NC Council on Developmental Disabilities
FINAL
Executive Committee Minutes
Date:  September 21, 2020
Time: 10:00 AM – 11:45 AM

Members Present: Allison Dodson, Kerri Eaker, Cheryl Powell, Ryan Rotundo, Nessie Siler, Dan Smith
Members Absent: Myron Gavin
Staff and Council Members Present: David Ingram, Melissa Swartz, JoAnn Toomey, Yadira Vasquez, Talley Wells, Travis Williams, Philip Woodward, Letha Young

I. Call to Order
Kerri Eaker called the meeting to order and thanked everyone for joining the meeting and for their service. She asked the members and staff to share something exciting happening in their lives.

II. Approval of Minutes
The draft minutes for the July 20, 2020 and August 17, 2020 Executive Committee meetings were discussed and considered for approval.

MOTION: Dan Smith made a motion to approve the July 20, 2020 and August 17, 2020 minutes. Ryan Rotundo seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.

III. Executive Director Update
Talley Wells a lot going on but one of the things is that there have been several conversations since the November 2019 meeting on Peer Support and NACDD and Optum. They had chosen NC as a state to pilot this curriculum. There were lots of questions and there weren’t answers at that time. Philip and the committee brought this back and further discussions were held recently with NACDD and Optum with staff. We will have another meeting and then bring it back to Community Living Committee in November.

Two meetings have been held with the Public Policy Ad Hoc Committee to look at our overall strategy and how we prepare for the long session. Georgia, Wisconsin and Texas executive directors were at the first meeting and at the last meeting the directors from Washington State and Maryland attended.

They all have given us a lot to think about but there is a desire to have someone down at the General Assembly and we’re looking to hear from ITACC technical assistance. We also want to look into ways how to include our self-advocates and alumni from our leadership trainings. We are going to meet with North Carolina advocates soon to see how they do things. The members agreed that we do need to have someone down at the legislature.

There is a lot of excitement about our new Registry of Unmet Needs Research Project initiative, but we must be thoughtful because we know how important this project is. Christina Dupuch has done a lot of work already on this before the official start date; gathering data and talking to the department and self-advocates about making sure we understand what is happening. She will hit the ground running in October.

One other area he wanted to report on is his being appointed to the Governor’s Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice. He has been assigned the particular focus of School Justice Partnerships. This involves children that have behaviors that may or may not be related to a disability. That is taking up some of his time, but it is also allowing him to meet with others in the state on this important topic.

IV. Financial Report and Expenses/Match Update
Yadira Vasquez reviewed the financial reports for NCCDD. There is currently $154,710 available now and $237,208 FFY 2022 which begins October 1, 2021. Talley explained that all Councils recently received one-time funding again from Puerto Rico which increased our current available funds to $154,710. We actually have $184,710 because that includes the $30,000 that is not yet spent but was previously approved for the Public Policy in-house initiative.

Talley said that members should also be thinking of on-line trainings because of the unspent funding that was available for travel to conferences. Kerri thanked Yadira for keeping them on track and being good stewards of NCCDD funding.

V. FY 21 Spending Discussion
Talley Wells reviewed a draft spreadsheet he had sent to the members. There have already been a lot of discussions on this with Kerri and staff. We would like to have a person for Public Policy, preferably someone with a disability – either a part-time or full-time and they would be going down to the General Assembly building relationships and finding out the information. It also would be good to hire a mentor for this position who is familiar with the procedures of the General Assembly and who already has connections. We are ready to seek formal approval on this soon.

He’s very interested in podcasts and knows there will be additional costs for this.

Peer support is another idea that we are continuing to have conversations on with NACDD and Optum as discussed previously. There is significant potential for this.

NCEN is planning to come back in January for training and infrastructure discussions and further funding.

We talked to a national expert and discussed partnering with a school district to pilot a planning grant with the Financial Asset Development Committee.

A huge success in the past was our Medical Health Home initiative. We may look into funding a similar initiative.

There is some interest in continuing our ABLE training. Medicaid Transformation is only now coming back after the initiative ended.

More discussion occurred about other ways to help self-advocates know how to use technology.

We are in the last year of our Five-Year Plan and we still need to reach out more to our Latinx communities and we should think about putting money towards that.

Kerri asked the members if they had any comments on these ideas. Talley said that he would like to seek Executive Committee approval for the Public Policy position and the mentor within the next month. An additional $25,000 is needed for approval to hire a part-time person and mentor – in addition to the $30,000 already approved. The only way for this to work right now is through the state’s Temporary Solutions rather than hiring a full-time permanent position.

MOTION: Ryan Rotundo made a motion to approve an additional $25,000 for a part-time, temporary Public Policy position and mentor position. Nessie Siler seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
Kerri asked everyone to review the list and type out your ideas or suggestions and send it back to Letha so the information would be available for the October EC meeting.

VI. Council Meeting/Member Survey Review
The members reviewed the draft November Council Meeting Agenda. Kerri asked why Deb Goda was not on the agenda since she had previously asked for that opportunity. David Ingram said that Deb was in court all that week and offered Kenneth Bausell to give that update to the members.

Kerri asked that we send a survey to members about how they are participating in the Council meetings and if there is anything they need from us - technology wise or learning how to use technology.

Talley suggested we do the awards presentations later Wednesday evening and have everyone dress up if they can while they are home to make the occasion more special.

Kerri and Ryan brought up a member’s comment about the schedule of Committee meetings during the Council and the time spent on updates that were previously given to the full Council, rather than new business. It was suggested to have the updates be printed or sent electronically.

VII. Conference Funding Requests
The members discussed the request from Appalachian State University for the 2020-2021 Hub for Autism & Neurodiversity (HANd) Educational Series being held September 1, 2020 – April 30, 2021 on-line in Boone, NC. The request is for up to $687.50 to assist with the speaker’s materials fee.

MOTION: Allison Dodson made a motion to approve the request from Appalachian State University for the 2020-2021 Hub for Autism & Neurodiversity (HANd) Educational Series being held September 1, 2020 – April 30, 2021 on-line in Boone, NC in an amount up to $687.50. Ryan Rotundo seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.

The members next reviewed the request from the North Carolina Down Syndrome Alliance for their 2020 Conference being held virtually on November 21, 2020. The request is for up to $3,000 for speaker fees for four nationally recognized presenters.

MOTION: Dan Smith made a motion to approve the request from the North Carolina Down Syndrome Alliance for their 2020 Conference being held virtually on November 21, 2020 in an amount up to $3,000. Nessie Siler seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.

The members discussed the impact of COVID-19 on the Conference Fund and other in-house initiatives of the Council.

VIII. Ad Hoc Committees/Updates
David reminded the members that staff are going to have an additional conversation with Karen Feasel on the Five-Year Plan updates. Two self-advocate listening sessions are being held tomorrow. The Awards Ad Hoc Committee Update was given previously.

IX. Personal Services Contract Review/Approval
None at this time.

X. Other
Talley brought up the Wrights Law training coming up that is $90 for registration that he highly recommends.

Kerri brought up the Transition conference that is coming soon that has had a lot of interest.

Ryan brought to the member’s attention the recent NACDD statement that came out about the passing of Justice Ginsberg. The members agreed that NCCDD should put out a statement around her work with people with I/DD.

XI. Adjourn
MOTION: Ryan Rotundo made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Nessie Siler seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.