20210121 - Ridgewood Access Committee Meeting Minutes
Ridgewood's Community ACCESS Committee
Meeting Minutes January 21, 2021
The Zoom meeting opened at 7:35.
Present: Ines Bunza, Robin Ritter, Mayor Susan Knudsen, Erica Dunckley, Deanna Schlabik, Lisa Gardner, Joanne Stolfo, Jesse Schwartzmann
Item: Welcome
Ines welcomed everyone to the meeting. Minutes from the November meeting were approved. Motion by Robin, second by Lisa and motion carried.
Covid 19 and our special community: Ines had read an article that Ridgewood is distributing vaccines for villagers. Susan said that Ridgewood will be doing closed clinics. A dedicated email address has been created. When someone sends an email, they will get a bounce-back response with directions. It will be on a first-come, first-served basis. There will be an appointment queue. Ines will make sure the ACCESS community is aware of this.
2: Housing
Susan recently had a tour of the new special needs housing space on the 2nd floor of the former Sealfon's building (new name to be established). The common area and 8 of the 16 units have been framed out. She described it as beautiful, spacious and very well thought-out. They will replace the skylight with a new one, retaining the wonderful light up there. It's shaped like a dome. They are also enlarging the windows, raising the floor and fireproofing.
Applications should go out at the end of Feb. or early March. The renovation should be completed by late spring/summer. The monies have been requested to be released from the COAH fund. United Way's website needs to be updated.
Art Therapy from a woman in Glen Rock, now in Ridgewood.
Robin knows a very talented retired teacher from the Fleischman School, Ms. Marcia Matthews. Dancing - In the past Joanne had asked Luciano and they had expressed interest. Susan said she would send their phone numbers to Deanna.
Pickleball
Deanna mentioned that Christina Jones had stopped by. She has 2 sons with special needs. Tai Chi - Ines said this might be easier than yoga in getting up off the floor.
Hikes in local parks
Joanne suggested activities the children don't do in school.
Adult Weekend - Senior Workshop
Emergency Preparedness Day: Deanna will ask Jeremy Kleiniman to put together suggestions about the topic.
We discussed County Cards and how they were introduced in the past. The cards are like a driver's license. It identifies the carrier as a special needs person. The card has their picture and an assigned number, so if an officer calls and this individual is having an issue the officer will know all about him(her) and can better handle the situation. The card introduces our first responders to our people. It is issued by the Sheriff's dept. Deanna will find out about updating the cards. She will coordinate with Learning Services at the schools, as well as with the Seniors.
5. New Business
Susan described the recent occurrence of an 18 year old woman with special needs who left her house. Susan was able to disseminate the information about her and made sure all the officers knew who she was and to be sensitive to her. She was overwhelmed in a good way with all the attention. Susan suggested having our own in-house database. Perhaps the officers could meet with the special needs people.
Also, post-Covid, the officers could come down to the mixers so they can all socialize.
Again, post-Covid, Deanna suggested having the job fair that we had discussed in 2018.
Dates for ACCESS Weekend: October 8, 9 and 10.
The next meeting will be March 18 at 7:30 via Zoom.
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