ALPENA REGIONAL INTERAGENCY CONSUMER COMMITTEE (RICC)
MINUTES FOR MEETING HELD October 28, 2009
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Julie Hasse; Margie Hale-Manley; John Donajkowski; Christine DesOrmeau; Maureen Sweet; Deb Hemgesberg ; Tom Bunea; Dan MacDonald; Donna Morgan; Ed LaFramboise
GUESTS: Terry Riopelle; Carla Krueger
MEMBERS ABSENT:
LouAnn Warren; Cheryl Lang; Bill Ocholik;
Lorell Whitscell; Ed Sanderson; Peggy Yachasz; Roy Beauchamp; Crystal London; Jodie Johnson; Mark
Pollard;
NOTE TAKER:
Maureen Sweet
The meeting was held in Room 102 at the CMH Office.
The meeting was called to order @ 2:10 pm by RICC Chairperson Christine DesOrmeau
Minutes from the September 2009 meeting were reviewed and accepted as written.
Deb reported that Christine, John, Floyd and Dan went with her to Grayling on October 22
to attend the Partnership for Freedom meeting. The goal of Partnership for Freedom is for its local leaders to educate the
public /community at large about people with disabilities making use of self determination to take control of their lives
and let it be known that people with disabilities are capable of doing things for themselves and making their own decisions.
At the meeting they learned that when a local leader gives a presentation or
provides information regarding the Partnership for Freedom Program or the self determination process, the leader can receive
a $50.00 fee, providing that the paperwork is completed and submitted. The Alpena RICC has some local leaders who are interested in doing presentations in
the community. It was suggested that we hold some practice sessions to give them
an opportunity to practice their presentations beforehand. Christine volunteered
to do a practice presentation at our next RICC meeting.
TELECONFERENCE UPDATES:
Julie gave a report on the October Public Policy teleconference. She reported that restraint and seclusion of students in public schools are currently not illegal actions.
This committee is working to get legislation passed to prevent this from
happening in our schools.
She also reported that information will be forthcoming for RICC’s that would like to
receive training on how to go about trying to get dental, hearing and vision benefits restored for consumers.
Margie reported on the October 22nd RICC teleconference that she participated
in. There was discussion on the status of the state budget. They also talked about the upcoming training on how to learn about letter writing and other skills that
would assist with advocating to get dental and vision and hearing benefits restored which is scheduled to be held in Gaylord
on November 19th.
The final teleconference update was regarding transportation.
Maureen reported that there is sensitivity training available for public transit drivers. Charlene Lizotte from Genesee County runs a business that offers sensitivity training sessions to public transit drivers
to help them better relate to and communicate with riders who have disabilities. This
may be something that we may want to look into doing for our local TBT drivers.
The next agenda item was the Call Booklets. Margie
updated us on the progress of the update and suggested that we get printing prices on a couple of different formats to see
which one would work best for us. It was agreed that we would go ahead with this
suggestion.
The new RICC brochures are done. Margie brought
one for us to see. They will be available in her office whenever they are
needed.
Planning for the Accessibility Awards luncheon was next on the agenda. The decision was made to hold the catered luncheon at the ESD and to wait until after the holidays. We decided to have the luncheon @12PM on January 27th as part of
our monthly meeting. Ed Sanderson
will introduce Ed LaFramboise who will give a brief presentation on how the businesses were selected for the awards followed
by the awards ceremony and lunch. We will hold our monthly meeting after the
luncheon ends. A letter of invitation will be sent to the 6 businesses being
honored that day.
An announcement was made about tomorrow’s workshop on “The Role of the Fiscal
Intermediary” to be given by Stuart Wilson. It will be held here at CMH
from 1 to 4 pm.
Notice was given (per an e-mail form Terry Hunt of the DD Council) that when using RICC funds
for conference attendance, prior approval from the DD Council must be obtained. This
is to improve accountability and promote more efficient use of RICC funds.
Christine thanked everyone who ran for office at last month’s meeting.
A brief discussion took place regarding our monthly meetings for the next couple of months. It was decided that we will not meet in November and December due to the holidays. Our next meeting will be held @ 12:00pm on January 27th @ the ESD for the
Accessibility Awards Luncheon.
The meeting adjourned @ 3:20pm.
