Attendance:  Carolyn Newcombe; Chair, Jennifer Carroll, Vice Chair; Larry Carlson, Mary Eberle, Chad Sinanian, Cathy Adamczyk.

Excused Absence:  Steven Barnwell.

Absent: Joyce Baker, Armand Legault, Patricia Vidal.

Staff: Ed Preneta

Ms. Newcombe called the meeting to order at 11:07 a.m.                                                      

Approval of Minutes

Ms. Newcombe asked members to review and approve the minutes from the January 19, 2006 committee meeting. Ms. Adamczyk moved to approve the minutes of January 19, 2006.  Ms. Carroll seconded. The motion was passed unanimously.

State Plan

UCONN Center for Survey Research and Analysis (CSRA) proposal.

Ms. Adamczyk will serve as the Council's liaison to CSRA with regard to the selection of stakeholders.  CSRA will be asked to hold stakeholder focus group meetings on UCONN branch campuses in Groton, Hartford, Stamford and Waterbury.

Public Forums

The Council will participate with the Office of Protection and Advocacy (P&A) and the University Center for Excellence (UCE) in public forums across the state to be held during the first 3 weeks of April.  The UCE will be sponsoring a gathering in Cromwell on April 5th.  P&A is expected to announce by mid February the time, date and place of all other forums .  Council members will be asked to volunteer to attend at least one Forum.  The role of Council members will be to just listen.  Questions may be asked of the public as appropriate.

Interview of Neighbors and Policymakers

There was consensus to forgo interviewing neighbors since responses from neighbors would likely be subjective and biased.

Interviews of the following policymakers will be scheduled:

Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security

Department of Transportation

Department of Labor

Department of Higher Education

Department of Environmental Protection

Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services

Department of Mental Retardation

University of Connecticut Health Center

Secretary of State

Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities

Committee and Council members will be asked to each choose one policymaker to interview over a 20 minute period of time either in person or over the phone.  Interviews are to be completed by the end of February.  The Council Office will notify policymakers in advance to expect being contacted for an interview.  Standard interview questions are below but Committee and Council members will be encouraged to ask specific questions about specific issues and programs as they see fit.

1.     What is the responsibility of your agency for Connecticut's residents with disabilities?

2.     What programmatic, budget or other barriers is your agency experiencing that prohibit Connecticut's residents with disabilities from participating in initiatives associated with your agency?

3.     What opportunities are there within your agency for Connecticut’s residents with disabilities to help improve your agency’s ability to enable Connecticut’s residents with disabilities to participate in initiatives associated with your agency?

4.     What initiatives do you currently have underway or planned that will allow your agency to enable Connecticut’s residents with disabilities to participate in initiatives associated with your agency?

Survey

E-mail will be used to write a survey to be distributed to citizens with disabilities and their families, including distribution on the Council's web site.

Next Meeting

Thursday, March 2, 2006 at the Office of Protection and Advocacy, Hartford.

Ms. Adamczyk moved that the Committee meeting adjourn.  Mr. Sinanian seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ed Preneta