STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL
September 18, 2024
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
FULL SILC Meeting
IN-PERSON AND ZOOM

Members and Ex-Officios Attending: Chair Randy Pierce, First Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey, Second Vice-Chair Ryan Witterschein, Secretary Sarah Sweeney (Remote), Immediate Past Chair Carrie Dudley, Member Jennifer Cook (Remote), Member Ryan Donnelly (Remote), Member Andrew Harmon, and Member Michelle McConaughy. 
Staff: Jennifer Beaulieu (SILC Assistant) and Amy Clark (Older Blind Program Representative, Remote)
Guests: Isadora Rodriguez-Legendre (Applicant) and Chase Eagleson (Member of the Public)
Communication Access: Laurie Meyer (ASL Interpreter) and Paula Collins (ASL Interpreter) 

Chair Randy Pierce called the SILC (Statewide Independent Living Council) meeting to order with an quorum by the revised rules at 1:01pm. 

*Quorum was reached. 

Randy Pierce thanked Carrie Dudley for her work as the Chair of the council.  

Approval of Minutes of 7/17 Full SILC Meeting
*First Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey moved to approve the minutes. 
Second: 				Second Vice-Chair Ryan Witterschein 

Roll Call:
•	Chair Randy Pierce: Aye
•	First Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey: Aye
•	Second Vice-Chair Ryan Witterschein: Aye
•	Secretary Sarah Sweeney: Aye
•	Immediate Past Chair Carrie Dudley: Aye
•	Member Jennifer Cook: Yes
•	Member Ryan Donnelly: Aye
•	Member Michelle McConaghy: Aye
Discussion: 				None
All in Favor: Yes		Abstention: None
Motion Carried.
SPIL Approval Update
Randy Pierce mentioned that during the transition time between Carrie and him, the Administration of Community Living came back with some recommended edits for the SPIL. The recommended edits were made, and the SPIL was approved. He thanked Scott Vittner, Carrie Dudley, and Jennifer Beaulieu for their work on the SPIL. 

SPIL Implementation Planning
Randy Pierce moved onto the next agenda item which was SPIL Implementation Planning. He wanted request of each Committee Chair to review the SPIL with their committees and be prepared at the next Full SILC Meeting to speak to what each committee believes should be their role in those goals. Randy Pierce wanted to support this effort by establishing context and contact from the leaders of the SPIL sections for each goal. He did this by asking who spearheaded each goal. Discussion ensued. Carrie Dudley is the contact person for the employment goal, Deborah Ritcey is the contact person for the independent living goal, Andrew Harmon is the contact for the transportation goal, Ryan Witterschein is the contact person for the housing goal, and Randy Pierce is the contact person for the SILC development goal. 

Isadora Rodriguez-Legendre and Amy Clark noted that they would also be interested on working on the employment goal. Deborah Ritcey noted that Ryan Donnelly would be assisting on the work of the independent living goal. Ryan Witterschein noted that Matthew Greenwood would likely be interested in the work of the employment goal. 

It was noted that the employment goal and the independent living goal doesn’t fall into any of the standing committees, so there would likely need to be Ad Hoc committees. Carrie Dudley asked if members of the public can be involved in an ad hoc committee. Randy Pierce mentioned that they investigated that, and you don’t need to be a member to be on an Ad Hoc committee. Randy Pierce noted that he would be prepared to designate those Ad-Hoc committees at the next Full SILC Meeting following each committee report in which they will hopefully address components of the SPIL they are going to manage. 

Isadora Rodriguez-Legendre mentioned that she would like to have a meeting of the minds who are interested in the employment goal before the Ad Hoc committee is formed.  

Deborah Ritcey mentioned the need to see the approved SPIL. There were questions on the format it should be. It was noted that there should be a Word version and an Excel version of the SPIL tracker. Like what is used for the current SPIL. 

Ryan Witterschein mentioned that part of the housing goal is to reach out to other agencies. He noted how they can recruit members through that outreach effort.  

Randy Pierce mentioned how a lot of the SILC development goal would fall under the Membership Committee. Deborah Ritcey noted that maybe the Executive Committee should be looking at SILC sustainability as well. Randy Pierce mentioned that when he originally wrote the goal, the Executive Committee was involved. 

Randy Pierce asked everyone to look over the SPIL to see what they have an interest in. 

Committee Updates
Membership
Ryan Witterschein reported out for the Membership Committee. He noted that the biggest thing they are looking at is the term tracker. The dates for when the reappointment and appointments were sent to the Governor’s Office was recently added to the tracker.  This will allow us to get a better idea about the timetables of appointment and assist with membership planning. He also noted that Michelle’s and Sarah’s terms end in November. Their reappointment letters were submitted to the Governor’s Office as of September 6th. He hopes that we will hear back from the Governor’s office soon. Discussion occurred on the appointment process and how long it will take to receive an appointment. Ryan Witterschein mentioned that he has someone from the Bureau of Developmental Services who wants to join the council. We have received his resume and application; he just needs to attend a Membership Committee meeting to be vetted. 

Advocacy 
Randy Pierce reported that he is formally announcing that Andrew Harmon has been appointed to Chair the Advocacy Committee. Andrew Harmon agreed to that. Andrew Harmon reported that the next committee meeting is scheduled for next Wednesday. He will work with Jennifer Beaulieu on the agenda for that meeting. He noted that he is trying to get a list together of who is reaching out to what organizations. Randy Pierce mentioned that he needs to send over the excel table which contains data from the outreach calls that were made. Andrew Harmon mentioned that he would like to have a discussion with Ryan Witterschein to see what goals of the SPIL overlap with their two committees. 

Governance
Deborah Ritcey reported out for the Governance Committee. She noted that all the Part B vendors are working on their annual surveys which is a requirement under the SPIL. She expects they will have a presentation at November’s Full SILC meeting from vendors of Part B services. She asked Jennifer Beaulieu to add the presentation to the agenda for the next meeting. 

She noted the Governance Committee expects to continue to improve the survey process and potentially the survey questions. The committee will also continue to revise and update the policies of the council. She asks if anyone had any edits they want to be made to the policies, to let her know. Randy Pierce noted that for appointment of the Executive Committee, the bylaws require they are appointed at the annual meeting. He would like for next year to present a slate of officers for the Executive Committee at the July meeting and  vote on the slate at the September meeting. 

Deborah Ritcey noted that the bylaws require the appointments of the Committee Chairs and members to be done on an annual basis and asked Randy Pierce to appoint the chairs and members of each committee. Randy Pierce first appointed the chairs of each committee. Andrew Harmon was appointed as Chair of the Advocacy Committee, Deborah Ritcey was appointed as Chair of the Governance Committee, and Ryan Witterschein was appointed as Chair of the Membership Committee. He then went on to appoint members to the committees after asking if current members still wanted to participate in their committees and if anyone wanted to join another committee. First, Randy Pierce appointed Erin Hall and Michelle McConaghy to the Governance Committee. Then, Randy Pierce appointed Andrew Harmon, Sarah Sweeny, and Carrie Dudley to the Membership Committee. Lastly, Randy Pierce appointed Andew Harmon, Sarah Sweeney, and Ryan Donnelly to the Advocacy Committee. There were questions on who will fill Erin Hall’s spot on the Governance Committee once she terms off. It was mentioned that Krystal Chase could take her place once she receives her Governor appointment. Randy Pierce mentioned that he knows that Kyrstal Chase and Isadora are interested in joining the Advocacy Committee but will appoint them to the committee after they are appointed by the Governor. There were questions on if members can be appointed during a committee meeting, Deborah Ritcey responded that the appointments need to be done annually. There is an expectation for new members who are Governor appointed after the annual meeting. 

Other 
Randy Pierce asked if anyone had any other business. Andrew Harmon asked how early before the next round of the SPIL should start because we had so little time to prepare, and it felt rushed. He doesn’t know if it needs to be a year or six months in advance. Randy Pierce noted that we already put it on the agenda for these meetings to be looking at it one year in advance and the Executive Committee is also going to have that as an action as well.  Deborah Ritcey noted that ACL has guidelines for completing the SPIL. We could use that as our litmus test of where we are and what needs to be done.  Randy Pierce noted that it the meeting document packet, there is the full meeting schedule included that has a column for what the focus of each meeting will be. He would like to include the dates from the guidelines into the meeting schedule. 

Adjournment 
*First Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey moved to adjourn the meeting. 
Second: 				Second Vice-Chair Ryan Witterschein 

Roll Call:
•	Chair Randy Pierce: In favor
•	First Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey: Aye
•	Second Vice-Chair Ryan Witterschein: Aye
•	Secretary Sarah Sweeney: Aye
•	Immediate Past Chair Carrie Dudley: Aye
•	Member Jennifer Cook: Aye
•	Member Andrew Harmon: Aye
•	Member Ryan Donnelly: Aye
•	Member Michelle McConaghy: Aye
Discussion: 				None
All in Favor: Yes		Abstention: None
Motion Carried.
Meeting adjourned at 1:43pm.

Minutes Recorded by Jennifer Beaulieu