20220728 - Ridgewood Access Committee Meeting Minutes

Ridgewood’s Community ACCESS Committee

Meeting Minutes July 28, 2022

The ZOOM meeting opened at 2:05 p.m.

Present: Ines Bunza, Robin Ritter, Mayor Susan Knudsen, Lisa Gardner, Caroline Meier, Joanne Stolfo, Erica Dunckley

Item 1: Welcome

Ines welcomed everyone to the meeting. Minutes from the June meeting were approved with two alterations to be corrected after the meeting. Motion by Joanne, seconded Caroline, and motion carried.

Deanna needed to leave the meeting early, therefore we adjusted the agenda to begin with:

Item 2: ACCESS Weekend

Deanna: She has some great ideas for games for the seniors. She asked when we would need her info for the flier. As soon as possible. She may add a small lecture in the beginning, such as having a life coach, especially coming out of Covid.

Robin: We will have the fashion show both in-person and online. She has scheduled Marlene Pillow whose concert will be from 10:30-11:00. She is terrific, very ACCESS-friendly and very sensitive to sensory issues. Robin suggested moving up the entertainment portion to 11:15 and the patio party to 1:00, instead of 3:00. Discussion ensued.

It should be OK with the restaurants, picking up a bit earlier. Caroline asked who was speaking before. Susan will do an intro. Annika (new Jim Thebery) could show a video, which she enjoys doing. Susan will reach out to a couple of people to speak as well. Caroline said she would probably have about 20-25 models. She has some MC’s in mind. She let us know at the next meeting. We have the auditorium booked and the courtyard too. Everyone from the fashion show will be able to enjoy the entertainment outside after the show.

Blair probably will not do the soccer game. We haven’t heard from him.

Ines asked if Karen Sheehy had gotten back about Sharing the Arts. Caroline said yes, she is also a part of it. That will be part of the video. Caroline has also reached out to Rachel to do the video of the models.

Joanne will call Ridgewood Water about providing liquid refreshment.

Food: Erica and Lisa will branch out and approach new restaurants as well as the past contributors. The letter from Susan will be forthcoming with Robin’s help.

Lisa reviewed the banks’ contributions. She requested a copy of the balance sheet from Susan. Joanne asked if there was any program for kids that we could do regarding Covid.

Dawn & Danielle will probably want to contribute something. Ines said that they are very up-to-date on Covid. They’ll probably want to have a table. Robin reiterated that the Health Dept. has great outreach. They’ve been going to the outdoor concerts and tabling there. They’re doing a Senior Fair the first week in Nov. 

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Item 3: Employment

Ines and Susan spoke about the bakery. Susan heard back from Sherry with the Rising Above Bakery. Susan had reached out to real estate brokers and developers. Possible to find a space to rent at a lower rate and use the difference as a tax write-off. But they discovered that the space they were looking at had some contamination from a dry cleaning co. She wants to keep the location close to the Ridgewood Commons. She’s waiting to hear back from the brokers. She doesn’t know how easy it’s going to be. Businesses are coming back which may be affecting the availability of space. 

Item 4: New Business

Covid 19. Danielle at the Health Dept. is encouraging people to get tested if you start developing symptoms. If you test at home and have a positive result, report it to them so they can report it to the State. They’re finding that cases are being underreported which can affect aid and vaccine supply to the town. She gave us some quarantine and vaccination guidelines, and some vaccine testing. With monkeypox, contact your healthcare provider if you’ve been exposed. Ines will forward the email she received to our group. We can click onto the link. 

Item 5: Old Business

Ines said that all seemed to be taken care of. Ines thanked the committee for stepping up when she was out.

Robin asked Joanne if she wanted to bring up the marriage bill. Joanne said she will come back to us when she has more information on it. 

Susan said emphatically, “Ines we’re happy to have you back!” Everyone agreed!

Public Comment

Jan Philips

Access Weekend - Jan suggested that for the opening let’s remember to include Paul Aronsohn as Ombudsman. Sorry Caroline is gone. There was a wonderful group at the Arts Foundation to include at ACCESS weekend. She will follow up with Caroline.

Where can the public go to see the minutes from our committee? She only sees the 4/28 minutes twice. SK will look into it because all the minutes were submitted to Dylan. Ines and Robin concurred with this. She will check with Dylan and asked Jan to email her to remind her. Jan said there’s a problem with Susan’s link on the site. You can click on the committee and the minutes but she only sees April for 2022.  Susan went on the site during the meeting to try to see what the problem was. 

Jan asked Susan that when she reports on this committee at the VC meetings, please avoid saying there was little to report. Susan responded by saying that she doesn’t report on public comments at the VC meetings but on the subjects discussed by the committee. Jan then 

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mentioned that on the Village website the ACCESS committee isn’t listed as one where there are any openings. She mentioned Jack Dean, Karen Sheehy and Joanne Van Sant, who have all been appointed, but apparently don’t know whether they’re actually on the committee. 

Ines said that she reaches out to them when she needs their insight and information. Jan said that reaching out is different from being on a committee. Susan suggested Ines email them to confirm that they want to be on the committee. 

The meeting ended at 2:49 p.m.

The next meeting will be on Thursday, August 25th at 2:00 via ZOOM.