STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL
July 19, 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 Jennifer Cook (Remote), Member Michelle McConaughy, Member Sarah Sweeney, and Member Ryan Witterschein  
Staff: Jennifer Beaulieu (SILC Assistant) 	
Guests: Matthew Greenwood (Member of the Public, Remote) 
Communication Access: Jola Lindstrom (ASL Interpreter) and Rachel Farrell (ASL Interpreter)

The SILC (Statewide Independent Living Council) meeting was called to order at 1:05 PM by Chair Carrie Dudley. 

*Quorum was reached. 

Approval of Minutes of 3/15 and 5/17 Full SILC Meetings
* Second Vice-Chair Randy Pierce made a motion to approve the 3/15 Full SILC Meeting Minutes
Second: 			Member Ryan Witterschein  
Discussion:			None				
All in Favor: 	Yes		Abstaining: Second Vice-Chair Randy Pierce 
Motion Carried.
* Second Vice-Chair Randy Pierce made a motion to approve the 5/17 Full SILC Meeting Minutes
Second: 			Member Ryan Witterschein    
Discussion:			None				
All in Favor: 	Yes		Abstaining: Second Vice-Chair Randy Pierce and Member Ryan Witterschein 
Motion Carried.

Committee Updates
A.	Membership Committee Report
Jeff Dickinson reported out for the Membership Committee. He noted that he didn’t have new info to share. 

There were questions on if Jennifer Cook received the membership orientation packet. She has not. Jennifer Cook will receive and review the membership orientation packet. 

B.	Governance Committee Report 
Deborah Ritcey reported out for the Governance Committee. She reported that the committee is currently working on updating the SILC’s policies and procedures. She noted she sent over multiple documents regarding the bylaws and its edits which she will discuss in more detail later.  

C.	Advocacy Committee Report
Randy Pierce reported out for the Advocacy Committee. He noted that the committee meets monthly. In August, committee members will start calling agencies in an effort to reach out.  Carrie Dudley noted that the committee will be using the minutes from the last Advocacy Committee meeting to create a script people can use to call the agencies. Randy Pierce also noted that it’s a way to make sure our resources on our website are correct. 

Discussion ensued on the Advocacy Committee’s mission statement. Randy Pierce noted that they created the mission statement specifically for the Advocacy Committee to define the role of the committee because everyone had different thoughts on what the role of the committee should be. 

Discussion occurred on if the SILC should look at updating the mission statement. Deborah Ritcey asked for that to be included as an item on the next meeting’s agenda. 

Bylaws Presentation and Vote to Amend
Deborah Ritcey went through the changes the Governance Committee made to the Bylaws. Some of the changes were the following: 
(1) Added the definitions for simple majority and supermajority.
(2) Updated the language of the Bylaws to reflect the added definitions of simple majority and supermajority.
(3) Changed the minimum and maximum number of members from a minimum of 11 and a maximum of 18 to a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 14.
(4) Changed the committee responsibility for the appointment process from the Nominating Committee to the Membership Committee.
(5) Removed parts of the Bylaws that were no longer applicable to the council.
(6) Added language to allow former members to be eligible to serve two successive three-year terms following one year out of office.
(7) Added language that there needs to be a supermajority of the full council to remove a council member and/or officer.
(8) Added language that meetings shall be held in-person and shall comply with any state and federal requirements.
(9) Changed the amount of full council meetings per year from every other month to no less than 5 meetings per year.
(10) Updated language of when and how the council will issue meeting dates for the next year.
(11) Updated language of how the council will send announcements of elections to membership to comply with current processes.
(12) Clarified the role and limitations of task forces.
(13) Quorum was changed from 2/3rds or supermajority of voting members to a simple majority. 

Deborah Ritcey answered questions after she went through the changes to the Bylaws. The first question was on Robert’s Rules and the voting process. She mentioned that we only follow Robert’s rules when voting. She also mentioned that the Governance Committee will be creating a policy that outlines the voting process for the council and its committees. The second question was on if a meeting can still be held if there is no quorum. She responded a meeting can still be held without a quorum, but voting cannot take place during that meeting. The third question was on if remote members can still vote. She responded that remote members can still vote if there is an in-person quorum. 
* Second Vice-Chair Randy Pierce moved to approve all the bylaw adjustments as distributed to the full committee and reviewed by governance at this meeting. 
Second: 			Member Ryan Witterschein  
Discussion:			None				
All in Favor: 	Yes		Abstaining: None
Motion Carried.
Statewide Plan for Independent Living Progress
Carrie Dudley moved on to discuss the Statewide Plan for Independent Living (SPIL). Using the SPIL tracking plan, a list was created containing only the objectives. The list has recently been numbered to align with the objectives in the SPIL. 

Carrie Dudley went through the list. First, she started with the objectives that are complete. Carrie Dudley asked if we received the executive summaries from last year’s Part B vendor consumer satisfaction surveys. Deborah Ritcey noted that Jennifer Beaulieu should have received the summaries from all the Part B vendors except from GSIL and B and F Technologies. Jennifer Beaulieu noted that she will check to make sure. 

The Governance Committee has been talking with Lisa Hatz about including our survey in the Request for Proposals (RFP) that Vocational Rehabilitation is creating to have a third-party conduct their surveys. The problem is that without Lisa Hatz being at the meeting, progress on the RFP cannot be checked. There were questions on how the surveys are going to be conducted without an answer from Lisa Hatz about the RFP. Deborah Ritcey responded that if we don’t get an answer from Lisa Hatz or find out we are not on the RFP, we would have to conduct the surveys like we did last year.  She noted that the committee chose September because that date worked best for most of the vendors. The date can be pushed to October or November if needed.  

Deborah Ritcey noted that the RFP for Part B vendors was reissued with a due date of September. The RFP was issued back in April or May, but it contained the wrong contract agreement date. Discussion ensued. There was conflicting information on if the vendors need to resubmit their proposals. There were also questions on if the DSE visited each vendor as required by the assessment tool to monitor compliance. Deborah Ritcey answered that all the ones in NH have been visited. We currently don’t have the results from those visits. Deborah Ritcey will check with Lisa Hatz on the RFP for the surveys, the RFP for Part B vendors, and the results from the Designated State Entity’s (DSE) visits to the Part B vendors. 

Carrie Dudley went on to the objectives that haven’t been started yet. Two of the objectives involve the creation of plans to increase awareness of the SILC and recruit new members. Both were assigned to the Membership Committee. Discussion ensued. An idea was mentioned that the Advocacy Committee could create the plan to increase awareness of the SILC, while the Membership Committee could create the plan to recruit new members. 

Carrie Dudley moved on to talk about things in progress. The Bylaws have just been updated. The policies and procedures will be updated and voted on during the next council meeting. Deborah Ritcey noted that we have updated the job description for the support staff around a year and a half ago. They still need to create job descriptions for the officer positions. 

Vote and Q & A of Applicant Matthew Goodness
This agenda item was postponed because Matthew Goodness was not in attendance. 

Other Business 
Deborah Ritcey noted that she would like to offer up her position as the First Vice-Chair to anyone who is interested. She no longer wishes to be the First Vice-Chair but will serve in that position until the election in September. Her name will not be on the slate of officers that will be voted on at the next council meeting. She mentioned that she would be willing to talk about the position with anyone who is interested. 

There were questions on what would happen if we were unable to find a person to be the First Vice-Chair. Deborah Ritcey responded that the position can be unfilled, or a person could have two positions. It won’t be ideal because it shrinks the Executive Committee, but it can happen. 

Carrie Dudley thanked Deborah Ritcey for the support she provided as the First Vice-Chair. 

Sarah Sweeney asked for an update on where we were on the situation regarding if our council should be known as NH SILC or SILC NH. 

Adjournment 
* First Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey made a motion to adjourn. 
Second: 			Member Ryan Witterschein  
Discussion:			None				
All in Favor: 	Yes		Abstaining: Second Vice-Chair Randy Pierce 
Motion Carried.
Meeting adjourned at 2:30pm. 

Minutes Recorded by Jennifer Beaulieu