STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL
Executive Committee Meeting
April 15, 2026
1:30 PM – 2:30PM
ZOOM
PRESENT: Acting Chair Ryan Witterschein, Second Vice-Chair Deborah Ritcey, Acting Secretary Krystal Chase, DSE Representative Lisa Beck, and SILC Assistant Jennifer Beaulieu. 

Chair Ryan Witterschein called the meeting to order at 1:35pm. 

*Quorum was reached.  

Approval of the Minutes (Meeting) 
*Krystal Chase made a motion to approve the minutes. 
Second:  Deborah Ritcey
Discussion: None
All in Favor: Yes	Abstention: Ryan Witterschein 
Motion Carried.
DSE Update
Lisa Beck reported that she has been working on tools from the ACL website regarding monitoring and gathering information about the new PPR because there is new information that the feds are looking for that wasn’t even required or noted in the contracts. She is going to be looking over the contracts starting in June because even though the contracts don’t end until September of next year, her staff that work on the contracts need to have the information by June so they can do what is needed to get the contracts approved and finalized. She has reached out to Deborah Ritcey to engage in discussions over what the new contracts would look like. She also indicated that she scheduled a meeting with Deborah Ritcey to go over the monitoring requirements for CILs. She mentioned how in working with  technical assistance, she learned that the only entities or people the DSE must monitor are the CILs. She mentioned that there is no measure or rubric for monitoring other Part B vendors. She thinks that other states probably use what they use to monitor the CILs. The monitoring of GSIL will consist of two visits, each with their own forms. One visit will focus on programs, while the other will focus on the financials. She will get those forms out to Deborah Ritcey once she has them completed. 

Lisa Beck mentioned that the other thing that she has been working on is regarding the silver retreat. The silver retreat  is a week-long immersive experience that teaches independent living skills to help older individuals adjust to vision loss. She went to the most recent one in  Portsmouth and had a positive experience. The contract for the silver retreat is expiring, and she is trying to figure out how to use Part B funds to pay for the retreat. She has been working with Future in Sight and others to try to make that happen. She noted that she is not taking funding away from any of the vendors to pay for the retreat.

Deborah Ritcey asked if we would need to go back to edit the PPR with the information that Lisa Beck just mentioned. Lisa Beck noted that she will try to get it into this year’s PPR and future PPRs. It will be in the new contracts. Deborah Ritcey mentioned the only reason she asked is because if it is going to require data from GSIL it’s better to know sooner than later so they can make system updates. Lisa Beck noted that the new information that the feds were requiring is minor and regarding demographic information such as race, ethnicity, and gender. The feds are looking for the “other” category  of disability to be more detailed. There is a large amount of people listed under “other” disability. Deborah Ritcey mentioned that the reason GSIL  uses the “other” category is because they serve people with multiple disabilities. They don’t want to duplicate by listing people with multiple disabilities under multiple categories. 

The other information that the feds are looking for is regarding gender. The problem is that there are only two categories for gender: male or female in the PPR. There is no category for people who don’t identify as female or male. Deborah Ritcey mentioned that her pushback is that who is she to determine who is male or female based off their name. She mentioned how Peter Nye got back to us. He gave a presentation and answered some questions at a Full SILC meeting. Peter Nye gave them the answer to just put the gender as what they think it is. Jennifer Beaulieu will send Lisa Beck the minutes from that meeting. With the race and ethnicity information, there were a lot of people with race unknown. Deborah Ritcey mentioned how that wasn’t really a problem for them. There isn’t a “other” option on the PPR regarding race and ethnicity. Lisa Beck mentioned that she will get the specifics on what information they are looking for and let everyone know.

Deborah Ritcey asked if the contract the DSE has with ACL is five or two years. Discussion ensued. Lisa Beck mentioned that the last contract they entered into was 3 years and now it’s 2 years. The current contract ends in 2027. Deborah Ritcey asked if she is going to put an RFP out for the Part B funds. Lisa Beck mentioned that she doesn’t believe they have to because GSIL is the only CIL in the state. They are only required to contract with the CILs. She believes that they can transfer the funds through CILsource, but she needs to double check. She noted that she has talked to Richard Sala about it, and he believes we can just do a CIL source because GSIL is the only CIL in the state and that’s what the feds require. Deborah Ritcey asked how the other vendors would get the funding. Would they go through an RFP process? Lisa Beck mentioned that she isn’t sure about that and it is going to be a part of her conversation with Deborah Ritcey. Deborah Ritcey mentioned that if the CIL doesn’t have to go through the RFP process, but the other Part B vendors do, she wouldn’t worry about the other Part B vendors being audited. She mentioned how she doesn’t think it is appropriate if GSIL is the only one being audited out of the four vendors funded with Part B funds. Lisa Beck mentioned that she has reports from the other Part B vendors and they have been visited in the past year. The monitoring isn’t at the same level as GSIL because CILs have different requirements. Deborah Ritcey reiterated that she doesn’t care if the reports are different, she thinks that everyone should get some kind of oversight when it comes to federal dollars. Lisa Beck mentioned that is what she has been trying to figure out, what is the oversight for the other vendors because they are not CILs. 

PPR Update
There have been no updates from the feds on 2025’s PPR. 

SPIL Review 
Ryan Witterschein mentioned regarding the SPIL, he created an ad hoc committee to look over the housing objectives. The committee had a couple of meetings and is being led by Andrew Harmon. Ryan Witterschein mentioned that he developed a guide for addressing the housing objectives. He thinks that they are in a pretty good spot in terms of the objectives because before nothing had been done with the housing objectives. Deborah Ritcey asked if the email he sent out earlier regarding amending the SPIL is related to the housing objectives. Ryan Witterschein mentioned that there was a consideration about amending the SPIL, but with the ad hoc we are making some movement,. He noted how they created a directory list and templates members can use to reach out to other individuals or agencies. He mentioned that they are struggling a little bit with something, but he wants to talk about that more offline. 

Discussion ensued on the timeline for the upcoming SPIL. The current SPIL ends in September 2027, while the new SPIL starts in October 2027. Deborah Ritcey mentioned that  in theory based on the policy we approved at the SILC meeting we would start that SIL process late Summer, we would probably talk about it at the Executive Committee and then bring it up at the Full SILC meeting in September. 

Discussion on Exhibiting at SCC Conference
Deborah Ritcey provided some background on the SCC. The SCC is a governor-appointed council that is represented by DHHS, DOE, DOT, GCD, the Endowment, and a bunch of transportation providers. The council focuses on coordinated transportation for elderly individuals and people with disabilities throughout the state. She mentioned that she is an appointed member. 

They have an annual conference that is put on with the NH Transit Authority. It’s June 4th of this year and will be held in Concord at the Grappone Conference Center. Andrew Harmon, who regularly attends the SCC as a member of the public, suggested that the SILC be vendors for the conference. Deborah Ritcey mentioned that she doesn’t have an opinion on this discussion because she doesn’t think we are prepared for it. She noted concerns over whether we have collateral or something to give to people that tells them who we are and what we do. The conference is all about transportation and for people with disabilities and elderly individuals. There is synergy between the SILC and the SCC. There were questions about Andrew Harmon’s motivation behind having the SILC as a vendor for the conference. Deborah Ritcey mentioned that she thinks he wants to use it as an opportunity to get the word out about the NH SILC.  She thinks he wants to use it as an opportunity to get the word out about the NH SILC. 

Ryan Witterschein asked if we should vote on whether we participate as a vendor during today’s meeting. Deborah Ritcey mentioned that she doesn’t know if it would need a vote. She also mentioned that there is also a vendor fee and that Andrew Harmon was looking for that to be waived. Ryan Witterschein mentioned that he thinks he wants to get in touch with Andrew Harmon to get some more information about being a vendor at the conference. Deborah Ritcey mentioned that she thinks as the chair, Ryan Witterschein could make the decision on whether they should be a vendor or not after talking with Andrew Harmon to get more information. Discussion ensued on what collateral the SILC has. Jennifer Beaulieu mentioned that we do have collateral. A long time ago, a former member brought some collateral and donated it to the NH SILC. She mentioned that we have a banner, pamphlets, and magnets. Jennifer Beaulieu will scan the pamphlet and send it out to the EC. Debroah Ritcey mentioned that if Andrew Harmon is going to own this and be there, she would be happy to assist him because she will be at the conference anyways. Ryan Witterschein mentioned that he thinks if they have the gear, someone willing to do it, and the fee waved, it would be a good way to get the word out. 

Discussion on Agenda for Full SILC Meeting on 5/20
Ryan Witterschein noted that Michelle McConaghy was going to present at the last meeting as the educational component, but it slipped his mind. He reached out to her and asked if she wanted to be present at May’s Full SILC meeting but hadn’t got a response back yet. Discussion ensued. BIA-NH has not presented yet and will be a backup educational component for May’s Full SILC meeting in case Michelle Cutting is unable to present at May’s Full SILC meeting.

Jennifer Beaulieu mentioned that we also must present the appreciation award to Matthew Greenwood. Ryan Witterschein asked for that to be added to the agenda for that meeting.  

Adjournment
*Ryan Witterschein motioned for the meeting to adjourn. 
Second: Krystal Chase
Discussion: None		 
All in Favor: Yes	Abstention: None
Motion Carried.
Meeting adjourned at 3:04pm. 

Minutes recorded by Jennifer Beaulieu.