STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL
Executive Committee Meeting
October 15, 2025
1:30 PM – 2:30PM
ZOOM
PRESENT: First Vice-Chair Ryan Witterscheinn, Second Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey, Secretary Sarah Sweeney, SILC Assistant Jennifer Beaulieu, Richard Sala, and Amy Clark

First Vice-Chair Ryan Witterschein called the meeting to order at 1:31pm. Chair Randy Pierce was unable to attend the meeting. 

*Quorum was reached.  

Approval of the Minutes (EC 8/20/25 Meeting) 
*Secretary Sarah Sweeney made a motion to pass the minutes. 
Second: First Vice-Chair Ryan Witterschein 	
Discussion: None		 
All in Favor: Yes	Abstention: Second Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey (Due to not being at the meeting that the minutes were from)
Motion Carried.
Status Update on GSIL’s Subcontract out to Other Part B Vendors
Deborah Ritcey reported that it has been completed. The MOUs (Memorandum of Understanding) and invoices have all been completed. Future in Sight has already been paid. She expects Northeast Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, Inc. and the Brain Injury of NH to get paid on their next check run which will be on October 24th. 

Status Update on DSE/Governor Appointment Submission
Ryan Witterschein asked if Richard Sala or Jennifer Beaulieu had any updates on the appointment submission of the DSE Representative. Jennifer Beaulieu noted there have been no updates. Richard Sala noted that he has not submitted his name for the SILC because after he made the decision to be the DSE Representative, he was nominated to be the next Deputy Commissioner of Education. He noted that the change is not official, and it still needs to be voted on by the Executive Council. He will go back to the drawing board to figure out who would be a good pick for the DSE Representative, but he’s going to be quick about it. He and Amy Clark will still attend meetings, at least for the foreseeable future. He doesn’t see a quick turnover happening in VR, so it’ll be under his charge for some time. They will come back to the SILC with a name and chances are, he’ll send Randy Pierce and Deborah Ritcey an email before the next Full SILC meeting. 

Sarah Sweeney Proposal for Membership Cap
Ryan Witterschein moved on to talk about Sarah Sweeney’s proposal for a membership cap. He asked if everybody had a chance to review Sarah Sweeney’s proposal. Deborah Ritcey mentioned that the proposal would need to go through the Governance Committee before it goes before the Full SILC. The Governance Committee will review the changes and vote on it at the November 5th Governance Committee meeting. If the vote is successful, they would issue it to the Full SILC for their approval around two weeks before November’s Full SILC meeting. There may not be enough time for it to be ready for the next Full SILC meeting. Deborah Ritcey mentioned always making sure to reference laws or regulations if there is a law or regulation regarding the matter. This gives us something to fall back on.

Discussion on Change of Calendar for NH SILC to Reflect Federal Fiscal Year
Discussion ensued on this agenda item. There were questions about what this agenda item meant. Is it an operational issue or something else? Jennifer Beaulieu mentioned that the calendars have already been updated, and that Randy Pierce just wanted to let people know about the change. The calendar listing of Full SILC meetings and committee meetings was changed to reflect the federal fiscal which is October 1st to September 30th. This will match up with what is in our bylaws and with federal reporting. 

Discussion on Agenda for Full SILC Meeting on 11/19
Education/Presentation Idea
Ryan Witterschein asked if anyone had any ideas for presentations. He asked if anybody had spoken to anyone. Sarah Sweeney mentioned her discussions with Erica Marden from 211. Discussion ensued. Deborah Ritcey noted her concerns with having someone from 211 or Servicelink present at a Full SILC meeting without reviewing what they plan to present. GSIL receives a lot of inquiries from people who were referred to by 211 or Servicelink, but their inquiry has nothing to do with what GSIL does. Ryan Witterschein mentioned that we can either ask her to send a PowerPoint ahead of time before she presents or we could go with a different presenter all together. Sarah Sweeney mentioned that she can talk to her again, but she thinks at this point, she just wanted us to be aware that she was there as support. 

Deborah Ritcey noted how with going through the MOU process with the other vendors, she learned a lot about the other vendors. She thought before that she knew all about them, but she didn’t. She mentioned how the Part B vendors should be the first people to present. Members should know what the vendors use the Part B dollars for. 

Jennifer Beaulieu mentioned that Randy Pierce already had an idea for a presentation which would be the TEAP (Telecommunications Equipment Assistance Program). The presenter would be someone from Future in Sight because Future in Sight holds the contract to oversee the program. Amy Clark mentioned that she thinks there’s probably things about all our programs that we don’t know about and there would be a lot of value in having presentations from the vendors. Other presentation ideas were discussed such as NH VR, DRC, BAAF, and BDS. 

Jennifer Beaulieu asked if there was a list of these organizations that people would like to have present. Deborah Ritcey noted that they could certainly start the list. They just discussed a few ideas for presentations. 

PPR Reminder/Discussion
Ryan Witterschein moved on to the PPR reminder discussion. He noted how Deborah Ritcey briefly brought up the PPR earlier and asked if she had any further discussion on the matter. Deborah Ritcey mentioned that GSIL has its own PPR that is separate from the ILS (Independent Living Services) PPR. Their PPR is generally due by December 31st or December 30th. She mentioned how that is the federal reporting for the four federal grants that GSIL receives. This year, they only have to submit one PPR for all the grants they receive. Previously, they had to submit a PPR for each grant they receive. She thinks the ILS PPR is due by January 31st. The ILS PPR contains information from the Part B vendors, the NH SILC, and the DSE. Discussion ensued when the Part B vendors should send over their data for the ILS PPR. Amy Clark mentioned that she is going to bring it up at the next Full SILC meeting. Discussion ensued on how gender is limited to male or female in the PPR and how there hasn’t been much effort to fix that limitation. This resulted in the DSE and/or Part B vendors to assign a female or male gender to people who identify as neither. Amy Clark noted that she will be sending out an email to the Part B vendors by the end of October. She noted that it would be good if we aimed for a hard deadline of December 31st to receive the Part B vendor data. Deborah Ritcey mentioned the idea of sending out an email to her, Michelle McConaghy, Krystal Chase, and Randy Pierce  to tell them to expect an email in the future about the PPR submission so it will be on their radar. 

Presentation of Part B Survey Results
There were questions about the timelines of the Part B surveys. Deborah Ritcey mentioned that the executive summaries should be sent out to VR by November 1st. The executive summaries will be presented at November’s Full SILC meeting. Discussion ensued. Deborah Ritcey will send a reminder email to all the Part B vendors, letting them know that their executive summaries need to be sent to Amy Clark by November 1st. 

SPIL Alert
Ryan Witterschein noted that the last time he checked, they were good on the SPIL objectives. 

Vote on Edited Policies and Procedures
This item was tabled. 

Other Business
Ryan Witterschein asked if there was any other business. Deborah Ritcey had a question about the Part B audits by the DSE.  She noted how GSIL’s audit was done in September and wanted to know if there was any feedback or recommendations from that audit. She also mentioned how she feels very strongly that every Part B vendor should be audited, not just GSIL because they are a CIL. Discussion ensued. Amy Clark noted she has talked with Richard Sala on this matter, and he is thinking about how to approach it. Richard Sala mentioned that it’s not low on his priority list but it’s not at the top of the queue right now. There are a few things that need to be sorted out before they tackle that. He doesn’t disagree that it should be just the CIL that gets audited, but they must think about implementation. He also mentioned that we have to also think about potential pushbacks because the authorities are clear with the CIL but not the other Part V vendors. He needs to look into the authorities on that. Deborah Ritcey asked if they are putting together recommendations or fundings from GSIL’s audit. Amy Clark noted that she needs to set up a time to discuss it with Richard Sala and then they will get back in touch with her. She will get in touch within 30 to 45 days. Deborah Ritcey stressed making sure the audits are not just a process of checking a box. Feedback should be provided after the audit. 

Jennifer Beaulieu asked for an updated calendar invite from Deborah Ritcey for the Governance Committee. Deborah Ritcey noted that it’s in her calendar so she will send that out to her. 

Amy Clark and Jennifer Beaulieu will work on creating a meeting invitation for the Full SILC meetings. 

Adjournment
*First Vice-Chair Ryan Witterschein motioned to adjourn the meeting. 
Second: Second Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey
Discussion: None				 
All in Favor: Yes	Abstention: None
Motion Carried.
Meeting adjourned at 2:16pm. 

Minutes recorded by Jennifer Beaulieu.