Meetings and Minutes

Members Present: Janet Dorsey, Ben Johnson, Jenny McKenzie, Lewis Atkins, David Harris, Susan Prokop, George Hubbs, Celestine Walker, Rob Hazelton, Jeff Pittman, Alan Schlank, Marcia DuBois

Ex-Officio: Jane Ward Solomon, Theresa Preda

Staff: Lisa Grubb

Guests: Sandra Wagener, Eleanor Williams, Marcie Goldstein, Mark Hawkins, Joe Bowman, Fritz Knapp, Phillip Sieck, Mary Margaret Cash, Brenda Harris, Jim Rothrock

Members Absent: David Benjamin, Sheila Cox Combs, Sally Michael, Billy Perkins, Doug Nunnally

Call to Order:
Council Chairperson Janet Dorsey opened the meeting of the Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC) by welcoming everyone and recognizing the Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired (DBVI) Commissioner, Mr. Joe Bowman.

Dorsey reported on the events of the SILC Congress.Representing Virginia this year was herself, Staff Lisa Grubb, and Endependence Center of Northern Virginia (ECNV) [1]

Staff Marcie Goldstein. This year the main focus was funding issues. The Handout - Standards & Indicators was distributed and discussed.[2] Rehabilitative Services Administration (RSA) will be developing standards for SILCs, so the SILCs were proactive in determining what we felt were effective standards for SILCs to operate.Council members were encouraged to review the Standards and Indicators and give feedback to the Bylaws Committee. There will be a regional meeting prior to the NCIL conference to review and discuss the progress of the document. Everyone is invited to attend the NCIL conference, June 9 -12 in Washington D.C.[3] SILC Congress will be in Phoenix again next year. Virginia is proud to be part of Region III's Representation. Staff Lisa Grubb was elected as Alternate Representative for Region III. Additionally, she was elected to serve as the secretary of the SILC Congress and will be assisting with the planning of the 2005 SILC Congress.[4]

Chairperson Dorsey opened the floor for public comment. There being none, the floor was closed for public comment.

Approval of Treasurer's Report:
Treasurer's Report was given by Treasurer Ben Johnson. He reported that we are anticipating a deficit in our administrative budget of approximately $8,500.At present, we have approximately $8,000 that had not been budgeted to date. Approximately $3,000 of that amount will be needed to cover the January 2004 Community Action Specialist (CAS) training. The floor was opened for discussion. Council Member Alan Schlank moved to allocate all remaining monies for the operation of the SILC.Council Member Lewis Atkins moved to second the motion. The floor was opened for discussion.Department of Rehabilitative (DRS) Staff Eleanor Williams shared a more current figure of approximately $1,178 that will be available to carry forward from Part B funding to offset the January CAS training. Additionally, monies may be returning from the Centers for Independent Living (CILs) during the audit process and may be enough to offset the deficit.CAS training was discussed.The SILC's first priority must be its operation. Motion to amend was made by Council Member Susan Prokop, consider revising CIL contracts if the monies discussed above do not offset the deficit for the operation of the SILC in the current fiscal year. Council Member Alan Schlank moved to second the amended motion. There being no further discussion, the motion carried unanimously.

Approval of Minutes:
The Secretary's report was given by Secretary Jenny McKenzie by opening the floor for discussion of the October council minutes. Lewis Atkins requested moving the paragraph following the Nomination Committee report to New Business and correcting the members of the Bylaws Committee.Council Member Lewis Atkins moved to approve the minutes as corrected. George Hubbs moved to second the motion.There being no further discussion, the motion carried unanimously.

CAS Report:
Fritz Knapp, CAS Coordinator reported on the CAS Project.Knapp reviewed the CAS Report that was distributed to council members prior to the meeting.[5]The highlight of this quarter's activity was the recent visit to General Assembly in which about 80% of legislators was visited.This was noted as the best training workshop to date. The floor was opened for questions or comments. The regional trainings are scheduled to start next quarter pending budget allocations.

Committee Reports:
Bylaws Committee - Committee Chair Lewis Atkins gave the Bylaw report. The committee had one conference call during this quarter. More discussion and review is needed before recommendations will be ready to present to the council.The proposed standards and indicators will be instrumental in making necessary recommendations.The suggested changes must be presented to the council 10 days prior to a vote. It is estimated that it will be July before the recommendations are complete.

Housing Committee - Council Member Susan Prokop and Treasurer Ben Johnson gave the Housing report in the absence of Chair Billy Perkins. Prokop had attended the Governor's housing conference in November and completed two housing web cast trainings during this quarter.Handouts were shared with the council.[6]

Transportation Committee - Council Member David Harris gave the Transportation report in the absence of Chair David Benjamin.A conference call was held this quarter to discuss Medicaid transportation, Medicaid billing, and fraud in the Medicaid transportation industry. The discussion has begun to start a Virginia transportation alliance to coordinate these issues with Para transit.Barbara Salisbury was nominated to work with the committee. Funding may be available from Pennsylvania per Jenny Rogers. The PA transportation alliance has $10,000 to assist surrounding areas, however all monies would have to be spent by September 2004. The floor was opened for discussion. George Hubbs moved to accept Pennsylvania's proposal to accept the monies for a transportation alliance.Lewis Atkins moved to second the motion.Discussion continued questioning if PA would be the fiscal agent. We will need to figure out how the money would need to flow. There being no objection, the motion carried unanimously. [7]

501c3 Committee - Committee Chair Jenny McKenzie gave the 501c3 report. A survey was sent out to other SILCs. Response and feedback was not enough to proceed at this time.Committee members will continue to pursue additional results and provide a report at the next meeting. [8]

SPIL Committee - Committee Chair Rob Hazelton gave the State Plan for Independent Living report.The committee continues to work diligently on completing a draft. To date the committee has received input from the Virginia Association of Centers for Independent Living (VACIL). Further updates will continue to be shared as the work advances.[9]

SILC Representative Reports:
Staff Lisa Grubb on behalf of David Benjamin provided a report of the Vocational Rehabilitation Council for the Blind. Council Member Benjamin volunteered to serve on their committee to develop ideas and activities on a mentoring project. Mr. Wells gave an update on mid-level management training.Dr. Ashley reported on the Medicaid Buy-In. Election of Chairperson was hel