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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 10261999 - D1 D.1 THE BOAR OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Date: October 26, 1999 Matter of Record Subject: Public Comment On this date, the Board of Supervisors heard comments from the following speakers: Joanne Best, Independent Living Resource, 3200 Clayton Road, Concord on the proposed site for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Public Authority, and Paul DeMange, Independent Living Resource, Contra Costa County IHSS Task Force, regarding concerns about the County's IHSS program, the IHSS Public Authority and the current collective bargaining process; and Kagey Dorosz, Elder Abuse Prevention, regarding full implementation of the IHSS Public Authority. THIS IS A MATTER FOR RECORD PURPOSES ONLY NO BOARD ACTION WAS TAKEN OCT 2 e Board of Supervisors Meeting 5 z October 26, 1999 Proposed Location for Public Authority 2020 North Broadway, Second door, Suite #??? Walnut Creek, CA Paul DeMange, Program Director, of Independent Living Resource and myself conducted a site assessment of the proposedsite for the IHSS Public Authority and prepared these comments for the board. LEASE ILR has been told that a "short term lease", has been signed, but we have been unable to find anyone at the County who can provide us with the start and end dates of the lease. BUS STOPS One bus stop is located across Ygnacio Valley Road the second bus stop is located on Civic Drive near Ygnacio Valley Road. Both of these bus stops are a considerable distance from the rented space. Separating the Public Authority site from these bus stops are sidewalks with severe grades. PARKING LOT There are 36 parking stalls with one van accessible perking stall. ADA minimum requires one van accessible parking stall and one non van accessible second space for 26 to 50 parking stalls. For the IHSS Public Authority, serving people with disabilities and frail elderly, it would be preferable to exceed these minimum requirements. Travel from the accessible parking space to the front door requires navigating a steep graded driveway, as part of the side walk route. 1 FRONT DOOR The front door is not equipped with automatic door opener. Door width is 36 inches. Opening the front door would be difficult if not impossible for a wheelchair user. The front door has an opening of only 30 inches, limited by a bar, which must be used to open the door from inside the building and protrudes into the entrance access space. The unobstructed entry width must be 32 inches. ELEVATOR The elevator is located at the front of building. The elevator door width measures 37 inches and meets requirements. The inside elevator measurements are 47 inches deep and 72 inches wide. ADA requirements are 54 inches deep and 80 inches wide. The control panel buttons span from 54 to 60 inches from the floor. ADA requirement for the control panel buttons is 35 to 48 inches from the floor. This is a dramatic difference from the required standard. The proposed Public Authority office space is on the second floor. The accessible restrooms are located at rear of building on the first floor. RESTROOMS The restrooms are not within a reasonable distance from the office space. ADA requires that if restrooms are not within reasonable distance there must be a minimum of one (1) unisex restroom per floor. The men's restroom is accessible except for the towel receptacle, which is 57 inches from the floor. ADA requirements state that these receptacles cannot be more than 40 inches from the floor. There are missing tiles on the floor and the general state of the restroom presents safety and sanitation concerns. The women's restroom entry is through an alcove that is not accessible. The alcove is rectangular and measures 43 inches by 97 2 inches. The area is too narrow to both navigate the turn, and open the door. With only 43 inches and the door at an angle from the hallway it makes opening the door from a wheelchair extremely difficult. The towel holder in the women's restroom is at the same height as the men's, 57 inches from floor needs to be only 40 inches from the floor. There is no Braille signage for bathrooms, elevators or front doors. The soft drink machine is located on the first floor and has 3 steps down to its location. There is a ramp leading to the building from the outside to a separate door that cannot be opened from the outside and which could not be located from within the building. It appears that it may be part of another tenant's space. We understand that the Public Authority office will be located on the second floor of this building. We have no knowledge if the space itself is accessible as we did not have access to the offices. The entire building is extremely dirty including the restrooms and corridors. This could cause problems with persons with environmental sensitivities. Has it already been decided that wheelchair users and persons with mobility impairments will NOT be hired to work at the Public Authority, since the location is inaccessible for them? Has it already been decided that members of the Public Authority Council who are wheelchair users or mobility impaired CANNOT come to the office since the location is inaccessible for them? Has it already been decided that consumers who are wheelchair users or mobility impaired are NOT WELCOME to meet with staff of the Public Authority or are NOT WELCOME AT ALL, since the location is inaccessible for them? 3 f r Independent Living FRIECEIVED LR Resource , C" s IM October 22, 1999 C?#�BOARDS aF V11E tSORS rho',TRA COSTA CO. ,. . CQ,N The Honorable Supervisor Jahn Gioia 10037 th St. Room 270 Richmond CA 94805 Fax (510) 374-3429 Supervisor Gioia: We would like to make you aware of urgent and immediate concerns we have regarding the Contra Costa County In Home Supportive Services program, the IHSS Public Authority and the current collective bargaining process. These concerns are prompted by the continuing delay in seating the Consumer Advisory Board, the lack of consumer representation at collective bargaining as indicated by statute and recent negative experiences of the Independent Living Resource In Home Supportive Services Registry in its efforts to recruit providers. The Department of Employment and Human Services Director planned to delay appointment of the IHSS consumer advisory body until after the Public Authority Executive Director was hired. The Board of Supervisors, in July, recognized the urgency of those appointments since collective bargaining with;county representatives and SEIU negotiators had begun in April with only one county appointed consumer in attendance, and directed that the recruitment process begin at once. The application period closed on September 17, 1999. Five weeks later and six months after the start of collective bargaining no apparent action with the collected applications has been taken. One consumer does not constitute an Advisory Beard and the consumers as a class are not part of the decision making processes as intended by the original legislation institutionalizing consumer input as a mechanism for IHSS program enhancement. 3200 Clayton Read - Concord, CA 94519 •Voice/TDD (925) 363-7293 • Fax (925) 363-7296 1545 Webster Street "C" • Fairfield, CA 94533 • Voice/TDD(707)435-8174 • Fax (707) 435-8177 This week a significant number of applicants to the ILR IHSS registry reported to staff during their interviews that: They refuse to do any lifting or transferring of IHSS consumers because if they dropped them they would be sued; they refuse to do any driving for IHSS consumers; they refuse to assist consumers with taking medication; and that they are refusing to provide any of these services because they could be sued and specifically because their union, S'EIU, told them not to provide these services. In Contra Costa County, the IHSS program operates under the independent provider model in which the consumer, as employer, hires and directs workers. Establishment of a Public Authority or an employer of record legally does not change this relationship. We are aware that a tentative wage increase to $7.02/hr has been negotiated on behalf of workers, an effort that we have consistently supported. This is no benefit to a consumer who is forced to enter a skilled nursing facility because they are denied the services they need to live safely and independently at home. For this occur in a purportedly consumer directed program is a stunning injustice. In faimess to SEIU, lana Simon has been open about reporting the status of negotiations and has offered to assist in clearing up any extant misinformation. He has also reported that consumerlworker issues have been deferred in the current tentative agreement while waiting for the appointment of the Consumer Advisory Board. The Public Authority apparently will hire its first executive director without soliciting any input from the body of IHSS consumers as a class. Collective bargaining continues similarly without consumers. Who is this program supposed to serve? We must remember that from the consumer standpoint, the first reason to create an IHSS 2 M Public Authority was to establish, for the first time, the requirement that consumers have a voice in directing a program that is so vital to their safety and continued independence. Several requests to agendize these issues at a Board meeting have not been met. I hope that the Board of Supervisors, in your role as the Public Authority for IHSS, would now consider this matter to be an urgent one. Sincerely, Kagey Dorosz, Executive Director Elder Abuse Prevention CCC IHSS Task Force Co-Chair Paul DeMange,`TLR Program Director The IHSS Registry CCC IHSS Task Force Co-Chair LTC/IPP Service Delivery Design Team, CoChair %i Joanne Best, ILR Executive Director LTC/IPP Scope of Services Design Team, Co-Chair cc: Supervisors, all districts Dana Simon, SEIU 3