deborah Ritcey responded that its part of the narrative that we must have when creating the SPIL. She thinks when we did the last one, Daniel Frye’s comment was that he would take those funds and disseminate them against the Part B vendors. She doesn’t know if that’s accurate, but we haven’t got to the point of having that process down. Lisa Hatz noted that they are currently finishing the RFP to facilitate creating the SPIL and possibility helping with the monitoring of the new plan. 

Deborah Ritcey asked for the document to be numbered.  The list will be edited and sent out to the membership. Members will let Carrie Dudley know what objective(s) they want to do. 
 
Vote and Q & A of Applicant Matthew Goodness
The vote and Q & A of applicant Matthew Goodness was deferred to the next full SILC meeting due to Matthew Goodness not being in attendance and due to not having a quorum. 

Other Business 
Jennifer Cook noted the need to stop talking in acronyms. Carrie Dudley and Deborah Ritcey agreed that we should not talk in acronyms if possible. Carrie Dudley noted it could be something the Advocacy Committee could talk about. 

Meeting ended at 2:30pm. 

Minutes Recorded by Jennifer Beaulieu