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 >> Hi, good afternoon, everyone, welcome to the City Committee on People with Disabilities

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 meeting.

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 It is Thursday, November 19th, and we will call this meeting to order 301.

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 My name is Val Vera, the chair of the City Committee on People with Disabilities.

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 Thank you all for being here.

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 Do we have any public comments or -- >> There are no public comments on the form

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 and we have also not received any phone calls.

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 >> Okay.

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 Great.

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 Thank you.

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 Then we'll move forward with item A, CPD 20-025, consider the approval of the meeting minutes

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 of September 17th, 2020.

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 I will ask someone to take a moment to approve those.

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 >> I'll move.

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 >> Job seconds.

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 So the minutes are approved.

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 Thank you.

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 We will go to item B.

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 Oh, go ahead, I'm sorry.

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 >> Ryan, your microphone is up.

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 That's the equivalent of the mute button.

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 >> That should be better.

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 We'll actually need to do an individual voice vote, if that's all right, so that each member's

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 vote can be counted for the minute recorded.

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 >> Okay.

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 >> So we need everyone's vocal approval.

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 >> Vocal or just a hand raise would be fine.

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 And so you can -- if you want to just call them out by name and then they can respond

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 either with a hand raise or vocally, that would be great.

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 >> Okay, Rex, Joe, Sonya, Val, and Sally.

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 Okay.

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 Am I missing anyone?

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 No.

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 Okay.

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 So now the minutes are approved.

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 Thank you.

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 Thank you, Ryan.

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 We'll go to item B, CPD-20-024, receive a report, hold a discussion regarding the library

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 virtual programming services.

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 >> Good afternoon, committee members.

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 I'm Jennifer Becker.

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 I'm the director of libraries here with the Denton Public Library, and I'm going to share

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 my screen.

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 There we go.

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 So we wanted to share some of the programming ideas that we have had to switch to thanks

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 to COVID-19 and see if there was any feedback we could get on how we could make sure that

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 all of our programs are inclusive and available to all of our citizens.

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 So we used to do programs in person, but because of COVID-19, we have switched to a virtual

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 format, and we are offering three types of programs.

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 The first one is video shorts that you can find on social media.

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 We have Facebook and Twitter, and those are about two to 10-minute short recordings, and

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 they tend to be focused on children, so we have story times, craft activities, those kinds

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 of things.

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 We also have some book talks where we talk about recommended things that people can check

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 out or new materials coming out.

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 We also have on-demand video tutorials and activities that can be found on the library's

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 website, so these are recorded videos.

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 They're often a slideshow or screen capture with voiceover.

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 One thing we have started doing is making sure that we do have the transcripts below,

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 so if anybody is unable to hear any of the text as it's being read or talked about, then

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 that's an option on there.

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 So we've started adding those, but those are just on-demand recordings.

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 And then we've also started doing live programs with Zoom.

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 That's the technology we're currently using for our live programming.

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 This image on the right is an example of one of those live programs.

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 It's an interactive activity where somebody's sharing information or there's discussion,

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 and there's back and forth between participants and the presenter.

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 And then another service that we've also switched to virtual is our book-a-librarian service,

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 which we've always offered, but it's traditionally been done in person for anybody who needs

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 one-on-one assistance.

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 We have a variety of topics that we can help with, usually involving technology or accessing

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 some of the library's resources online.

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 Of course, we aren't able to do that in person, but we still want to make sure that we can

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 provide that service, so we've switched to doing that via Zoom or over the phone at this

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 time.

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 One of the challenges with that is it's usually the technology that's causing issues that

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 people need assistance with, and if you have technology frustrations or issues with technology,

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 Zoom is sometimes more frustrating on top of that.

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 So we do also offer it via phone, so we can try to get at least people comfortable with

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 doing certain things on Zoom, and then we can transition to Zoom where we can share

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 screens.

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 So that's kind of what we have switched to.

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 And some of the things we're trying to look at and make sure that we can catch early on

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 as we are switching to this virtual platform are accessibility considerations, are there

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 alternative programming formats or technologies we should be considering, and then also we

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 wanted to hear from the committee if you all had any suggestions for specific program topics.

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 We are always looking for input from community members for any of our programs.

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 Back when we were doing in-person ones, we'd look for that, and then now that we're doing

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 virtual, we'd love to hear any input on that also.

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 So I'm going to stop the share.

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 So I'd love to hear any input or suggestions that you have regarding how we can make sure

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 that our virtual programming is still easily accessible and available and serves the whole

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 community.

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 Go ahead, Sonia.

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 Hi.

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 I'm so excited to hear more about all these programs and, you know, seeing how other people

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 are adapting their usual in-person activities into virtual settings, so thank you for that.

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 One thing that I did notice in your social media videos is that you don't have any captioning

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 on your social media videos, and so that would be really important, and I know different

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 programs, even PowerPoint now has captioning capabilities, and it's pretty accurate, and

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 so does Zoom.

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 So those are just a couple of things that I noticed just right off the bat.

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 Great.

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 I would add to that, maybe it's more of a question, but I'm assuming there's like a

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 reasonable accommodation statement for people who need a reasonable accommodation, need

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 to call in or a week or so, whatever the timeline is before.

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 So what type of allowances are available for someone who says maybe they need a sign language

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 interpreter as opposed to the captioning?

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 We do have that as part of our program policy, and we just ask that somebody calls in.

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 I want to say it's 48 hours, but I'll be honest, it's been a couple of months since I've looked

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 at the time of the policy, so I can follow up with that exact policy and have that sent

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 out to the committee for y'all to take a look at that.

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 But that is part of our program policy, yes, that anybody can call ahead with any reasonable

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 accommodation, and we will do our best to make sure that we are able to do that.

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 And I think another one, and it's something I was going to start today and I forgot, it's

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 a basic one.

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 It's called audio description.

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 So when with Zoom or any kind of FaceTime for those who are blind or low vision is that

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 the speaker describes who they are on the screen or what they would see.

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 Okay.

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 So for me it would be, you know, I'm a light brown male with four beard glasses and a black

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 hat on.

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 Okay.

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 So it's more of a habit thing than...

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 That is very helpful.

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 But it also makes it more inclusive.

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 So if we were doing story times, let's say the recorded story times, and I know that

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 we are showing those picture books when they're only so big on that tiny screen anyway, would

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 it be something that would be helpful that as the librarian is reading the story then

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 is also would give the description of what's in the storybook also, the images.

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 Yes, most definitely.

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 Okay.

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 Tamara, you had a question?

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 Okay, I'm sorry, I thought it was your hand.

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 Any other questions or comments at all?

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 Rex?

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 Rex?

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 Yeah, we can't hear you, Rex.

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 We're unable to hear you.

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 Perhaps your microphone is turned off.

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 You can't hear me?

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 There it goes.

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 You're good now.

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 All right.

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 I'm sorry.

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 My apologies.

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 I'm an amateur radio operator and I work with some of the astronauts on the International

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 Space Station.

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 We all are amateur radio operators and they have worked with various schools and libraries

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 around the country and where they have talked with people from outer space and actually

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 sent video down and this might be a learning tool for people who are shut in.

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 You could live stream that from the library.

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 I can help you get in touch with NASA.

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 One of the astronauts that went up is the latest astronauts that went up as a fellow

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 naval officer.

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 I'm a retired naval officer, one of the other ones.

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 He is from, I think it's just east of Denton here and I'm sure he and his family would

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 be thrilled to be able to have him talk to Denton County here and share his experiences

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 with young people especially those who have aspirations of advanced learning and science.

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 I love that idea and we will be contacting you.

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 I think that would be very popular.

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 I know in maybe in the past in-person activities especially with our youth population you may

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 have provided the materials to do the activities.

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 Is that still available as a grab and go option for families to collect materials?

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 Yes.

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 That is something we are starting.

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 We are actually prepping right now.

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 We normally do a three program season.

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 We are prepping right now for a December/January winter season and we are prepping a few programs

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 with those craft pickups.

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 We have one going on right now for teens.

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 November is National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo.

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 Teens can come to North Branch and through the curbside pickup or right now it is still

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 open today and tomorrow to pick up a NaNoWriMo kit which is a to-go pack with some writing

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 prompts and I think there are some snacks in there and that kind of thing but for the

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 crafts and we are looking for that for all ages also.

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 You will see that in the winter and then the spring season which temporarily will be February

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 through April.

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 We are also expanding it into there.

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 Thank you.

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 Any other questions or comments?

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 Well thank you so much.

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 We really appreciate your assistance and we look forward to making some of these improvements

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 and following up about the astronaut program.

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 Thank you.

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 We will go on to the next item which is CVD 20.026, Receiving Report Holy Discussion gives

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 staff direction on the City of Benton's Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives as a mouthful.

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 It is a mouthful.

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 Hello committee members.

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 My name is John Nelson.

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 I am the new Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer here at the City and it is my privilege

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 to be here with you all today.

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 I would like to take just a few minutes to highlight for the committee some of our recent

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 diversity and inclusion efforts and talk about our program and goals for the future.

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 Let me see if I can get my presentation pulled up here quick and share that with you all.

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 Okay, come on, apologies, we will get there.

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 All right, can you all see that?

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 Yeah.

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 Perfect.

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 Okay, so first I would like to share some of what we have been working on for the past

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 couple of months.

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 First up, with regard to training and resources, HR conducts training courses on the topics

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 of harassment prevention, discrimination, diversity several times a year.

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 These are open to all employees, supervisors and managers.

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 Disability is specifically discussed as one of the protected classes in these trainings

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 and we do go into detail on the ADA as well as the Amendments Act of 2008.

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 These topics are also part of our new employee orientation course that every new hire is

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 required to go through when they're first onboarded with the City.

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 We plan on continuing these trainings as well as hosting an annual legal update for our

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 supervisors and managers to continue to reinforce this important information.

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 In addition to training, we've also recognized the need to provide more diversity and inclusion

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 tools and resources to our employees.

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 We've created a resource page for our employees that we update weekly that now contains hundreds

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 of hours worth of content and we're working to expand this page with additional content

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 on each of the protected classes.

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 Next up, starting the conversation, you know, issues can't be addressed until people are

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 made aware of them and people won't be made aware of issues until we talk about them openly

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 and honestly.

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 So over the past few months, we've been working to try to help people start to have these

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 conversations about diversity issues and inclusionary efforts.

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 This has included a few different things, production of PSA videos from the City and

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 from the Police Department, both affirming our commitment to serving our diverse community

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 and listening to their needs.

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 We created a web series for employees that we called Unfiltered, you know, because one

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 of the most impactful and transformative ways we can develop is to learn about our own blind

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 spots and this important series tries to help expose our blind spots and help employees

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 see life through a different set of filters than their own.

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 You know, a common response people have is to disbelieve somebody's experience because,

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 you know, it hasn't happened to me, so I don't really think that exists.

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 So by hearing individual experiences from people that they know that they work with,

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 employees hopefully will gain greater appreciation and acceptance of different perspectives,

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 different experiences, will be more empathetic and understanding, and will be able to work

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 together for greater access and inclusion.

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 Then lastly is our employee panel conversations, which feature small groups of employees discussing

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 personal experiences and insights into diversity topics and situations.

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 We record these conversations, we post them on that resource page that I mentioned.

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 And then finally, to put more focus and resources on this important cause, my position was changed

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 last month to Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, and I am incredibly humbled by this

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 opportunity that I'm really looking forward to working with our employees, working with

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 city leadership, and working with the community to do some good.

241
00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:58,200
 And one of the first things that we've done is to draft our diversity, inclusion and equity

242
00:19:58,200 --> 00:19:59,800
 statement.

243
00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:04,760
 In this statement, we identify three core values in our initiative, and these values

244
00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:10,780
 are humanity, accountability, and willingness.

245
00:20:10,780 --> 00:20:15,040
 In the statement, we define what each of these values means to us, and we provide statements

246
00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:20,080
 about what we affirm, what we expect, and what we want.

247
00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:24,200
 It's our hope, and this is still just a draft, but it's our hope and our intent that this

248
00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:29,160
 statement will serve as the foundation to our future efforts and be used as a guide

249
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:34,680
 to help us make decisions and create more safe, accessible, and an inclusive environment

250
00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:36,900
 for everyone.

251
00:20:36,900 --> 00:20:44,680
 So speaking of the future, our goals going forward, they're broken down into a few general

252
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:46,320
 focus areas.

253
00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:48,000
 First up, education.

254
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:52,600
 And we recognize that so much gets derailed by misinformation and misunderstanding, and

255
00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:57,520
 we want to increase communication, increase training, increase resources for all of our

256
00:20:57,520 --> 00:21:02,640
 employees, the different departments, and our HR staff as well, make sure they're properly

257
00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:03,640
 trained.

258
00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:05,000
 Engagement.

259
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:09,280
 We want to hear what people have to say and where we need to focus our efforts.

260
00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:11,920
 We'll be involving more people in the conversation.

261
00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:17,040
 We'll be conducting surveys, hosting meetings, creating opportunities for people to participate

262
00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:19,360
 in this important work.

263
00:21:19,360 --> 00:21:24,160
 Recruitment. Obviously, this has a huge impact on the diversity of our workforce, and we

264
00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:29,360
 want to enhance our recruiting efforts to develop a diverse talent pipeline.

265
00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:34,720
 We'll be working closely with our talent acquisition team and our hiring managers to make sure

266
00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:41,400
 that there are equitable opportunities for jobs, for mentorship, and career planning.

267
00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:42,680
 The city as a workplace.

268
00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:47,560
 We want to better track our diversity numbers, begin to establish consistent diversity metrics

269
00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:49,160
 and reporting.

270
00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:54,640
 We hope to examine policies, practices, a look at pay and positions to ensure that not

271
00:21:54,640 --> 00:22:00,280
 only do we have a diverse workforce, but an equitable organization as well.

272
00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:01,400
 And of course, community.

273
00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:04,020
 We want to listen to those that we serve.

274
00:22:04,020 --> 00:22:09,280
 We hope to partner with departments and community groups as we start this journey to create

275
00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:13,920
 a safe and inclusive environment for all.

276
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:19,480
 So just in closing, this for me is about the humanity that we all share, you know, there's

277
00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:26,520
 so much that people bring with them from the outside that's outside of the job descriptions,

278
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,480
 the minimum qualifications.

279
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:33,160
 I believe I really do believe everyone that comes to work for the city has something good

280
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:34,160
 to bring to the table.

281
00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:40,100
 And our purpose, our objective is to create a workplace where every single person knows

282
00:22:40,100 --> 00:22:43,600
 that they're unique and individual contributions.

283
00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:47,700
 They're welcomed and they're encouraged, you know, that's what we're working towards.

284
00:22:47,700 --> 00:22:50,520
 And I am super excited to be part of this journey.

285
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:56,140
 So thank you for allowing me to take a moment of your time to profile these these initial

286
00:22:56,140 --> 00:22:57,740
 first steps that we're taking.

287
00:22:57,740 --> 00:23:02,520
 And I'm happy to answer any questions or take any feedback that you might have.

288
00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:14,600
 Quick question, I know you mentioned the ADA amendments, are there any plans to do any

289
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:21,920
 type of more cultural competence trainings or discussions when it comes to disability?

290
00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:35,280
 So be more terminology, language, history, disability culture, that's not, that's not,

291
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:41,560
 it's more of a soft skill versus, you know, technical ADA training.

292
00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:42,560
 Right.

293
00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:48,200
 Yeah, there's the legal requirements, but then there's a day to day interactions for

294
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:49,200
 sure.

295
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:50,200
 Correct.

296
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:54,000
 And that's something that we're definitely focusing on in the building of that resource

297
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,960
 page is what are the terms?

298
00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:58,720
 What are the definitions?

299
00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:00,240
 How do you take action?

300
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:03,680
 How do you have conversations?

301
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:08,160
 So that is definitely something that we're interested in building up as we go forward

302
00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:15,160
 for sure.

303
00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:20,920
 Sonya?

304
00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:23,760
 Hi, excited about this.

305
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:30,120
 This is awesome to see the city taking these steps for diversity, inclusion and social

306
00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:32,000
 equity.

307
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:36,920
 One thing as you were talking about kind of next steps, some things that came to mind

308
00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:44,160
 were just what what is the current culture around diversity, inclusion and social equity

309
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:47,800
 within the city and how that's being measured and how you're going to know when you've made

310
00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:55,120
 any progress or any change.

311
00:24:55,120 --> 00:25:01,320
 She's taking notes here.

312
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:06,680
 And that's, I mean, we are maybe a month into this, and so that's definitely all on the

313
00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:07,680
 table.

314
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:10,760
 And so I appreciate the feedback.

315
00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:15,560
 As I mentioned, we we want to send out an organizational survey and kind of get a base

316
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,600
 level read on the organization.

317
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:23,360
 And once we have that information, we'll be able to better answer that question for you.

318
00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:24,360
 Yeah.

319
00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:25,360
 We have that.

320
00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:26,360
 Yeah.

321
00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:27,360
 Yeah.

322
00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:32,800
 Because as I was thinking about like the videos that you were talking about, I think, you

323
00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:34,400
 know, that's a great starting point.

324
00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:36,080
 But then, you know, what do you do with that?

325
00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:38,560
 After you watch the video, are you all having conversations?

326
00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,920
 Are they guided?

327
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:44,980
 Do people feel comfortable sharing their stories?

328
00:25:44,980 --> 00:25:48,520
 Because if the culture isn't there where they feel comfortable, then it's going to hard.

329
00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:53,280
 It's going to be hard to get volunteers and to share their experiences.

330
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:57,400
 And so there's a definitely a lot that can go into it.

331
00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:02,480
 And I'm sure you have lots of next steps and things that you're working towards.

332
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:05,600
 But those are some of the things that I was that came to mind.

333
00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:11,080
 And then I was out as I was reviewing the statement, the statement is is really long.

334
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:19,240
 Honestly, I mean, it's hard to sum up everything that you want to do until one pager for sure.

335
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:24,940
 But if is this something that do you all have a committee that's working on this that's

336
00:26:24,940 --> 00:26:34,260
 representative of all the diversity and inclusion in in the city of Denton at all levels, right?

337
00:26:34,260 --> 00:26:42,060
 So not just race and ethnicity, but definitely taking into account abilities, taking into

338
00:26:42,060 --> 00:26:49,040
 account religion and sexual identity and gender identity and all of those things.

339
00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:55,760
 And so that's something that as I was reading the statement, it's it's good, it encompasses

340
00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:56,760
 everything.

341
00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:01,120
 But there are definitely some certain populations that I think need to be identified.

342
00:27:01,120 --> 00:27:06,560
 And to really say this is where we really want to go and what we recognize as important

343
00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:08,860
 for for the city of Denton.

344
00:27:08,860 --> 00:27:11,240
 I appreciate that.

345
00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:16,400
 And yes, I was just talking with the HR director this past week about the creation of a diversity

346
00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:17,400
 committee.

347
00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:33,800
 That is definitely one of the first things on our list.

348
00:27:33,800 --> 00:28:02,960
 We haven't got to that point yet, honestly, we're working with employees and getting the

349
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:09,600
 employee committee together, but we have not gotten to that community committee yet.

350
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:16,720
 You can always reach out to me, I'm happy to take ideas and give feedback for sure.

351
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:17,720
 Great.

352
00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:25,080
 Any other last questions or comments?

353
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:34,360
 Thank you, sir.

354
00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:41,640
 We're going to skip to letter E, CPD 20 028, receiver report, hold a discussion and give

355
00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:49,800
 staff direction regarding the implementation of the our way crossing at the downtown intersections

356
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:56,840
 of Oak and Elm, Oak and Locust, Hickory and Elm and Hickory and Locust.

357
00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:58,760
 Good afternoon.

358
00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:01,640
 Thank you, Chairman and the members of the committee.

359
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:05,480
 Brian Young, city traffic engineer here to talk to you today about the all way crossing.

360
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:09,720
 We've taken we've modified the term a little bit based on your recommendation.

361
00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:15,040
 So we're let me pull up my presentation.

362
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:20,120
 All right, can you see the presentation?

363
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:21,120
 Yes.

364
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:22,120
 Okay.

365
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:29,280
 So just a little bit of history in September of this year, the city council approved based

366
00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:33,800
 in no small part on this group's recommendation, the continuance of the all way crossing around

367
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:34,800
 the square.

368
00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:41,240
 If you remember, the all way crossing is a dedicated pedestrian interval where no vehicles

369
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:42,240
 are moving.

370
00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:44,280
 It's only pedestrian traffic.

371
00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:48,760
 So it is push button activated.

372
00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:54,800
 But you get right now I think you're getting about 26 seconds to cross with no vehicles

373
00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:56,320
 allowed to move at all.

374
00:29:56,320 --> 00:30:01,600
 So the approval that the city council is moving forward with and the concept that they wanted

375
00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:08,440
 to move forward with is not only the continuance of that pedestrian only interval, but the addition

376
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:13,520
 of the diagonal crossing so that you can go from corner to corner diagonally in addition

377
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:18,360
 to the traditional crossing one street and then crossing the other to get to that far

378
00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:19,360
 corner.

379
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:26,600
 So we are currently in the process of putting together a design package and hiring a design

380
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:28,100
 engineering firm.

381
00:30:28,100 --> 00:30:30,960
 But we do have some questions and I thought it would be appropriate to come to this group

382
00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:31,960
 first.

383
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:36,280
 I want to look I want to show you a few slides.

384
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:42,000
 And then let's show the corners, because we have some challenges that when it comes to

385
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:47,480
 those downtown, those four signals, those four corners, those intersections, because

386
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:53,040
 a lot of landscaping and a lot of the physical improvements have been made that we're going

387
00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:57,320
 to either have to work around or remove or replace or relocate something.

388
00:30:57,320 --> 00:31:00,160
 So I'm just going to walk around the square.

389
00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:04,600
 This is this is Hickory at Locust.

390
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:10,520
 So on your left is looking north and on your right is looking south.

391
00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:17,300
 And you'll notice adjacent to the courthouse where my cursor is moving, pretty easy corner.

392
00:31:17,300 --> 00:31:21,600
 But if you look across, we've got the signal hardware, we've got landscaping.

393
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:26,920
 So our goal is to try and find a way to get a crosswalk diagonally from this from the

394
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:30,520
 northeast corner to the southwest corner and from the northwest corner to the southeast

395
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:36,840
 corner in addition to the four crossing pathways that we currently have.

396
00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:40,480
 And so if you look on the on the right hand side of your screen, we're looking to the

397
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:46,640
 south at that same intersection, similar obstacles in the way we got a lot of landscaping, we've

398
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:51,000
 got some of the signal hardware, not necessarily the signal hardware is not necessarily easiest

399
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:52,000
 thing to move.

400
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:57,000
 If you look at the size of some of those poles, they've got a close to a four foot foundation

401
00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:00,080
 and real estate is very tight.

402
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:03,640
 And so it's hard to find a new place to put a hole that big.

403
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:07,760
 So we're going to try and find a way to work around what we've got landscaping is a little

404
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,120
 bit more forgiving.

405
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:14,400
 But we'll talk about some as we get through these photos, we'll talk about some some ramping

406
00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:15,400
 options.

407
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:23,000
 And that's really what I want to do today is get your feedback on how best to move forward

408
00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:30,260
 with a design that will serve the community most effectively.

409
00:32:30,260 --> 00:32:39,400
 So moving on to Oak at Locusts, again, looking on the left hand side of your screen, you're

410
00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:45,800
 looking north, both of those corners are they have in some at some level some obstruction.

411
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:51,060
 So again, we're going to have to plan our way around and determine the appropriate ramping

412
00:32:51,060 --> 00:32:52,440
 configuration.

413
00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:59,080
 And again, if you look on the right hand side of your screen around the square, fairly flat

414
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:04,320
 and seemingly easy accessible, but you get you get across the street and then we start

415
00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:08,120
 with the landscaping and the pavers and and some of the signal hardware.

416
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:13,720
 And I'm just going to go quickly around the this is Oak at Elm, again, a lot of landscaping,

417
00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:17,120
 the signal hardware seems to be a little further back in these locations.

418
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:21,580
 And then on the right hand side of your screen again, around the courthouse, not necessarily

419
00:33:21,580 --> 00:33:22,580
 a problem.

420
00:33:22,580 --> 00:33:27,880
 But if you look across the street, we've got these same issues, hickory down very similar.

421
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:34,120
 So moving into crossing types, and I'm going to start on the right hand side of your screen

422
00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:41,240
 because this is something that we have we've been moving away from, but it's still an acceptable

423
00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:42,240
 option.

424
00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:51,480
 In fact, I just attended a an all day ADA webinar with a group called Accessology.

425
00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:55,840
 And this is some of these are from their presentation.

426
00:33:55,840 --> 00:34:01,740
 Sometimes we just have to we have to use a solution that fits the problem.

427
00:34:01,740 --> 00:34:09,080
 And so that blended transition, where we have basically laid down the entire corner, preserves

428
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:15,640
 our normal crossing locations, but also allows us and not necessarily in this slide.

429
00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:21,160
 But if you can imagine a diagonal crossing marked as well, we still we don't have any

430
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:26,400
 barriers there, so we'll still have to put our detectable surface and we can do that

431
00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:31,720
 in three discrete locations instead of the what's shown here is basically the entire

432
00:34:31,720 --> 00:34:33,520
 wrapping the entire corner.

433
00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:38,400
 So that's one option is to lay down the entire corner and just put our detectable surfaces

434
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:40,600
 where we need them.

435
00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:47,000
 The other option is just basically if you look at this middle, you continue the sidewalk

436
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:51,640
 around the around the radius of the back of curb.

437
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:58,360
 So you've got this five, four, five foot sidewalk, and then you just ramp down at that 45 degree

438
00:34:58,360 --> 00:34:59,360
 point.

439
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:03,920
 So right there in the middle of the curve, you're going to have this the ramp flats,

440
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:11,600
 the landing area with the detectable surface, and then crossing diagonally across the intersection.

441
00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:15,080
 And I just wanted to show you that on the left hand side of the screen, this is currently

442
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:18,200
 what we have the column perpendicular, we call them directional.

443
00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:26,560
 But we have two, you know, very distinct crossings on our and I when we go back, you can see

444
00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:36,620
 that here, we've got a crossing on on oak, and then we've got a crossing on hickory down.

445
00:35:36,620 --> 00:35:45,040
 So again, we would just create this pathway around the landscaping, we might have to all

446
00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:49,040
 alter it a little bit, but we could put up that what we call the parallel configuration

447
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:56,820
 in here, or we can ramp this down all the way, or we can significantly alter the intersection

448
00:35:56,820 --> 00:36:02,120
 and try and put a directional ramp, which is very much like what these are, right through

449
00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:07,120
 the middle, that might have to require some signal location, relocation, etc.

450
00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:10,720
 So we have two options.

451
00:36:10,720 --> 00:36:16,560
 Moving forward, we have we have three physical options, we can do a directional ramp that

452
00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:22,880
 that parallel or we just lay down the sidewalk, or we can do that the the blended transition.

453
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:31,240
 But staff believes that we should select a single crossing type and have a consistent

454
00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:33,720
 treatment at all four intersections.

455
00:36:33,720 --> 00:36:39,240
 So you've got 16 corners that need to really, they need to function the same.

456
00:36:39,240 --> 00:36:45,000
 This is creates quite a very much a system, these four intersections, and I don't want

457
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:51,160
 to throw a blended transition on one corner, and a directional or a parallel ramp on the

458
00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:58,560
 opposite corner, or even at at different intersections, we believe we should pick one and move forward.

459
00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:06,680
 However, we can allow the design consultant to tailor the crossing location to each, at

460
00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:12,060
 least to each intersection specifically, so that crossing type may be different at Elm

461
00:37:12,060 --> 00:37:19,400
 and Locust than it is at, excuse me, Hickory and Locust, than it is at Oak and Locust.

462
00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:23,080
 But it'll be the same for that for each intersection.

463
00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:28,120
 So the intersection will be uniform, but the system may not.

464
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:32,860
 So there's two ways we're recommending option one, I think we just need to do to weigh the

465
00:37:32,860 --> 00:37:42,600
 pros and cons, look at the how best to implement on each of these corners, pick one style,

466
00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:43,760
 and then move forward.

467
00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:49,400
 So with that, I'm going to look, I'm going to go back to this slide, just to refresh

468
00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:50,400
 your memory.

469
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:55,640
 Again, this blended transition where we would have, and they're showing detectable surface

470
00:37:55,640 --> 00:38:02,400
 for the entire arc, and we would probably maintain just three different pad pads, and

471
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:09,120
 then crossing the markings in the street to align with each of those three pads, or we

472
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:14,120
 simply wrap the corner with a five, four or five foot sidewalk.

473
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:20,840
 We have our landing area and detectable surface with the, and again, if you'll look at these,

474
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:24,400
 we'll have the landscaping behind that sidewalk area.

475
00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:28,600
 So you'll have a ramp here, you got a ramp here and a ramp here.

476
00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:34,000
 And basically, this, what is currently pavers will become a sidewalk area.

477
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:41,640
 So that's one option, or we can consist, be consistent with the way we've got it started

478
00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:42,640
 out there.

479
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:49,200
 Again, the directional ramps, and then we just take all of the landscaping out.

480
00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:52,840
 Very much if you look at the, on the right hand side of your screen, we're up against

481
00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:58,600
 the courthouse, we would just simply put another directional ramp in addition to the two that

482
00:38:58,600 --> 00:38:59,720
 are there.

483
00:38:59,720 --> 00:39:05,920
 So with that, any other questions?

484
00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:27,960
 - I don't like the parallel one, the parallel one.

485
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:35,480
 - You don't like, he doesn't like the parallel one?

486
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:44,320
 - Because if, if he's not paying attention to where he's going and you have a sidewalk

487
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:50,080
 and a landing ramp and he's not paying attention, he could hit the ramp and tip over.

488
00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:54,520
 - Okay, good feedback.

489
00:39:54,520 --> 00:40:01,240
 - I like the idea of flattening out that whole area.

490
00:40:01,240 --> 00:40:04,360
 - He likes the idea of flattening out the whole area.

491
00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:05,360
 - Okay.

492
00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:26,240
 Any other questions or feedback before we move on to next steps and then I'll stop sharing

493
00:40:26,240 --> 00:40:31,120
 and we can have a more discussion or, or we can, we can have that discussion now.

494
00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:38,040
 - My experience with the blended ramps is that they're too difficult for blind people

495
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:42,560
 to line up with.

496
00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:59,320
 No, I'm not, I'm not a fan of the blended ramps.

497
00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:07,400
 - Any other comments?

498
00:41:07,400 --> 00:41:13,480
 We'll have a chance to discuss this more and, and formalize some kind of a recommendation

499
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:14,480
 from the committee.

500
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:15,480
 Let me go ahead.

501
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:16,480
 This is my last slide.

502
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:19,080
 I'll just give you a little quick update on next steps.

503
00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:23,840
 We're going to finalize a design contract, hopefully by the end of January, and it really

504
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:28,800
 depends on what that design fee comes back, whether or not we need to go to city council

505
00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:34,880
 for approval if we do add a month and then working through design.

506
00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:39,080
 Hopefully by the end of April, if we have to go to council for the contract that pushes

507
00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:46,000
 to May and then bid to work construction and we're hoping to get this constructed and again,

508
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:52,600
 a lot of it depends on the type of ramp we, we select and how much of the, the landscaping

509
00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:57,900
 or the signal hardware we have to relocate, but September, October of 2021.

510
00:41:57,900 --> 00:42:14,360
 So with that, I will stop sharing and we can have a little bit more discussion.

511
00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:28,720
 I don't mind there being a ramp right in the middle.

512
00:42:28,720 --> 00:42:47,240
 That'll be easier than the sidewalks because if you put the sidewalks in, someone might

513
00:42:47,240 --> 00:42:51,880
 tip over.

514
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:57,720
 So let me ask a question and this is just basically just come to mind.

515
00:42:57,720 --> 00:43:04,640
 If I'm looking down the road for potential hurdles, if we, if we select a design that

516
00:43:04,640 --> 00:43:15,200
 will require the removal of most or all of the landscaping and that becomes untenable

517
00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:19,880
 because all the corners would look like the corners adjacent to the, to the courthouse.

518
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:26,840
 And so I know that a lot of the downtown businesses want it to look pretty for this group.

519
00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:30,160
 How critical are the diagonal crossings?

520
00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:49,960
 No, because you're watching, you can work, you don't have to go in an angle.

521
00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:54,240
 You don't have, if you're walking already, you don't have to walk in an angle.

522
00:43:54,240 --> 00:44:04,000
 I don't really understand the point of doing diagonal crosswalks.

523
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:07,520
 I don't really understand the point of doing diagonal crosswalks.

524
00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:14,240
 It, well, from a, from a signal operation, it allows us to cut back a little bit on the

525
00:44:14,240 --> 00:44:18,900
 time of the pedestrian interval, because if you want to cross right now, we're trying

526
00:44:18,900 --> 00:44:23,280
 to give you enough time to cross two streets.

527
00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:28,560
 So if we can cut that a little bit, then we can, one of our, one of our fears, one of

528
00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:37,560
 our concerns that we, that we work to prevent or to not cause is driver road rage when they're,

529
00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:39,440
 they're sitting there waiting.

530
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:45,300
 And so if we can, if we can provide enough time by shortening the pathway that you can,

531
00:44:45,300 --> 00:44:49,680
 you can cross, get to the far corner where you want to go and we give you enough time

532
00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:54,760
 to do that and in doing so we actually get to give some time back to the vehicular traffic

533
00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:58,560
 and the cyclists, then that's a win-win.

534
00:44:58,560 --> 00:45:01,500
 And that's, that was a thinking behind the diagonals.

535
00:45:01,500 --> 00:45:02,600
 It's just kind of a scramble.

536
00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:06,360
 You can go whichever corner, whichever direction you want.

537
00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:07,360
 It's working now.

538
00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:08,360
 You're correct.

539
00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:13,920
 You're, you know what, we've got enough time now to cross safely one and possibly two legs

540
00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:20,160
 of the intersection and we're not getting a whole lot of pushback from any group.

541
00:45:20,160 --> 00:45:26,920
 So, but city council wanted us to investigate the opportunity to install the diagonal crossings

542
00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:31,400
 and it, for a lot of people, it seems like a natural, yes, I want to cross from here

543
00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:34,500
 to there.

544
00:45:34,500 --> 00:45:39,400
 You could, you could actually cross from, I mean, once you're in the street with the

545
00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:42,200
 pedestrian interval, you can go anywhere you want to.

546
00:45:42,200 --> 00:45:48,540
 So we're just trying to make it safe and accessible for that diagonal crossing and that's kind

547
00:45:48,540 --> 00:45:52,140
 of why I wanted to know how important that is to this group.

548
00:45:52,140 --> 00:45:53,420
 It's a time saver.

549
00:45:53,420 --> 00:45:55,460
 It's a convenience factor.

550
00:45:55,460 --> 00:46:02,760
 But if, if we have to gut those corners in order to put those diagonal pathways in and

551
00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:05,400
 people say, well, they're not really that important.

552
00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:07,840
 We'd rather have the landscaping.

553
00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:12,600
 That's the question I'm asking is, is if, if it comes to it, how important are they

554
00:46:12,600 --> 00:46:15,280
 and what are we willing to give up?

555
00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:39,980
 He likes the landscaping better because it makes Denton look better and it makes the

556
00:46:39,980 --> 00:46:46,040
 square look better and he doesn't have a problem crossing anywhere on the square.

557
00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:49,460
 I think one of the, I'm sorry, Rex, let me say this real quick.

558
00:46:49,460 --> 00:46:56,540
 I think one of the challenges with this with disabilities is you have two different inclusion

559
00:46:56,540 --> 00:46:57,540
 needs.

560
00:46:57,540 --> 00:47:03,260
 You have those of us who are, have mobility disabilities, wheelchairs, walkers, but then

561
00:47:03,260 --> 00:47:07,400
 we also have those with blindness or no vision.

562
00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:11,920
 So for me, the blended round corner, perfect.

563
00:47:11,920 --> 00:47:12,920
 That's a wheelchair user.

564
00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:19,420
 You have more space, you have more area to cross for someone who's blind or no vision

565
00:47:19,420 --> 00:47:26,640
 using a cane or a dog, you need that, that walkway, that narrow to guide you.

566
00:47:26,640 --> 00:47:33,700
 So having that wide open corner, it's going to be hard to navigate, you know, a straight

567
00:47:33,700 --> 00:47:35,740
 line, even diagonal.

568
00:47:35,740 --> 00:47:42,400
 I'm curious to hear from Sally, you know, if you can describe that more, have you seen

569
00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:44,540
 those that actually work?

570
00:47:44,540 --> 00:47:45,540
 Yeah.

571
00:47:45,540 --> 00:47:53,120
 When I worked for the rehab center for the blind in Austin, they put in the blended corners

572
00:47:53,120 --> 00:47:59,360
 and they had to put back in so blind people could, they had to tear them out and put it

573
00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:06,000
 back in like you're talking about, so blind people can light it up with their canes because

574
00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:14,960
 it was just way too difficult for blind people to use blended corners to cross.

575
00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:21,000
 And I hear what you're saying about being a wheelchair user, it makes more sense.

576
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:25,600
 Rick, you have your hand up.

577
00:48:25,600 --> 00:48:32,920
 Yes, I've been down there on the weekends, you know, when there's been a lot of activity

578
00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:42,360
 and it's very crowded with pedestrians and the ability to diagonally cross has been,

579
00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:49,040
 it has been a godsend if they could get that because in a wheelchair and trying to cross

580
00:48:49,040 --> 00:48:58,120
 has been, well you can't get across sometimes and there are, if you've been down there when

581
00:48:58,120 --> 00:49:03,680
 there's been events going on down at the square or there's been an arts festival or there's

582
00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:11,240
 some other activity and there's more activities all the time going on down at our square.

583
00:49:11,240 --> 00:49:22,320
 So I think that if we can come up with a suitable way of addressing a diagonal cross for all

584
00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:28,920
 parties concerned, it would really benefit the pedestrian traffic and the vehicular traffic

585
00:49:28,920 --> 00:49:29,920
 down there.

586
00:49:29,920 --> 00:49:39,000
 So I think we should look for a solution to the issue, you know, to make it acceptable

587
00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:46,000
 and suitable for blind and wheelchair bound and walker, you know, people use walkers and

588
00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:53,200
 canes because it is getting, it seems like every time I go down there for an event, it's

589
00:49:53,200 --> 00:49:57,400
 more crowded than the last time.

590
00:49:57,400 --> 00:49:59,400
 Okay.

591
00:49:59,400 --> 00:50:13,280
 I think my personal feeling, I don't think the square is that big of a metropolitan area

592
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:19,640
 where this is so needed, especially if you have to compromise landscaping, if we have

593
00:50:19,640 --> 00:50:26,400
 to choose between excluding a certain part of the disability community.

594
00:50:26,400 --> 00:50:33,080
 It just seems like whichever direction, if it stays with the diagonal and you have to

595
00:50:33,080 --> 00:50:40,240
 pick one of those designs, it's going to be difficult for a certain group in our community.

596
00:50:40,240 --> 00:50:47,200
 So I don't know, to me, I don't even know if it's worth the resources at the time, what

597
00:50:47,200 --> 00:50:48,200
 have you.

598
00:50:48,200 --> 00:50:55,840
 And I don't know if that area, the square, is that, other than San Diego where they have

599
00:50:55,840 --> 00:51:01,040
 the diagonal crossing, it's a huge metropolitan area, it's spread out, I mean, there's tons

600
00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:07,640
 of people every day, so I see the need for an area like that, I don't know if the square,

601
00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:17,120
 you know, is demanding of that, of all that design change, and then we're alienating either

602
00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:23,520
 the safety and comfort of wheelchair users or those that are blind or vision impaired.

603
00:51:23,520 --> 00:51:28,160
 That's kind of my thought, but...

604
00:51:28,160 --> 00:51:40,280
 I mean, I need to go out there a lot, and even before COVID, there was a lot of people

605
00:51:40,280 --> 00:51:49,120
 out there, and I never had a problem crossing.

606
00:51:49,120 --> 00:51:51,920
 Even before COVID, he's never had a problem crossing.

607
00:51:51,920 --> 00:51:52,920
 Okay.

608
00:51:52,920 --> 00:52:02,720
 So the challenge we're having is making the diagonal crossings accessible for all the

609
00:52:02,720 --> 00:52:03,720
 different groups.

610
00:52:03,720 --> 00:52:05,280
 That's the challenge.

611
00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:11,800
 It's legal to do it right now, even without a ramp in place or markings in place.

612
00:52:11,800 --> 00:52:12,800
 We've encouraged it.

613
00:52:12,800 --> 00:52:18,040
 I mean, we've provided this discrete interval in the signal cycle where only pedestrians

614
00:52:18,040 --> 00:52:25,440
 are moving, and if you're in a wheelchair, it's totally legal for you to take the ramp

615
00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:31,220
 off of the side and then cut diagonally across into another ramp, even though it's not directly

616
00:52:31,220 --> 00:52:32,840
 on the corner.

617
00:52:32,840 --> 00:52:37,400
 You can still, that's legal, and we are providing enough time to do that currently.

618
00:52:37,400 --> 00:52:41,860
 So really, the question is, is it really, really critical?

619
00:52:41,860 --> 00:52:47,440
 We would love to, but how critical is it for that diagonal crossing to have an accessible

620
00:52:47,440 --> 00:52:50,120
 approach?

621
00:52:50,120 --> 00:52:54,360
 Because if I don't want to compromise from one, you know, provide it for one group and

622
00:52:54,360 --> 00:52:58,000
 compromise for another group, we really, like you said, we really need to have a solution

623
00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:00,320
 that works for all groups, all users.

624
00:53:00,320 --> 00:53:06,760
 It's just, and the only one that I can think of that I've seen that does that is that third

625
00:53:06,760 --> 00:53:08,300
 ramp in the middle of the corner.

626
00:53:08,300 --> 00:53:10,840
 So we've got the two ramps, one on each side.

627
00:53:10,840 --> 00:53:17,060
 We just do that exact same thing in the middle, and so that's kind of what, that's how I was

628
00:53:17,060 --> 00:53:23,320
 leaning and I'm not trying to put words in anybody's mouth, but my idea was that that's

629
00:53:23,320 --> 00:53:32,040
 probably what we would select, and then we let our design firm tell us what the impact

630
00:53:32,040 --> 00:53:36,480
 of that design is going to be, how much is it going to cost, and then we let the city

631
00:53:36,480 --> 00:53:40,040
 council decide, is it worth the dollars to construct?

632
00:53:40,040 --> 00:53:45,880
 I think we need to go through the exercise of determining what the impact, both for the

633
00:53:45,880 --> 00:53:49,520
 visual and physical impact on the corner, we're going to have to remove all the landscaping,

634
00:53:49,520 --> 00:53:53,400
 we're going to have to move sigma poles, and then the fiscal impact, how much is all that

635
00:53:53,400 --> 00:53:59,200
 going to cost, and weigh that against what benefits we get, because like I say, right

636
00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:06,440
 now, it's legal to cross diagonally, there's nothing that says you can't.

637
00:54:06,440 --> 00:54:20,360
 I would again just echo, I think for this committee, I guess we would have to focus

638
00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:27,520
 more on what's the most accessible and inclusive for everyone in the disability community,

639
00:54:27,520 --> 00:54:33,200
 so it sounds like the third option, without us having to think about what it costs, what

640
00:54:33,200 --> 00:54:40,440
 it compromises, what it takes away, we have to look at what is inclusive to the disability

641
00:54:40,440 --> 00:54:45,720
 community as a whole, so it sounds like that, to me, it sounds like that third option that

642
00:54:45,720 --> 00:54:50,960
 you're speaking about, probably the one that fits that criteria.

643
00:54:50,960 --> 00:54:55,440
 For clarification, what we're talking about is the third directional ramp in the middle

644
00:54:55,440 --> 00:55:03,000
 of the arc of the corner, so that we have three discrete crossings with landings, detectable

645
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:10,240
 surface and markings across, okay, so is that the, I guess, I'm not sure what kind of action

646
00:55:10,240 --> 00:55:14,520
 you need to take or direction from the group, if that's your direction, that's the way we'll

647
00:55:14,520 --> 00:55:19,880
 proceed with our design firm, and then we'll bring it back to you once we have the design,

648
00:55:19,880 --> 00:55:24,240
 and say okay, here's what it looks like, here's what it costs, and then we'll take that with

649
00:55:24,240 --> 00:55:27,920
 your recommendation to city council for their approval as well.

650
00:55:27,920 --> 00:55:33,320
 Where is that going to take away from that landscaping?

651
00:55:33,320 --> 00:55:39,160
 Is that going to take away from the landscaping?

652
00:55:39,160 --> 00:55:40,160
 I'm sorry, what?

653
00:55:40,160 --> 00:55:42,320
 Is that going to take away from the landscaping?

654
00:55:42,320 --> 00:55:46,520
 It might, we don't know what that, how much of it's going to have to be impacted, we may

655
00:55:46,520 --> 00:55:52,280
 be able to relocate some or expand it in a different direction, still provide landscaping,

656
00:55:52,280 --> 00:55:57,320
 but we may have to alter it in some way, and until we get into a survey and design and

657
00:55:57,320 --> 00:56:02,360
 find out what utilities are, and if we can or cannot move the signal equipment, we won't

658
00:56:02,360 --> 00:56:08,040
 know that, but that will certainly be part of the design process, and then the evaluation

659
00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:14,000
 process as well, because if we end up having to take out all of the landscaping, I'm sure

660
00:56:14,000 --> 00:56:19,080
 other people than this group will have something to say about it.

661
00:56:19,080 --> 00:56:29,280
 Okay, Sally, would that option serve the blind vision of your community?

662
00:56:29,280 --> 00:56:34,760
 Yeah, I think that having a third ramp that would be lined up with the other one with

663
00:56:34,760 --> 00:56:42,720
 clear sides would work, and my personal feeling is I don't know that it's necessary to have

664
00:56:42,720 --> 00:56:48,520
 that, you know, like when you can go down a ramp now and cross.

665
00:56:48,520 --> 00:56:54,680
 I really, for the blind population, my guess would be, you know, it's easier just to cross

666
00:56:54,680 --> 00:57:00,400
 one street than to make the diagonal cross, so I don't think that that's something that's

667
00:57:00,400 --> 00:57:06,460
 really going to work that much for the blindness community, because they will have the other

668
00:57:06,460 --> 00:57:09,360
 option of going just across one street.

669
00:57:09,360 --> 00:57:10,360
 Right.

670
00:57:10,360 --> 00:57:18,280
 Okay, so unless anyone has a different opinion, a stronger opinion, that seems like that's

671
00:57:18,280 --> 00:57:21,640
 what the consensus of this committee is.

672
00:57:21,640 --> 00:57:22,640
 Yes.

673
00:57:22,640 --> 00:57:28,000
 Hands up, or a yay, or a finger, or, yeah.

674
00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:29,000
 Okay.

675
00:57:29,000 --> 00:57:31,320
 Okay, I think I have the direction I need and I appreciate it.

676
00:57:31,320 --> 00:57:32,320
 Thank you very much.

677
00:57:32,320 --> 00:57:34,680
 Thank you.

678
00:57:34,680 --> 00:57:36,440
 Okay.

679
00:57:36,440 --> 00:57:46,800
 We will move, put the agenda here, I'm sorry.

680
00:57:46,800 --> 00:57:55,720
 We're back to the DCPD 020 027, receive a report, hold a discussion, and make recommendations

681
00:57:55,720 --> 00:58:09,280
 regarding the use and funding of captioning for a certain city of their own public meetings.

682
00:58:09,280 --> 00:58:25,040
 Okay, guys, I got a hat trick for being muted and talking for this one meeting, so Ryan

683
00:58:25,040 --> 00:58:30,200
 Adams, customer service and public affairs, so I'm switching over to the staff seat for

684
00:58:30,200 --> 00:58:37,640
 this one and I'm going to give this presentation, I also have Billy Matthews, our DTV manager

685
00:58:37,640 --> 00:58:43,360
 on the line, he's going to fill in all the gaps and help out with the questions.

686
00:58:43,360 --> 00:58:49,080
 He's very intimately knowledgeable with the closed caption systems that are available.

687
00:58:49,080 --> 00:58:53,040
 So let me share this with you guys.

688
00:58:53,040 --> 00:59:02,600
 That is not the right one, bear with me.

689
00:59:02,600 --> 00:59:08,520
 It's 16 hours.

690
00:59:08,520 --> 00:59:13,320
 Let's try one more time.

691
00:59:13,320 --> 00:59:25,600
 Okay, I think I got it.

692
00:59:25,600 --> 00:59:32,960
 Can everybody see this?

693
00:59:32,960 --> 00:59:34,920
 All right, great.

694
00:59:34,920 --> 00:59:39,880
 So you know, this is a topic that's not unfamiliar with this committee, you know, it's been

695
00:59:39,880 --> 00:59:45,380
 discussed several times, I think probably from meeting one, you know, how to approach

696
00:59:45,380 --> 00:59:53,040
 closed captioning, just to give a little bit of overview of what we'll discuss today.

697
00:59:53,040 --> 00:59:58,040
 It's a pretty short presentation, but what we'd like to do is just one more time since

698
00:59:58,040 --> 01:00:03,380
 it's been some time since we've last discussed this, just give the committee just a review

699
01:00:03,380 --> 01:00:13,000
 of what closed captioning options exist within our technological capabilities, some of the

700
01:00:13,000 --> 01:00:19,560
 considerations for those pros and cons on using them, and then I've left space and this

701
01:00:19,560 --> 01:00:26,760
 agenda item is created and crafted so that the committee can make a recommendation to

702
01:00:26,760 --> 01:00:29,980
 the council regarding closed captioning.

703
01:00:29,980 --> 01:00:35,920
 And we've given you a draft starter recommendation that you can edit as you see fit, we left

704
01:00:35,920 --> 01:00:41,760
 a couple blanks in there to fill in with some of the information from the committee's discussion

705
01:00:41,760 --> 01:00:47,400
 and this will require a vote from the committee to make that recommendation, but we'll get

706
01:00:47,400 --> 01:00:51,560
 into that in a future slide.

707
01:00:51,560 --> 01:00:57,640
 So if I can take a quick minute, so this was originally brought up from the committee in

708
01:00:57,640 --> 01:01:03,400
 past meetings just as a desire on the part of the committee to have closed captioning

709
01:01:03,400 --> 01:01:10,200
 for public meetings, so for instance, council meetings or for instance, this committee to

710
01:01:10,200 --> 01:01:16,480
 have those closed caption and while you guys are a part of this meeting right now, if you're

711
01:01:16,480 --> 01:01:23,400
 not aware, we do broadcast these meetings and we do put them on Denton Television and

712
01:01:23,400 --> 01:01:28,520
 they are also available for stream on our website and typically within 24 hours of the

713
01:01:28,520 --> 01:01:34,560
 meeting, you can go on our website and you can view a recording of the meeting.

714
01:01:34,560 --> 01:01:42,560
 Currently, the meetings are not closed caption on our website or on DTV, however, at the

715
01:01:42,560 --> 01:01:48,760
 request of the committee in a previous meeting, we have started posting them to YouTube, our

716
01:01:48,760 --> 01:01:56,000
 YouTube channel, where YouTube has a native closed captioning component and so if you

717
01:01:56,000 --> 01:02:06,920
 go to our ADA page or what used to be our committee page and you choose to view a past

718
01:02:06,920 --> 01:02:18,080
 meeting, you will be able to view the YouTube video and view the closed captionings there.

719
01:02:18,080 --> 01:02:23,160
 So there are a couple different options with regard to closed captioning for public meetings.

720
01:02:23,160 --> 01:02:28,280
 Option A is a live captioning component and that is actually real time captioning for

721
01:02:28,280 --> 01:02:34,960
 live programming, so that assumes that most of your viewers are going to be watching in

722
01:02:34,960 --> 01:02:42,720
 real time and that is highly dependent on a lot of factors, most of which is when these

723
01:02:42,720 --> 01:02:48,720
 meetings occur in the long term, of course, we are on a shifted schedule, but going forward

724
01:02:48,720 --> 01:02:55,760
 I would assume that we would likely revert to an evening schedule on a weekday.

725
01:02:55,760 --> 01:03:05,980
 The accuracy of this technology is accurate to a point, so again, it is in real time,

726
01:03:05,980 --> 01:03:14,960
 so issues of sound, issues of the clarity on the point of the speaker can highly affect

727
01:03:14,960 --> 01:03:18,480
 how accurate the closed captioning is.

728
01:03:18,480 --> 01:03:22,920
 I think you have probably all seen some level of this closed captioning in your daily lives

729
01:03:22,920 --> 01:03:29,440
 and know sometimes it is good, sometimes it is not quite so good.

730
01:03:29,440 --> 01:03:32,640
 Option B is a post meeting captioning.

731
01:03:32,640 --> 01:03:39,400
 This is where we would have our meeting or our meeting would be held, it would be recorded,

732
01:03:39,400 --> 01:03:48,040
 and the live captioning would then be refined by a human being on the back end and about

733
01:03:48,040 --> 01:03:54,120
 three to four days later we would receive a very clear recording with captions that

734
01:03:54,120 --> 01:03:58,920
 are very accurate and also a transcript that could be shared for anyone who would need

735
01:03:58,920 --> 01:04:02,140
 it.

736
01:04:02,140 --> 01:04:05,920
 Option C, and these are options for you to consider for public meetings at the City of

737
01:04:05,920 --> 01:04:13,480
 Denton, option C is that we hold where we are and make no change and continue posting

738
01:04:13,480 --> 01:04:17,000
 recordings to YouTube in order to use their native captioning.

739
01:04:17,000 --> 01:04:21,560
 So in a nutshell, these are the different high-level options that the committee has

740
01:04:21,560 --> 01:04:23,560
 to weigh today.

741
01:04:23,560 --> 01:04:30,480
 And we wanted to give you a little bit of information on the costs of those options.

742
01:04:30,480 --> 01:04:36,400
 So each one, the first two options, of course option C is free, YouTube does not cost us

743
01:04:36,400 --> 01:04:41,760
 anything, I don't think, we might be writing a check, but Billy would know about that.

744
01:04:41,760 --> 01:04:49,680
 Option A and B do have a cost, there's typically a one-time cost, but definitely an annual

745
01:04:49,680 --> 01:04:51,480
 ongoing cost.

746
01:04:51,480 --> 01:05:01,360
 So for option A to do the live captions, it would take about $24,000 of a one-time cost

747
01:05:01,360 --> 01:05:04,600
 for hardware to make that happen.

748
01:05:04,600 --> 01:05:08,440
 And of course this is not something the City is currently budgeted for, and our current

749
01:05:08,440 --> 01:05:14,280
 budget which is, I'll say it's been tightened due to the pandemic and some uncertainty on

750
01:05:14,280 --> 01:05:16,160
 the economic front.

751
01:05:16,160 --> 01:05:19,240
 So we did not include that in the current year budget.

752
01:05:19,240 --> 01:05:26,460
 And then if we assume 15 meetings per year, there's about a $30,000 annual cost.

753
01:05:26,460 --> 01:05:27,500
 And of course that's scalable.

754
01:05:27,500 --> 01:05:30,760
 So if we do less than that, we might be able to recoup some annual savings.

755
01:05:30,760 --> 01:05:35,160
 If we do more, it might be a little bit of an additional cost.

756
01:05:35,160 --> 01:05:40,240
 I think it's important for the purposes of today's discussion to get a very good understanding

757
01:05:40,240 --> 01:05:46,160
 of what meetings are priorities for the committee to have closed captions.

758
01:05:46,160 --> 01:05:49,160
 We have 30 some odd boards and commissions.

759
01:05:49,160 --> 01:05:52,240
 It may be the committee's desire to close caption all of them.

760
01:05:52,240 --> 01:05:57,080
 It may be the committee's desire to only do a select number, but that's important information

761
01:05:57,080 --> 01:06:01,320
 for staff to build budget numbers around.

762
01:06:01,320 --> 01:06:08,000
 And B, the non-live option, the one where it's more accurate, but it's a few days afterwards,

763
01:06:08,000 --> 01:06:10,560
 the cost is a little bit lower.

764
01:06:10,560 --> 01:06:15,560
 There's no hardware that we have to purchase up front.

765
01:06:15,560 --> 01:06:21,280
 We do have a just an annual cost based on the number of meetings.

766
01:06:21,280 --> 01:06:27,140
 And I will say, bless their hearts, our council, they tend to have long meetings.

767
01:06:27,140 --> 01:06:31,800
 And so the cost does go up as the length of the meeting goes up.

768
01:06:31,800 --> 01:06:36,500
 So if meetings are over four hours, which council meetings typically are, that cost

769
01:06:36,500 --> 01:06:41,180
 will increase accordingly.

770
01:06:41,180 --> 01:06:48,400
 And we did want to provide at least some sense of the on-demand views that we receive for

771
01:06:48,400 --> 01:06:49,520
 our committees.

772
01:06:49,520 --> 01:06:52,060
 And Billy pulled this information.

773
01:06:52,060 --> 01:06:55,920
 So and this will kind of weigh in as you consider these options.

774
01:06:55,920 --> 01:06:59,360
 We don't have any information on how people view it live.

775
01:06:59,360 --> 01:07:00,640
 We're not able to capture that.

776
01:07:00,640 --> 01:07:08,200
 But in terms of on-demand views, on average, city council, we have about 750 views.

777
01:07:08,200 --> 01:07:14,920
 So that might be a couple of views by the same person or all each a different person,

778
01:07:14,920 --> 01:07:19,520
 but 750 different views per council meeting on average.

779
01:07:19,520 --> 01:07:28,160
 This committee, it's a good bit less, but it's about 25 views on average for on-demand.

780
01:07:28,160 --> 01:07:33,940
 I'm going to pause right here and I'm going to ask Billy to fill in anything or correct

781
01:07:33,940 --> 01:07:39,400
 anything I've misstated because he is much more knowledgeable about this.

782
01:07:39,400 --> 01:07:43,440
 First of all, good afternoon committee and my pleasure to be here.

783
01:07:43,440 --> 01:07:47,000
 Ryan, you hit all the nails on the head.

784
01:07:47,000 --> 01:07:53,360
 There is no cost for the YouTube option.

785
01:07:53,360 --> 01:07:55,320
 And if there's any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

786
01:07:55,320 --> 01:07:58,800
 But I think you've laid it out there pretty good.

787
01:07:58,800 --> 01:08:02,960
 Mr. Chair, would you like to pause here for any questions or would you like me to proceed?

788
01:08:02,960 --> 01:08:05,480
 I think we only have one or two slides left.

789
01:08:05,480 --> 01:08:10,200
 I want to go ahead and finish and then we'll reach out into a discussion.

790
01:08:10,200 --> 01:08:12,000
 Thank you.

791
01:08:12,000 --> 01:08:14,800
 And so we're providing this information for context.

792
01:08:14,800 --> 01:08:20,060
 So as this comes up in the future and budget gets discussed, the option that we choose

793
01:08:20,060 --> 01:08:23,920
 and what meetings we do may cause that budget number to fluctuate.

794
01:08:23,920 --> 01:08:28,000
 So I just want the committee to know that would be the reason why.

795
01:08:28,000 --> 01:08:32,240
 Just the number of meetings, the length of the meetings, and then the option.

796
01:08:32,240 --> 01:08:37,240
 So what we're asking the committee today, actually one more slide, that works out.

797
01:08:37,240 --> 01:08:40,940
 What we're asking the committee today is to provide any feedback that it would like to

798
01:08:40,940 --> 01:08:48,140
 to staff regarding closed captioning, but specifically to see if you can provide direction

799
01:08:48,140 --> 01:08:56,400
 on the option, A, B, or C, if there's a preferred one, particularly if you had to choose one

800
01:08:56,400 --> 01:09:00,520
 and what would meet the needs or what could you live with.

801
01:09:00,520 --> 01:09:06,320
 I know we can't have everything, but we'll certainly try to get what we can.

802
01:09:06,320 --> 01:09:07,400
 And then scale.

803
01:09:07,400 --> 01:09:13,000
 So is it important to have closed captioning for all boards and commissions and council

804
01:09:13,000 --> 01:09:14,000
 meetings?

805
01:09:14,000 --> 01:09:17,400
 Is it just council and this committee?

806
01:09:17,400 --> 01:09:21,320
 Is it another mixture of boards and commissions?

807
01:09:21,320 --> 01:09:24,840
 I think that's an important thing for us to understand.

808
01:09:24,840 --> 01:09:32,020
 And what we've done is we've just given you just a very starter blank example of a recommendation.

809
01:09:32,020 --> 01:09:39,900
 So this could be in the form of a motion of recommending to the city council that they

810
01:09:39,900 --> 01:09:47,400
 fund an option, A, B, or C, as it applies for closed captioning services.

811
01:09:47,400 --> 01:09:53,760
 And we put in for all city council and committee on persons with disabilities public meetings.

812
01:09:53,760 --> 01:09:54,760
 That could change.

813
01:09:54,760 --> 01:10:01,820
 It could be whatever public meetings you feel need to be considered and included by council.

814
01:10:01,820 --> 01:10:06,480
 And we put that it would be considered for the 2022 budget, which starts that process

815
01:10:06,480 --> 01:10:11,580
 starts in April, May, or sooner if possible.

816
01:10:11,580 --> 01:10:18,400
 And that gives staff flexibility to where if funding does become available, we would

817
01:10:18,400 --> 01:10:24,860
 not be beholden to the 2022 process, neither would the council.

818
01:10:24,860 --> 01:10:31,360
 So it almost says at the latest we would consider it as part of the budget, but if there were

819
01:10:31,360 --> 01:10:37,160
 an opportunity earlier than that, then we could explore that opportunity.

820
01:10:37,160 --> 01:10:41,800
 And once you guys as a committee, once you make your recommendation to council, which

821
01:10:41,800 --> 01:10:47,520
 I think is something that has been missing from previous conversations on this topic,

822
01:10:47,520 --> 01:10:50,620
 we're going to communicate that recommendation to council.

823
01:10:50,620 --> 01:10:56,320
 And we will either bring it forward, part of the fiscal year 22 budget again, that starts

824
01:10:56,320 --> 01:11:01,880
 in about the April timeframe as a supplemental budget request.

825
01:11:01,880 --> 01:11:10,160
 Or we a council member can request to have that be placed on a work session.

826
01:11:10,160 --> 01:11:14,520
 And then there's a process to have items added for work session discussion.

827
01:11:14,520 --> 01:11:19,540
 And if council wants to discuss that at a work session, we would present this this information

828
01:11:19,540 --> 01:11:24,320
 probably in more detail given the recommendation that we would have for the committee from

829
01:11:24,320 --> 01:11:25,840
 the committee.

830
01:11:25,840 --> 01:11:35,400
 And council would be able to provide direction, have a discussion, and give staff marching

831
01:11:35,400 --> 01:11:38,160
 orders with regard to this issue.

832
01:11:38,160 --> 01:11:42,820
 And of course, regardless of any of these events, staff is going to continue to evaluate

833
01:11:42,820 --> 01:11:48,000
 future options and opportunities as far as closed captioning goes.

834
01:11:48,000 --> 01:11:54,120
 So that that is a lot of talking from me, I'm going to close this presentation.

835
01:11:54,120 --> 01:12:04,360
 I'm happy to answer any of your questions or defer to Billy for anything that's hard.

836
01:12:04,360 --> 01:12:23,400
 If I believe we can do combinations, so you could do A and B, or you can make that recommendation,

837
01:12:23,400 --> 01:12:32,200
 you can make a recommendation for A and C. B and C may be a little duplicative, but it

838
01:12:32,200 --> 01:12:35,760
 doesn't have to be just one, you could recommend a combination.

839
01:12:35,760 --> 01:12:42,840
 I'm going to throw my thoughts in here, and I did have a couple of questions.

840
01:12:42,840 --> 01:12:48,240
 I think obviously we want to be as accessible and inclusive as possible.

841
01:12:48,240 --> 01:12:56,640
 So that would be option A. I don't know, as you mentioned, if we need every commission

842
01:12:56,640 --> 01:13:04,360
 or board to be captioned, obviously our committee, because of what we do and who we are, and

843
01:13:04,360 --> 01:13:14,040
 I would think, as on the slide, all city council meetings, because of the nature of their business.

844
01:13:14,040 --> 01:13:21,880
 I guess my question is, if that were to take place, obviously captioning is not accessible

845
01:13:21,880 --> 01:13:31,160
 to anyone, so the understanding would be that there may still be individuals who have accommodation

846
01:13:31,160 --> 01:13:40,920
 requests for sign language interpreters, because people who do ASL typically cannot read English,

847
01:13:40,920 --> 01:13:45,000
 so captioning doesn't work, and vice versa.

848
01:13:45,000 --> 01:13:51,320
 So that would have to be the understanding that this wouldn't be a substitute for other

849
01:13:51,320 --> 01:13:52,320
 accommodations.

850
01:13:52,320 --> 01:13:53,320
 Correct.

851
01:13:53,320 --> 01:13:56,240
 Those other accommodation options would still be options.

852
01:13:56,240 --> 01:13:57,240
 Right.

853
01:13:57,240 --> 01:13:58,240
 As a request, right.

854
01:13:58,240 --> 01:14:07,320
 And then I guess the second question is, the cost for the one-time cost, the $24,000 for

855
01:14:07,320 --> 01:14:19,560
 the hardware, would that cost still be there if council agreed to just do captioning by

856
01:14:19,560 --> 01:14:20,560
 request?

857
01:14:20,560 --> 01:14:28,080
 So let's say we're not going to caption every meeting, but if a request is made to caption

858
01:14:28,080 --> 01:14:34,520
 it, we still need that hardware, that one-time cost, regardless.

859
01:14:34,520 --> 01:14:39,120
 For option A, we would, so whether we did one meeting or a million, we would still have

860
01:14:39,120 --> 01:14:42,400
 to pay that cost.

861
01:14:42,400 --> 01:14:49,760
 The annual cost, again, that's dependent on the number of meetings, scalable to a point,

862
01:14:49,760 --> 01:14:54,260
 so you do have to purchase a minimum amount of meetings, so we wouldn't be able to scale

863
01:14:54,260 --> 01:14:56,080
 it down very low.

864
01:14:56,080 --> 01:15:09,320
 I want to say they're buckets of 50 meetings, so that would get us council and maybe y'all's.

865
01:15:09,320 --> 01:15:15,120
 And then we can always add more buckets on if our meetings run over, or add another bucket

866
01:15:15,120 --> 01:15:22,840
 if we need to, so there wouldn't be much of a cost saving by really minimizing the number

867
01:15:22,840 --> 01:15:26,160
 of meetings.

868
01:15:26,160 --> 01:15:34,080
 Yeah, I think my feeling, obviously, we're going to be as accessible and inclusive to

869
01:15:34,080 --> 01:15:35,080
 everyone.

870
01:15:35,080 --> 01:15:42,120
 And again, being in a virtual world right now and for the foreseeable future, individuals

871
01:15:42,120 --> 01:15:52,000
 can't go to a physical meeting and participate, so this is the only way right now to be engaged.

872
01:15:52,000 --> 01:15:59,120
 And option A would be the most appropriate option.

873
01:15:59,120 --> 01:16:04,520
 And Billy, can you clarify with option A, that's only on the live version, so those

874
01:16:04,520 --> 01:16:09,920
 captions will not show up on recorded stream versions, is that correct?

875
01:16:09,920 --> 01:16:12,320
 That's correct.

876
01:16:12,320 --> 01:16:18,320
 That technology, the one-time cost, and then the annual cost depending on how many meetings

877
01:16:18,320 --> 01:16:19,460
 would be live only.

878
01:16:19,460 --> 01:16:23,200
 So it's live on the TV channel, as you see it if you're watching live or live on the

879
01:16:23,200 --> 01:16:30,080
 live stream on the website, but it's not getting captured and married with the file.

880
01:16:30,080 --> 01:16:36,480
 So there would be an additional cost, much like option B, which is a post meeting where

881
01:16:36,480 --> 01:16:44,360
 they could clean the live up for any unintelligible or clean that up, the manpower cost for that,

882
01:16:44,360 --> 01:16:50,960
 and then marry the corrected captions to the video file.

883
01:16:50,960 --> 01:16:55,840
 So the on demand for anybody that viewed it after the fact, and if you go on our website,

884
01:16:55,840 --> 01:16:58,580
 our council videos go back to 2009.

885
01:16:58,580 --> 01:17:04,080
 So from now forward, those captions would be married with those meetings if anybody

886
01:17:04,080 --> 01:17:05,080
 wanted to go back.

887
01:17:05,080 --> 01:17:08,800
 But the live is live and then it's gone.

888
01:17:08,800 --> 01:17:19,680
 Sorry, there was options A and C, that would be doable because C is free for doing YouTube.

889
01:17:19,680 --> 01:17:20,680
 That's a great point.

890
01:17:20,680 --> 01:17:26,120
 For this committee, because that is the only, you know, y'all's meetings aren't 12 hours

891
01:17:26,120 --> 01:17:28,800
 every week, much like some of the council meetings.

892
01:17:28,800 --> 01:17:32,100
 So we do use the YouTube feature for the native captioning.

893
01:17:32,100 --> 01:17:38,000
 So for your committee, if we were to do live and continue to do the YouTube, that is an

894
01:17:38,000 --> 01:17:40,440
 option.

895
01:17:40,440 --> 01:17:56,520
 Now, okay, thank you, Ryan on the stats that you gave regarding viewers for the meetings,

896
01:17:56,520 --> 01:18:05,160
 are those meetings captioned, or they just replay of the meeting, Billy, were those numbers

897
01:18:05,160 --> 01:18:11,280
 they came from, were those the YouTube numbers or were those from the website?

898
01:18:11,280 --> 01:18:20,120
 Those meetings are from the public meeting area on the website, not the YouTube analytics.

899
01:18:20,120 --> 01:18:27,440
 So those are non captioned copies of this meeting on average 25 a meeting.

900
01:18:27,440 --> 01:18:33,600
 So do we have any numbers on the viewers who look at the YouTube captioned?

901
01:18:33,600 --> 01:18:36,680
 I can effort those, we don't have those today.

902
01:18:36,680 --> 01:18:38,760
 I'm sorry.

903
01:18:38,760 --> 01:18:46,560
 Well, I'm thinking of the cost involved compared to the number of people who are actually utilizing

904
01:18:46,560 --> 01:18:48,380
 the resource.

905
01:18:48,380 --> 01:18:58,260
 So I'm just looking at utilization and resources invested, trying to figure it out.

906
01:18:58,260 --> 01:19:05,920
 So if we could get those numbers on individuals who are looking at the captioned meeting,

907
01:19:05,920 --> 01:19:09,720
 I think that would be, it would be more beneficial for me.

908
01:19:09,720 --> 01:19:13,200
 We can absolutely get those numbers and email those to the committee.

909
01:19:13,200 --> 01:19:14,200
 Absolutely.

910
01:19:14,200 --> 01:19:15,200
 Thank you.

911
01:19:15,200 --> 01:19:25,380
 To trade doubles advocate on that one, it's one of those, if you build it, they will come.

912
01:19:25,380 --> 01:19:32,280
 So if captioning is available, real people that need captioning start viewing and being

913
01:19:32,280 --> 01:19:33,280
 more engaged.

914
01:19:33,280 --> 01:19:41,080
 Whereas now we're, for instance, for me as an activist and advocate, I really don't push

915
01:19:41,080 --> 01:19:46,200
 this meeting out there because I know it's not accessible to anyone, to everyone.

916
01:19:46,200 --> 01:19:52,960
 So I can't consciously say here's the committee on people with disabilities, oh, but if you

917
01:19:52,960 --> 01:19:59,960
 need captioning, you're not going to get it, a certain population out.

918
01:19:59,960 --> 01:20:05,480
 So has this committee's meetings been available on YouTube at all?

919
01:20:05,480 --> 01:20:07,240
 Yes, ma'am.

920
01:20:07,240 --> 01:20:15,360
 They're on currently, as Ryan mentioned earlier, on the this committee's website page on cityofdenton.com.

921
01:20:15,360 --> 01:20:21,000
 As you scroll down, there's a section of to view past meetings with captioning.

922
01:20:21,000 --> 01:20:28,200
 Like here, and it takes you to a YouTube playlist that has, we've only televised, I believe

923
01:20:28,200 --> 01:20:32,440
 this is the fifth or sixth one, but all the ones that we've done are captioned on YouTube

924
01:20:32,440 --> 01:20:35,640
 and this one will be by the end of the day tomorrow.

925
01:20:35,640 --> 01:20:36,640
 Yeah.

926
01:20:36,640 --> 01:20:37,640
 Thank you.

927
01:20:37,640 --> 01:20:54,200
 Any other thoughts, questions? Well, my thought, I don't know how pressed we are to get this

928
01:20:54,200 --> 01:20:59,960
 to the council, but for myself to make an informed decision, I would like to know the

929
01:20:59,960 --> 01:21:09,200
 utilization on the YouTube captioned access, how many have done that?

930
01:21:09,200 --> 01:21:15,320
 That's just one person, and if the committee wants to proceed, proceed.

931
01:21:15,320 --> 01:21:22,360
 I think my argument to that is we're talking about the live interaction of this meeting.

932
01:21:22,360 --> 01:21:27,600
 So happening right now, as in our last meeting a couple months ago, we had a real good and

933
01:21:27,600 --> 01:21:32,280
 productive discussion on a heavy topic with the police chief.

934
01:21:32,280 --> 01:21:38,480
 So how many people were not able to participate in that because captioning was not available?

935
01:21:38,480 --> 01:21:42,120
 Or how many people would have if we had it?

936
01:21:42,120 --> 01:21:48,760
 How much more engagement would there be versus on the YouTube where that's the day after

937
01:21:48,760 --> 01:21:52,600
 the meeting's already done, the discussion's already happened.

938
01:21:52,600 --> 01:22:02,560
 So basically more of, okay, this is what I missed 24, 48 hours ago.

939
01:22:02,560 --> 01:22:11,520
 That would be my perspective on because if this committee, if the committee on persons

940
01:22:11,520 --> 01:22:17,720
 with disabilities, then we have to ensure that every disability is able to access it.

941
01:22:17,720 --> 01:22:31,640
 So, and right now, that's not the case.

942
01:22:31,640 --> 01:22:39,760
 If I can maybe ask a clarifying question of the committee, and this is not necessarily

943
01:22:39,760 --> 01:22:44,200
 an either/or, but if the committee finds that they have a preference, I think staff would

944
01:22:44,200 --> 01:22:47,520
 be interested.

945
01:22:47,520 --> 01:22:50,720
 Do you feel like it would be better used?

946
01:22:50,720 --> 01:22:57,880
 It's a bit of a trade-off having, if you are going to recommend option A or option B, is

947
01:22:57,880 --> 01:23:03,680
 it more important to have live, because we don't know who's watching live, we're not

948
01:23:03,680 --> 01:23:04,680
 able to capture that.

949
01:23:04,680 --> 01:23:12,980
 Is it more important to have a live caption solution that is likely less accurate or to

950
01:23:12,980 --> 01:23:19,000
 have a very highly accurate solution, but there's a delay of a number of days before

951
01:23:19,000 --> 01:23:22,100
 that's available to anyone?

952
01:23:22,100 --> 01:23:27,400
 And I'm speaking for this committee, council meetings, any other public meeting.

953
01:23:27,400 --> 01:23:33,880
 Does this committee have a preference?

954
01:23:33,880 --> 01:23:46,600
 I think having it live would be important, just like Val was saying, so that people can

955
01:23:46,600 --> 01:23:53,880
 have more interaction, and of course, you know, with most disabilities, you have seniors

956
01:23:53,880 --> 01:24:00,760
 that can tend to have more hearing issues as they age, so there's a whole population

957
01:24:00,760 --> 01:24:09,320
 that may not have considered themselves to be disabled, but yet would have more engagement

958
01:24:09,320 --> 01:24:13,440
 with the city's committees if it was a live situation.

959
01:24:13,440 --> 01:24:21,640
 But I agree with Val Morgan that getting those numbers and feedback would be very helpful

960
01:24:21,640 --> 01:24:28,960
 to see, but by the same token, I do see that people, when they would be hearing, oh, well,

961
01:24:28,960 --> 01:24:35,720
 we can just watch it and interact, you know, while it's going on live, that definitely

962
01:24:35,720 --> 01:24:39,520
 is very important, too.

963
01:24:39,520 --> 01:24:42,080
 Chair, this is Billy Matthews.

964
01:24:42,080 --> 01:24:45,600
 I've got an update on those YouTube statistics.

965
01:24:45,600 --> 01:24:52,280
 Adam Scott of our staff just got the analytics, if you want me to share those with you.

966
01:24:52,280 --> 01:24:53,280
 Please.

967
01:24:53,280 --> 01:24:58,520
 Yeah, over the four videos that are available on YouTube, all of them are captioned.

968
01:24:58,520 --> 01:25:15,440
 There's been six views total.

969
01:25:15,440 --> 01:25:17,600
 For how many meetings?

970
01:25:17,600 --> 01:25:22,200
 Across the four meetings, six views total.

971
01:25:22,200 --> 01:25:27,080
 And so how was that publicized?

972
01:25:27,080 --> 01:25:28,800
 And are we the ones looking at them?

973
01:25:28,800 --> 01:25:30,720
 That'd be another question.

974
01:25:30,720 --> 01:25:40,320
 Certainly, it's on the, you know, the Committee on Persons with Disabilities page on the website.

975
01:25:40,320 --> 01:25:47,480
 But to the Chair's point about it not being live and the fact that it's not in the repository

976
01:25:47,480 --> 01:25:52,080
 where the other meetings live, so they're not captioned live, and then where all of

977
01:25:52,080 --> 01:25:58,160
 the other meetings, including this body's meetings, live in that space on the website.

978
01:25:58,160 --> 01:26:03,880
 This is a separate space that I'm not certain has been publicized.

979
01:26:03,880 --> 01:26:05,840
 We did publicize it.

980
01:26:05,840 --> 01:26:06,840
 I apologize.

981
01:26:06,840 --> 01:26:09,480
 I did not mean to interrupt you.

982
01:26:09,480 --> 01:26:11,200
 I'm done.

983
01:26:11,200 --> 01:26:12,200
 Okay.

984
01:26:12,200 --> 01:26:17,200
 We did publicize it when we were many moons ago when we originally started doing it.

985
01:26:17,200 --> 01:26:25,680
 However, we've not done that since the pandemic or since we've resumed our virtual meetings.

986
01:26:25,680 --> 01:26:28,440
 Tharnia.

987
01:26:28,440 --> 01:26:40,120
 Trying not to be like Ryan and unmute myself.

988
01:26:40,120 --> 01:26:45,240
 I said that with much, much love.

989
01:26:45,240 --> 01:26:49,000
 So it's definitely a hefty cost, right?

990
01:26:49,000 --> 01:26:53,320
 Like, no doubt, this is definitely an investment.

991
01:26:53,320 --> 01:27:02,960
 But thinking about the previous presentation by the chief diversity and inclusion person,

992
01:27:02,960 --> 01:27:10,120
 I mean, if the city is making that kind of investment, or at least on paper, right, that

993
01:27:10,120 --> 01:27:15,560
 diversity and inclusion is important to me, that means this is part of that inclusion

994
01:27:15,560 --> 01:27:16,560
 piece.

995
01:27:16,560 --> 01:27:19,200
 It should be part of their inclusion statement.

996
01:27:19,200 --> 01:27:27,480
 And if they're going to say that this is an affirmation that we are really putting resources

997
01:27:27,480 --> 01:27:37,200
 behind being an inclusive city, and that includes not only staff, but also the community members.

998
01:27:37,200 --> 01:27:43,520
 And so while views are important, you know, and looking at that, I don't know that that

999
01:27:43,520 --> 01:27:48,240
 should be the sole reason that we choose to do something.

1000
01:27:48,240 --> 01:27:53,040
 I think we have to look at the intent behind it and the message that we're trying to send

1001
01:27:53,040 --> 01:27:59,720
 out to the community about the direction that we're moving.

1002
01:27:59,720 --> 01:28:07,440
 That being said, I don't ever watch anything live anymore, to be honest, you know, I'm

1003
01:28:07,440 --> 01:28:12,600
 okay watching things after they've happened.

1004
01:28:12,600 --> 01:28:21,120
 And especially, and this is me, I mean, watching things live doesn't necessarily mean I'm getting

1005
01:28:21,120 --> 01:28:26,160
 to engage in the discussion that's happening.

1006
01:28:26,160 --> 01:28:32,320
 And so, you know, I think that's something to consider as well, like if we're talking

1007
01:28:32,320 --> 01:28:36,760
 about, you know, I'm more engaged because I'm watching it live.

1008
01:28:36,760 --> 01:28:41,200
 I don't know that that's the case necessarily for me, but I do think we need to look at

1009
01:28:41,200 --> 01:28:52,280
 it from a holistic perspective and not just on viewership and move forward from there.

1010
01:28:52,280 --> 01:28:56,560
 Those are my thoughts.

1011
01:28:56,560 --> 01:29:01,520
 And a couple thoughts to that came to mind, I think we have to consider also committee

1012
01:29:01,520 --> 01:29:02,520
 members.

1013
01:29:02,520 --> 01:29:08,680
 I mean, I'm sure at some point, this committee will have individual or individuals that will

1014
01:29:08,680 --> 01:29:09,680
 need captioning.

1015
01:29:09,680 --> 01:29:13,160
 So when that happens, what do we do?

1016
01:29:13,160 --> 01:29:18,280
 Where we have this already in place where, oh, no problem, you can, you are now a member

1017
01:29:18,280 --> 01:29:23,200
 of the committee, you can participate because there's captioning, so, or do we not have

1018
01:29:23,200 --> 01:29:24,200
 it?

1019
01:29:24,200 --> 01:29:31,680
 And now when we select committee members, we're going to tend to not select people who are

1020
01:29:31,680 --> 01:29:36,000
 deaf or hard of hearing because we don't have that technology.

1021
01:29:36,000 --> 01:29:45,760
 And I think, I mean, I'm hearing costs and views, and it kind of sounds like ADA arguments.

1022
01:29:45,760 --> 01:29:50,620
 You know, when I go to a building, oh, I'm sorry, it's not accessible because it costs

1023
01:29:50,620 --> 01:29:51,620
 too much.

1024
01:29:51,620 --> 01:29:55,620
 And not so many wheelchair users come here anyway.

1025
01:29:55,620 --> 01:29:57,840
 So I think we need to be careful.

1026
01:29:57,840 --> 01:30:05,840
 With this committee, how we're viewing this and what lens, I think our purpose is to make

1027
01:30:05,840 --> 01:30:10,920
 sure that we're inclusive of everyone and then make those recommendations as such.

1028
01:30:10,920 --> 01:30:18,400
 The finances, the views and all that, I think those are outside of our purview, in my opinion.

1029
01:30:18,400 --> 01:30:25,240
 But I'm going to go around and make sure that everybody has an opportunity to have a question

1030
01:30:25,240 --> 01:30:26,240
 or a thought.

1031
01:30:26,240 --> 01:30:30,360
 Rex, do you have any thoughts or questions?

1032
01:30:30,360 --> 01:30:38,280
 >> No, I'm a little dismayed that only four people out of six people looked at the last

1033
01:30:38,280 --> 01:30:41,280
 four meetings.

1034
01:30:41,280 --> 01:30:47,320
 I'd like to see us advertise the YouTube more.

1035
01:30:47,320 --> 01:30:56,680
 >> Rex, I apologize, would you be able to speak into your mic just a little bit more?

1036
01:30:56,680 --> 01:30:58,600
 >> Is that not clear?

1037
01:30:58,600 --> 01:30:59,600
 >> It's just a little soft.

1038
01:30:59,600 --> 01:31:00,600
 >> All right.

1039
01:31:00,600 --> 01:31:07,520
 I don't know why it's soft, but I'll do the best I can here.

1040
01:31:07,520 --> 01:31:20,040
 I'd like to see us promote the use of YouTube more than we have been and get people to direct

1041
01:31:20,040 --> 01:31:21,040
 it towards that.

1042
01:31:21,040 --> 01:31:30,480
 I was just made with a few number of people that actually viewed the YouTube videos of

1043
01:31:30,480 --> 01:31:31,480
 the meeting.

1044
01:31:31,480 --> 01:31:38,220
 Maybe if we could see a larger participation on the YouTube, that would generate some more

1045
01:31:38,220 --> 01:31:41,520
 people and justify the cost.

1046
01:31:41,520 --> 01:31:42,520
 That's my only comment.

1047
01:31:42,520 --> 01:31:43,520
 >> Okay.

1048
01:31:43,520 --> 01:31:44,520
 Thank you, Rex.

1049
01:31:44,520 --> 01:31:48,440
 Jo, do you have any thoughts or comments?

1050
01:31:48,440 --> 01:31:49,440
 >> No.

1051
01:31:49,440 --> 01:31:50,440
 >> Okay.

1052
01:31:50,440 --> 01:31:53,440
 Sonya, you're ready.

1053
01:31:53,440 --> 01:31:57,520
 Val, do you have any additional?

1054
01:31:57,520 --> 01:32:03,600
 >> Well, I think that Sonya made a very good point about diversity and inclusion and that

1055
01:32:03,600 --> 01:32:10,480
 we should not be the only people out advocating and the people to tune into the YouTube or

1056
01:32:10,480 --> 01:32:17,040
 the captioning because it's available now that we have that avenue that they need to

1057
01:32:17,040 --> 01:32:22,560
 make that group, make that information available as well.

1058
01:32:22,560 --> 01:32:30,280
 And I think if we have more pushout from our committee and other entities within the city

1059
01:32:30,280 --> 01:32:36,320
 that we have that service available, I always -- bad point on my part.

1060
01:32:36,320 --> 01:32:42,480
 I always look at things for cost effectiveness and I'll have to grow out of that over time.

1061
01:32:42,480 --> 01:32:50,640
 However, we need to include everyone in all mediums for participating in city activities,

1062
01:32:50,640 --> 01:32:54,640
 not just for this committee, not just for the city council.

1063
01:32:54,640 --> 01:32:56,600
 There's a lot going on.

1064
01:32:56,600 --> 01:33:01,560
 The virtual parks and recreation event where they're trying to make a decision about a

1065
01:33:01,560 --> 01:33:06,640
 new park and what's going in it, then they're still part of our community, the disability

1066
01:33:06,640 --> 01:33:09,360
 community specifically that's not there.

1067
01:33:09,360 --> 01:33:18,640
 So I just want us to serve the people, want us to do it in a stewardship way of responsibility

1068
01:33:18,640 --> 01:33:21,640
 and making it happen.

1069
01:33:21,640 --> 01:33:27,160
 And I can hear the city council saying you don't have enough viewership to justify this

1070
01:33:27,160 --> 01:33:28,160
 cost.

1071
01:33:28,160 --> 01:33:33,440
 They don't have a stake in this committee or the diversity and inclusion at this point.

1072
01:33:33,440 --> 01:33:44,280
 So when we make our motion, we just -- we need to make it clear that other entities

1073
01:33:44,280 --> 01:33:53,280
 within the city are going to help this committee promote utilization of that kind of a resource.

1074
01:33:53,280 --> 01:34:04,360
 All I have to say -- >> Tamara, do you have any questions or thoughts?

1075
01:34:04,360 --> 01:34:05,360
 >> No.

1076
01:34:05,360 --> 01:34:06,360
 >> Sally?

1077
01:34:06,360 --> 01:34:12,360
 >> I think I agree that we need to be inclusive and that's a key role of our committee and

1078
01:34:12,360 --> 01:34:18,840
 I think we should have the closed captioning live.

1079
01:34:18,840 --> 01:34:22,160
 >> And Ali, do you have any questions or thoughts?

1080
01:34:22,160 --> 01:34:23,160
 >> No.

1081
01:34:23,160 --> 01:34:27,040
 I mean, I support the idea of let's go ahead and put our energy into closed captioning.

1082
01:34:27,040 --> 01:34:32,880
 I feel like it's a situation where we'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not

1083
01:34:32,880 --> 01:34:33,880
 have it.

1084
01:34:33,880 --> 01:34:38,520
 By the case, I mean, we are coming up on our year where we may have new committee members

1085
01:34:38,520 --> 01:34:42,480
 that would need these open opportunities to join our committee.

1086
01:34:42,480 --> 01:34:47,720
 I think that it's important that other members of our community are able to have the closed

1087
01:34:47,720 --> 01:34:49,040
 captioning and be able to participate.

1088
01:34:49,040 --> 01:34:56,240
 Now, as far as the argument over YouTube and adding the equipment, I think that it is important

1089
01:34:56,240 --> 01:35:00,520
 to have that available in the real time personally.

1090
01:35:00,520 --> 01:35:03,600
 I mean, I think that it's nice to have it on YouTube and I'm sure we can watch it later

1091
01:35:03,600 --> 01:35:07,480
 and all of those things, but I think that if something is coming up where it's important

1092
01:35:07,480 --> 01:35:12,160
 like even community discussion or community call-ins, then that's something that we would

1093
01:35:12,160 --> 01:35:17,200
 need to consider and have available to our community live.

1094
01:35:17,200 --> 01:35:22,360
 >> Brian, I have a question.

1095
01:35:22,360 --> 01:35:29,280
 With the captioning equipment and that availability, would that also include meetings that are like

1096
01:35:29,280 --> 01:35:35,800
 part of some meetings or other, or are we just talking boards and commissions and city

1097
01:35:35,800 --> 01:35:36,800
 council?

1098
01:35:36,800 --> 01:35:40,440
 >> Yeah, these would just be boards and commissions.

1099
01:35:40,440 --> 01:35:45,400
 So typically, when we're talking about this boards and commissions public meetings that

1100
01:35:45,400 --> 01:35:53,780
 are of advisory committees of the council, so boards, commissions, committees, they would

1101
01:35:53,780 --> 01:35:59,440
 and only those that are televised, currently all committees are televised, although when

1102
01:35:59,440 --> 01:36:08,320
 we revert at some point away from virtual public meetings and we would go back to in-person

1103
01:36:08,320 --> 01:36:12,040
 public meetings, not all of these meetings will be televised.

1104
01:36:12,040 --> 01:36:19,120
 So folks will return to coming back in person at some point in the future.

1105
01:36:19,120 --> 01:36:24,800
 Our community meetings that are right now virtual, we do those through Zoom and we do

1106
01:36:24,800 --> 01:36:33,120
 post those to our YouTube channel, where the native closed captioning is available.

1107
01:36:33,120 --> 01:36:42,120
 Although on the same token, when we revert to in-person meetings again, we'll probably

1108
01:36:42,120 --> 01:36:48,600
 still do virtual community meetings, although we will not do as many and do in-person meetings

1109
01:36:48,600 --> 01:36:49,600
 as well.

1110
01:36:49,600 --> 01:36:58,520
 >> And that's a good point, where once we go in person, I think this committee was one

1111
01:36:58,520 --> 01:37:06,320
 of those that was televised, so my understanding is the intent of that was to make it accessible

1112
01:37:06,320 --> 01:37:15,960
 for people to view, which in case, again, it's not fully accessible to every member

1113
01:37:15,960 --> 01:37:20,300
 without captioning.

1114
01:37:20,300 --> 01:37:29,000
 >> I would like to make the recommendation, and I think I mentioned this earlier with

1115
01:37:29,000 --> 01:37:37,760
 Denton Library's discussion, with some of the other departments within the city, like

1116
01:37:37,760 --> 01:37:42,040
 Parks and Rec, who are holding virtual meetings to use the closed captioning function within

1117
01:37:42,040 --> 01:37:48,480
 Zoom, because then once you record that and you post it, it'll have it already embedded

1118
01:37:48,480 --> 01:37:50,460
 in it, and it's pretty accurate.

1119
01:37:50,460 --> 01:37:58,800
 And so I think there are some things that we can do right now that would make these

1120
01:37:58,800 --> 01:38:13,400
 meetings more accessible in this format until we go back into more in-person settings.

1121
01:38:13,400 --> 01:38:19,800
 >> So it looks like we're at the point where we need to make a motion on a couple things.

1122
01:38:19,800 --> 01:38:31,620
 First of all, probably we should decide on A, B, or C. So is it appropriate that I make

1123
01:38:31,620 --> 01:38:34,560
 a motion, Ryan?

1124
01:38:34,560 --> 01:38:36,960
 >> I don't think you're prohibited from doing that.

1125
01:38:36,960 --> 01:38:37,960
 >> Okay.

1126
01:38:37,960 --> 01:38:50,360
 >> I'd like to make a motion, and then we vote on option A as an option for captioning.

1127
01:38:50,360 --> 01:38:54,360
 Does anyone second that?

1128
01:38:54,360 --> 01:38:56,360
 >> I second.

1129
01:38:56,360 --> 01:39:01,520
 >> Do we need to hear from everyone?

1130
01:39:01,520 --> 01:39:11,720
 >> When you vote, you will need to do a voice vote.

1131
01:39:11,720 --> 01:39:17,800
 Would you like to clarify, so that we can bring correct information to the council,

1132
01:39:17,800 --> 01:39:28,260
 which committees we'd like to use, and was the language in the proposed -- the example

1133
01:39:28,260 --> 01:39:34,400
 that we gave you, was that sufficient to be considered in the fiscal '22 budget, if not,

1134
01:39:34,400 --> 01:39:35,560
 or at the next opportunity?

1135
01:39:35,560 --> 01:39:36,560
 >> Yes.

1136
01:39:36,560 --> 01:39:37,560
 >> Okay.

1137
01:39:37,560 --> 01:39:38,560
 >> Yes.

1138
01:39:38,560 --> 01:39:44,560
 And I don't know if we have to vote on it all as one piece, or -- because what I thought

1139
01:39:44,560 --> 01:39:49,160
 was option A, and then we would decide, okay, which committees would be the more appropriate

1140
01:39:49,160 --> 01:39:53,040
 to -- >> Since it's one action item, I think it would

1141
01:39:53,040 --> 01:39:57,920
 be good to wrap it all up in two motions, and then have everyone vote on that one motion.

1142
01:39:57,920 --> 01:39:58,920
 >> Okay.

1143
01:39:58,920 --> 01:40:08,520
 So I will amend that motion and add that our meeting and city council meetings be the meetings

1144
01:40:08,520 --> 01:40:13,520
 that are captioned.

1145
01:40:13,520 --> 01:40:16,520
 >> I second.

1146
01:40:16,520 --> 01:40:24,560
 >> So I guess all in favor, we're going to have to raise our hand, or say aye.

1147
01:40:24,560 --> 01:40:25,560
 >> Aye.

1148
01:40:25,560 --> 01:40:26,560
 >> Okay.

1149
01:40:26,560 --> 01:40:28,560
 Any opposed?

1150
01:40:28,560 --> 01:40:35,160
 >> I think Tammy wants to say something.

1151
01:40:35,160 --> 01:40:36,160
 >> Okay.

1152
01:40:36,160 --> 01:40:37,160
 I'm sorry, Tammy.

1153
01:40:37,160 --> 01:40:42,200
 I thought that was a raise for a vote.

1154
01:40:42,200 --> 01:41:09,840
 >> We would not be able to accomplish C for the council meetings due to their length.

1155
01:41:09,840 --> 01:41:15,040
 >> Okay.

1156
01:41:15,040 --> 01:41:19,480
 >> Likely would not be able to do that for any additional board and commission meetings

1157
01:41:19,480 --> 01:41:30,280
 in the future due to the sheer size and number of them.

1158
01:41:30,280 --> 01:41:31,280
 >> Okay.

1159
01:41:31,280 --> 01:41:46,040
 >> Becky, did we record everyone's vote?

1160
01:41:46,040 --> 01:41:50,240
 >> It needs to be by name, for the record, please.

1161
01:41:50,240 --> 01:41:57,920
 Val has made the motion, Val Vera as the chair, and it needs the comment on who seconded the

1162
01:41:57,920 --> 01:42:08,160
 motion, and then the consensus vote individually.

1163
01:42:08,160 --> 01:42:12,160
 >> Was it Tamara that seconded the motion?

1164
01:42:12,160 --> 01:42:13,160
 No?

1165
01:42:13,160 --> 01:42:14,160
 >> It was Allison.

1166
01:42:14,160 --> 01:42:15,160
 >> Okay.

1167
01:42:15,160 --> 01:42:16,160
 Thank you.

1168
01:42:16,160 --> 01:42:17,160
 I'm sorry.

1169
01:42:17,160 --> 01:42:18,160
 >> Thank you.

1170
01:42:18,160 --> 01:42:19,160
 >> Okay.

1171
01:42:19,160 --> 01:42:30,560
 And I can -- I'll please have each individual just say your name and say, "Aye."

1172
01:42:30,560 --> 01:42:32,840
 >> Yes, please.

1173
01:42:32,840 --> 01:42:36,960
 >> Sunny Redwin, aye.

1174
01:42:36,960 --> 01:42:41,960
 >> Allison Kelly, aye.

1175
01:42:41,960 --> 01:42:50,160
 >> Emma Begum, aye.

1176
01:42:50,160 --> 01:42:56,400
 >> Tally Austin, aye.

1177
01:42:56,400 --> 01:43:01,720
 >> Val Morgan, aye.

1178
01:43:01,720 --> 01:43:07,240
 >> E.A. King, aye.

1179
01:43:07,240 --> 01:43:14,760
 >> Okay.

1180
01:43:14,760 --> 01:43:15,760
 That is everyone.

1181
01:43:15,760 --> 01:43:16,760
 Correct?

1182
01:43:16,760 --> 01:43:17,760
 Okay.

1183
01:43:17,760 --> 01:43:18,760
 Great.

1184
01:43:18,760 --> 01:43:23,320
 >> Thank you, committee, and as I mentioned in the presentation, we'll communicate this

1185
01:43:23,320 --> 01:43:30,840
 recommendation to the council, and at the very latest, this will be brought forward

1186
01:43:30,840 --> 01:43:36,640
 in the late spring as part of the fiscal '22 budget, and council has the opportunity to

1187
01:43:36,640 --> 01:43:39,240
 discuss that earlier at their committees.

1188
01:43:39,240 --> 01:43:46,320
 >> Ryan, will the comments from the committee members here be added to that as far as in

1189
01:43:46,320 --> 01:43:49,880
 the spirit of diversity and inclusion and --

1190
01:43:49,880 --> 01:43:50,880
 >> Yes.

1191
01:43:50,880 --> 01:43:51,880
 >> Okay.

1192
01:43:51,880 --> 01:43:57,600
 >> We'll pull from the minutes, but I'll specifically mention that was one of the driving factors.

1193
01:43:57,600 --> 01:43:58,600
 >> Okay.

1194
01:43:58,600 --> 01:43:59,600
 All right.

1195
01:43:59,600 --> 01:44:00,600
 Thank you, everyone.

1196
01:44:00,600 --> 01:44:14,600
 We are at CPD '20 029 staff reports.

1197
01:44:14,600 --> 01:44:22,360
 >> So that's me again, and everyone received a -- the staff report with a couple of different

1198
01:44:22,360 --> 01:44:23,360
 items.

1199
01:44:23,360 --> 01:44:28,920
 I did just want to point out three particular things.

1200
01:44:28,920 --> 01:44:34,640
 So we have updated our ADA web page, and this is new information.

1201
01:44:34,640 --> 01:44:40,160
 This is with what I would think is a better conformance with what is prescribed by the

1202
01:44:40,160 --> 01:44:45,560
 Department of Justice in terms of notifications and notices, and also resources including

1203
01:44:45,560 --> 01:44:54,240
 a grievance process, and that can be found at cityofdenton.com/ADA, and so if you want

1204
01:44:54,240 --> 01:44:56,640
 to check it out, please do so.

1205
01:44:56,640 --> 01:44:58,320
 It does have committee information.

1206
01:44:58,320 --> 01:45:03,280
 You migrated information from the committee page to this page, knowing it would be a lot

1207
01:45:03,280 --> 01:45:08,960
 more accessible to people, and if you do have any questions or comments about it, please

1208
01:45:08,960 --> 01:45:11,000
 feel free to reach out to me and send me an e-mail.

1209
01:45:11,000 --> 01:45:18,980
 I'm happy to talk with you about any improvements we need to make to the page.

1210
01:45:18,980 --> 01:45:24,000
 The take me home program was a very deep and thorough discussion at the last meeting.

1211
01:45:24,000 --> 01:45:29,200
 I do want to draw your attention to an update memo that the chief provided in your backup

1212
01:45:29,200 --> 01:45:33,840
 materials and let you know that that's there.

1213
01:45:33,840 --> 01:45:40,600
 And then I also want to -- we are required to -- actually, the chair is required to just

1214
01:45:40,600 --> 01:45:43,840
 give a brief report on absences from the previous meeting.

1215
01:45:43,840 --> 01:45:50,320
 In this case, it's going to be the previous two meetings, and so, Mr. Chair, I can read

1216
01:45:50,320 --> 01:45:52,840
 them off if you'd like.

1217
01:45:52,840 --> 01:45:55,360
 This is a requirement just for all of our boards and commissions.

1218
01:45:55,360 --> 01:45:57,560
 Would you like me to do that, Val?

1219
01:45:57,560 --> 01:45:58,560
 >> Please, thanks.

1220
01:45:58,560 --> 01:45:59,560
 I appreciate it.

1221
01:45:59,560 --> 01:46:04,120
 >> So we did have one absence from the July 17th meeting.

1222
01:46:04,120 --> 01:46:09,560
 That was Tamra, and that's being classified as an unexcused absence.

1223
01:46:09,560 --> 01:46:13,680
 We do have criteria that allow it to be an excused absence.

1224
01:46:13,680 --> 01:46:17,400
 Our previous meeting on September 17th, we had two absences.

1225
01:46:17,400 --> 01:46:24,720
 Mr. Sam Alphonse had an unexcused absence, and Beth Haswell-Kirkby had an excused absence.

1226
01:46:24,720 --> 01:46:30,960
 And I want to just encourage anyone, if you're not able to make it to a meeting, totally

1227
01:46:30,960 --> 01:46:31,960
 understand.

1228
01:46:31,960 --> 01:46:36,120
 Just reach out to the city secretary and give her a heads up, and that way she can properly

1229
01:46:36,120 --> 01:46:38,340
 record your absence.

1230
01:46:38,340 --> 01:46:39,340
 It does happen.

1231
01:46:39,340 --> 01:46:43,600
 So just make sure you reach out to Rose's team on that.

1232
01:46:43,600 --> 01:46:51,280
 >> I'm sorry, say that one more time?

1233
01:46:51,280 --> 01:46:52,280
 >> Okay.

1234
01:46:52,280 --> 01:47:01,480
 I'll tell you what, if you don't mind, just reach out to the city secretary, and you can

1235
01:47:01,480 --> 01:47:03,600
 figure out how to classify that.

1236
01:47:03,600 --> 01:47:04,600
 >> Okay.

1237
01:47:04,600 --> 01:47:13,800
 Because I want a question on there, and I want an excuse.

1238
01:47:13,800 --> 01:47:14,800
 >> Oh.

1239
01:47:14,800 --> 01:47:15,800
 That will happen, though.

1240
01:47:15,800 --> 01:47:16,800
 >> Yeah.

1241
01:47:16,800 --> 01:47:24,300
 >> And the other final heads up I have is simply a reminder of the next meeting.

1242
01:47:24,300 --> 01:47:34,440
 And that's scheduled right now to take place on Thursday, January 21st at 3 p.m. via Zoom.

1243
01:47:34,440 --> 01:47:35,440
 >> Thank you, Ryan.

1244
01:47:35,440 --> 01:47:36,440
 >> Yeah.

1245
01:47:36,440 --> 01:47:38,720
 >> And we are at our concluding items.

1246
01:47:38,720 --> 01:47:45,640
 If anyone has any announcements, thoughts, questions.

1247
01:47:45,640 --> 01:47:54,040
 And as Ryan mentioned just a minute ago about the report about the Take Me Home program,

1248
01:47:54,040 --> 01:47:58,640
 I encourage everyone to read that.

1249
01:47:58,640 --> 01:48:00,480
 There was significant change.

1250
01:48:00,480 --> 01:48:09,460
 And also, for those of you that participated in that discussion and did some research beforehand,

1251
01:48:09,460 --> 01:48:11,460
 I appreciate that.

1252
01:48:11,460 --> 01:48:18,280
 And I know the residents that were affected by the program appreciate that.

1253
01:48:18,280 --> 01:48:26,280
 And those of you out in the community who vocalized, thank you as well.

1254
01:48:26,280 --> 01:48:32,560
 And I don't have any final thoughts, announcements, questions.

1255
01:48:32,560 --> 01:48:33,560
 No?

1256
01:48:33,560 --> 01:48:34,560
 Okay.

1257
01:48:34,560 --> 01:48:37,960
 Well, this is our last meeting of this year.

1258
01:48:37,960 --> 01:48:44,960
 So of course, we want to thank everyone for treading through this very difficult time

1259
01:48:44,960 --> 01:48:50,200
 and doing this virtual thing for our last year for meetings.

1260
01:48:50,200 --> 01:48:56,840
 So I know it's been difficult, everyone taking the time to come here virtually in the middle

1261
01:48:56,840 --> 01:49:00,240
 of the afternoon and serve our community.

1262
01:49:00,240 --> 01:49:01,240
 So thank you.

1263
01:49:01,240 --> 01:49:07,160
 And thank you for the one or two people out there that are watching this.

1264
01:49:07,160 --> 01:49:13,200
 Hopefully next year we'll be able to grow on that.

1265
01:49:13,200 --> 01:49:16,600
 So I will make a motion to end this.

1266
01:49:16,600 --> 01:49:18,920
 Oh, Beth, I'm sorry.

1267
01:49:18,920 --> 01:49:22,560
 I was just going to point out Val had her hand up, her electronic hand.

1268
01:49:22,560 --> 01:49:26,360
 I just want to make sure she didn't have anything else to say in closing.

1269
01:49:26,360 --> 01:49:27,360
 No.

1270
01:49:27,360 --> 01:49:28,360
 Okay.

1271
01:49:28,360 --> 01:49:29,360
 Okay.

1272
01:49:29,360 --> 01:49:30,360
 Thank you, Becky.

1273
01:49:30,360 --> 01:49:31,360
 All right.

1274
01:49:31,360 --> 01:49:34,360
 Unless there's something else, I'll make a motion to end our meeting.

1275
01:49:34,360 --> 01:49:35,360
 Second.

1276
01:49:35,360 --> 01:49:36,360
 Second, third.

1277
01:49:36,360 --> 01:49:37,360
 Everyone good with that?

1278
01:49:37,360 --> 01:49:38,360
 You need to record that.

1279
01:49:38,360 --> 01:49:39,360
 Sally, you're good with that?

1280
01:49:39,360 --> 01:49:40,360
 Charlie?

1281
01:49:40,360 --> 01:50:03,600
 Okay, well, then that concludes our meeting for November and I want to wish everyone happy

1282
01:50:03,600 --> 01:50:06,920
 holidays and we'll see you next year.

1283
01:50:06,920 --> 01:50:07,920
 Holidays.

1284
01:50:07,920 --> 01:50:07,920
 Happy holidays.