WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.000 >> Hi, good afternoon, everyone, welcome to the City Committee on People with Disabilities 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:14.000 meeting. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:21.440 It is Thursday, November 19th, and we will call this meeting to order 301. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:27.680 My name is Val Vera, the chair of the City Committee on People with Disabilities. 00:00:27.680 --> 00:00:30.480 Thank you all for being here. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:38.140 Do we have any public comments or -- >> There are no public comments on the form 00:00:38.140 --> 00:00:40.400 and we have also not received any phone calls. 00:00:40.400 --> 00:00:41.400 >> Okay. 00:00:41.400 --> 00:00:42.400 Great. 00:00:42.400 --> 00:00:43.400 Thank you. 00:00:43.400 --> 00:00:52.480 Then we'll move forward with item A, CPD 20-025, consider the approval of the meeting minutes 00:00:52.480 --> 00:00:58.920 of September 17th, 2020. 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:09.000 I will ask someone to take a moment to approve those. 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:11.000 >> I'll move. 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:13.300 >> Job seconds. 00:01:13.300 --> 00:01:16.960 So the minutes are approved. 00:01:16.960 --> 00:01:17.960 Thank you. 00:01:17.960 --> 00:01:19.960 We will go to item B. 00:01:19.960 --> 00:01:24.960 Oh, go ahead, I'm sorry. 00:01:24.960 --> 00:01:33.060 >> Ryan, your microphone is up. 00:01:33.060 --> 00:01:35.040 That's the equivalent of the mute button. 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:38.360 >> That should be better. 00:01:38.360 --> 00:01:41.800 We'll actually need to do an individual voice vote, if that's all right, so that each member's 00:01:41.800 --> 00:01:44.480 vote can be counted for the minute recorded. 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:45.480 >> Okay. 00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:53.420 >> So we need everyone's vocal approval. 00:01:53.420 --> 00:01:57.160 >> Vocal or just a hand raise would be fine. 00:01:57.160 --> 00:02:00.640 And so you can -- if you want to just call them out by name and then they can respond 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:05.440 either with a hand raise or vocally, that would be great. 00:02:05.440 --> 00:02:19.520 >> Okay, Rex, Joe, Sonya, Val, and Sally. 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:20.520 Okay. 00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:23.520 Am I missing anyone? 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:24.520 No. 00:02:24.520 --> 00:02:25.520 Okay. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:29.360 So now the minutes are approved. 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:30.360 Thank you. 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:31.360 Thank you, Ryan. 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:42.240 We'll go to item B, CPD-20-024, receive a report, hold a discussion regarding the library 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:49.080 virtual programming services. 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:57.840 >> Good afternoon, committee members. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:02:58.840 I'm Jennifer Becker. 00:02:58.840 --> 00:03:03.460 I'm the director of libraries here with the Denton Public Library, and I'm going to share 00:03:03.460 --> 00:03:33.240 my screen. 00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:40.160 There we go. 00:03:40.160 --> 00:03:46.920 So we wanted to share some of the programming ideas that we have had to switch to thanks 00:03:46.920 --> 00:03:53.400 to COVID-19 and see if there was any feedback we could get on how we could make sure that 00:03:53.400 --> 00:04:00.440 all of our programs are inclusive and available to all of our citizens. 00:04:00.440 --> 00:04:06.360 So we used to do programs in person, but because of COVID-19, we have switched to a virtual 00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:12.600 format, and we are offering three types of programs. 00:04:12.600 --> 00:04:16.680 The first one is video shorts that you can find on social media. 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:24.200 We have Facebook and Twitter, and those are about two to 10-minute short recordings, and 00:04:24.200 --> 00:04:29.360 they tend to be focused on children, so we have story times, craft activities, those kinds 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:30.520 of things. 00:04:30.520 --> 00:04:36.360 We also have some book talks where we talk about recommended things that people can check 00:04:36.360 --> 00:04:39.660 out or new materials coming out. 00:04:39.660 --> 00:04:45.640 We also have on-demand video tutorials and activities that can be found on the library's 00:04:45.640 --> 00:04:49.600 website, so these are recorded videos. 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:55.740 They're often a slideshow or screen capture with voiceover. 00:04:55.740 --> 00:05:03.240 One thing we have started doing is making sure that we do have the transcripts below, 00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:12.960 so if anybody is unable to hear any of the text as it's being read or talked about, then 00:05:12.960 --> 00:05:14.920 that's an option on there. 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:19.080 So we've started adding those, but those are just on-demand recordings. 00:05:19.080 --> 00:05:24.640 And then we've also started doing live programs with Zoom. 00:05:24.640 --> 00:05:29.400 That's the technology we're currently using for our live programming. 00:05:29.400 --> 00:05:33.840 This image on the right is an example of one of those live programs. 00:05:33.840 --> 00:05:40.400 It's an interactive activity where somebody's sharing information or there's discussion, 00:05:40.400 --> 00:05:45.000 and there's back and forth between participants and the presenter. 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:51.000 And then another service that we've also switched to virtual is our book-a-librarian service, 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:56.280 which we've always offered, but it's traditionally been done in person for anybody who needs 00:05:56.280 --> 00:05:57.920 one-on-one assistance. 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:04.240 We have a variety of topics that we can help with, usually involving technology or accessing 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:06.800 some of the library's resources online. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:11.600 Of course, we aren't able to do that in person, but we still want to make sure that we can 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:17.880 provide that service, so we've switched to doing that via Zoom or over the phone at this 00:06:17.880 --> 00:06:18.880 time. 00:06:18.880 --> 00:06:24.400 One of the challenges with that is it's usually the technology that's causing issues that 00:06:24.400 --> 00:06:32.160 people need assistance with, and if you have technology frustrations or issues with technology, 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:37.640 Zoom is sometimes more frustrating on top of that. 00:06:37.640 --> 00:06:42.280 So we do also offer it via phone, so we can try to get at least people comfortable with 00:06:42.280 --> 00:06:46.360 doing certain things on Zoom, and then we can transition to Zoom where we can share 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:48.220 screens. 00:06:48.220 --> 00:06:52.500 So that's kind of what we have switched to. 00:06:52.500 --> 00:06:57.760 And some of the things we're trying to look at and make sure that we can catch early on 00:06:57.760 --> 00:07:05.360 as we are switching to this virtual platform are accessibility considerations, are there 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:11.120 alternative programming formats or technologies we should be considering, and then also we 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:16.440 wanted to hear from the committee if you all had any suggestions for specific program topics. 00:07:16.440 --> 00:07:22.480 We are always looking for input from community members for any of our programs. 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:26.040 Back when we were doing in-person ones, we'd look for that, and then now that we're doing 00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:31.480 virtual, we'd love to hear any input on that also. 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:38.040 So I'm going to stop the share. 00:07:38.040 --> 00:07:42.960 So I'd love to hear any input or suggestions that you have regarding how we can make sure 00:07:42.960 --> 00:07:49.520 that our virtual programming is still easily accessible and available and serves the whole 00:07:49.520 --> 00:07:50.520 community. 00:07:50.520 --> 00:07:53.520 Go ahead, Sonia. 00:07:53.520 --> 00:07:54.520 Hi. 00:07:54.520 --> 00:08:02.440 I'm so excited to hear more about all these programs and, you know, seeing how other people 00:08:02.440 --> 00:08:08.600 are adapting their usual in-person activities into virtual settings, so thank you for that. 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:15.480 One thing that I did notice in your social media videos is that you don't have any captioning 00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:22.160 on your social media videos, and so that would be really important, and I know different 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:31.880 programs, even PowerPoint now has captioning capabilities, and it's pretty accurate, and 00:08:31.880 --> 00:08:32.880 so does Zoom. 00:08:32.880 --> 00:08:39.160 So those are just a couple of things that I noticed just right off the bat. 00:08:39.160 --> 00:08:40.160 Great. 00:08:40.160 --> 00:08:48.000 I would add to that, maybe it's more of a question, but I'm assuming there's like a 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:53.480 reasonable accommodation statement for people who need a reasonable accommodation, need 00:08:53.480 --> 00:08:59.880 to call in or a week or so, whatever the timeline is before. 00:08:59.880 --> 00:09:07.240 So what type of allowances are available for someone who says maybe they need a sign language 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:11.080 interpreter as opposed to the captioning? 00:09:11.080 --> 00:09:17.000 We do have that as part of our program policy, and we just ask that somebody calls in. 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:20.800 I want to say it's 48 hours, but I'll be honest, it's been a couple of months since I've looked 00:09:20.800 --> 00:09:27.200 at the time of the policy, so I can follow up with that exact policy and have that sent 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:30.320 out to the committee for y'all to take a look at that. 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:35.760 But that is part of our program policy, yes, that anybody can call ahead with any reasonable 00:09:35.760 --> 00:09:40.080 accommodation, and we will do our best to make sure that we are able to do that. 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:46.160 And I think another one, and it's something I was going to start today and I forgot, it's 00:09:46.160 --> 00:09:47.160 a basic one. 00:09:47.160 --> 00:09:49.200 It's called audio description. 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:56.840 So when with Zoom or any kind of FaceTime for those who are blind or low vision is that 00:09:56.840 --> 00:10:01.480 the speaker describes who they are on the screen or what they would see. 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:02.480 Okay. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:09.960 So for me it would be, you know, I'm a light brown male with four beard glasses and a black 00:10:09.960 --> 00:10:10.960 hat on. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:11.960 Okay. 00:10:11.960 --> 00:10:17.680 So it's more of a habit thing than... 00:10:17.680 --> 00:10:18.680 That is very helpful. 00:10:18.680 --> 00:10:28.360 But it also makes it more inclusive. 00:10:28.360 --> 00:10:33.200 So if we were doing story times, let's say the recorded story times, and I know that 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:40.080 we are showing those picture books when they're only so big on that tiny screen anyway, would 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:44.040 it be something that would be helpful that as the librarian is reading the story then 00:10:44.040 --> 00:10:50.320 is also would give the description of what's in the storybook also, the images. 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:53.800 Yes, most definitely. 00:10:53.800 --> 00:10:54.800 Okay. 00:10:54.800 --> 00:10:58.600 Tamara, you had a question? 00:10:58.600 --> 00:11:06.760 Okay, I'm sorry, I thought it was your hand. 00:11:06.760 --> 00:11:12.760 Any other questions or comments at all? 00:11:12.760 --> 00:11:14.960 Rex? 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:17.200 Rex? 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:30.680 Yeah, we can't hear you, Rex. 00:11:30.680 --> 00:11:32.280 We're unable to hear you. 00:11:32.280 --> 00:11:48.040 Perhaps your microphone is turned off. 00:11:48.040 --> 00:11:49.040 You can't hear me? 00:11:49.040 --> 00:11:50.040 There it goes. 00:11:50.040 --> 00:11:51.040 You're good now. 00:11:51.040 --> 00:11:52.040 All right. 00:11:52.040 --> 00:11:53.040 I'm sorry. 00:11:53.040 --> 00:11:54.040 My apologies. 00:11:54.040 --> 00:12:00.000 I'm an amateur radio operator and I work with some of the astronauts on the International 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:01.000 Space Station. 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:07.840 We all are amateur radio operators and they have worked with various schools and libraries 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:18.440 around the country and where they have talked with people from outer space and actually 00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:25.720 sent video down and this might be a learning tool for people who are shut in. 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:30.280 You could live stream that from the library. 00:12:30.280 --> 00:12:34.360 I can help you get in touch with NASA. 00:12:34.360 --> 00:12:40.720 One of the astronauts that went up is the latest astronauts that went up as a fellow 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:41.720 naval officer. 00:12:41.720 --> 00:12:46.520 I'm a retired naval officer, one of the other ones. 00:12:46.520 --> 00:12:56.600 He is from, I think it's just east of Denton here and I'm sure he and his family would 00:12:56.600 --> 00:13:04.120 be thrilled to be able to have him talk to Denton County here and share his experiences 00:13:04.120 --> 00:13:14.720 with young people especially those who have aspirations of advanced learning and science. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:19.200 I love that idea and we will be contacting you. 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:34.640 I think that would be very popular. 00:13:34.640 --> 00:13:42.920 I know in maybe in the past in-person activities especially with our youth population you may 00:13:42.920 --> 00:13:46.640 have provided the materials to do the activities. 00:13:46.640 --> 00:13:53.160 Is that still available as a grab and go option for families to collect materials? 00:13:53.160 --> 00:13:54.400 Yes. 00:13:54.400 --> 00:13:55.400 That is something we are starting. 00:13:55.400 --> 00:13:58.040 We are actually prepping right now. 00:13:58.040 --> 00:14:00.880 We normally do a three program season. 00:14:00.880 --> 00:14:07.660 We are prepping right now for a December/January winter season and we are prepping a few programs 00:14:07.660 --> 00:14:09.600 with those craft pickups. 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:12.920 We have one going on right now for teens. 00:14:12.920 --> 00:14:18.000 November is National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:23.200 Teens can come to North Branch and through the curbside pickup or right now it is still 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:30.520 open today and tomorrow to pick up a NaNoWriMo kit which is a to-go pack with some writing 00:14:30.520 --> 00:14:34.520 prompts and I think there are some snacks in there and that kind of thing but for the 00:14:34.520 --> 00:14:38.820 crafts and we are looking for that for all ages also. 00:14:38.820 --> 00:14:44.760 You will see that in the winter and then the spring season which temporarily will be February 00:14:44.760 --> 00:14:45.760 through April. 00:14:45.760 --> 00:14:52.560 We are also expanding it into there. 00:14:52.560 --> 00:14:53.560 Thank you. 00:14:53.560 --> 00:15:09.840 Any other questions or comments? 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:10.840 Well thank you so much. 00:15:10.840 --> 00:15:16.320 We really appreciate your assistance and we look forward to making some of these improvements 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:20.040 and following up about the astronaut program. 00:15:20.040 --> 00:15:21.400 Thank you. 00:15:21.400 --> 00:15:36.880 We will go on to the next item which is CVD 20.026, Receiving Report Holy Discussion gives 00:15:36.880 --> 00:15:48.120 staff direction on the City of Benton's Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives as a mouthful. 00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:49.480 It is a mouthful. 00:15:49.480 --> 00:15:50.880 Hello committee members. 00:15:50.880 --> 00:15:51.880 My name is John Nelson. 00:15:51.880 --> 00:15:56.800 I am the new Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer here at the City and it is my privilege 00:15:56.800 --> 00:15:58.800 to be here with you all today. 00:15:58.800 --> 00:16:03.440 I would like to take just a few minutes to highlight for the committee some of our recent 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:08.920 diversity and inclusion efforts and talk about our program and goals for the future. 00:16:08.920 --> 00:16:18.320 Let me see if I can get my presentation pulled up here quick and share that with you all. 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:32.600 Okay, come on, apologies, we will get there. 00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:40.400 All right, can you all see that? 00:16:40.400 --> 00:16:41.400 Yeah. 00:16:41.400 --> 00:16:42.400 Perfect. 00:16:42.400 --> 00:16:47.080 Okay, so first I would like to share some of what we have been working on for the past 00:16:47.080 --> 00:16:48.760 couple of months. 00:16:48.760 --> 00:16:54.920 First up, with regard to training and resources, HR conducts training courses on the topics 00:16:54.920 --> 00:17:01.280 of harassment prevention, discrimination, diversity several times a year. 00:17:01.280 --> 00:17:06.240 These are open to all employees, supervisors and managers. 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:10.040 Disability is specifically discussed as one of the protected classes in these trainings 00:17:10.040 --> 00:17:15.760 and we do go into detail on the ADA as well as the Amendments Act of 2008. 00:17:15.760 --> 00:17:19.880 These topics are also part of our new employee orientation course that every new hire is 00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:23.440 required to go through when they're first onboarded with the City. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:27.520 We plan on continuing these trainings as well as hosting an annual legal update for our 00:17:27.520 --> 00:17:33.800 supervisors and managers to continue to reinforce this important information. 00:17:33.800 --> 00:17:37.680 In addition to training, we've also recognized the need to provide more diversity and inclusion 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:41.220 tools and resources to our employees. 00:17:41.220 --> 00:17:46.600 We've created a resource page for our employees that we update weekly that now contains hundreds 00:17:46.600 --> 00:17:51.520 of hours worth of content and we're working to expand this page with additional content 00:17:51.520 --> 00:17:55.600 on each of the protected classes. 00:17:55.600 --> 00:17:59.040 Next up, starting the conversation, you know, issues can't be addressed until people are 00:17:59.040 --> 00:18:03.600 made aware of them and people won't be made aware of issues until we talk about them openly 00:18:03.600 --> 00:18:05.340 and honestly. 00:18:05.340 --> 00:18:08.980 So over the past few months, we've been working to try to help people start to have these 00:18:08.980 --> 00:18:14.160 conversations about diversity issues and inclusionary efforts. 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:19.720 This has included a few different things, production of PSA videos from the City and 00:18:19.720 --> 00:18:24.640 from the Police Department, both affirming our commitment to serving our diverse community 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:27.360 and listening to their needs. 00:18:27.360 --> 00:18:31.800 We created a web series for employees that we called Unfiltered, you know, because one 00:18:31.800 --> 00:18:36.560 of the most impactful and transformative ways we can develop is to learn about our own blind 00:18:36.560 --> 00:18:43.440 spots and this important series tries to help expose our blind spots and help employees 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:47.800 see life through a different set of filters than their own. 00:18:47.800 --> 00:18:51.680 You know, a common response people have is to disbelieve somebody's experience because, 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:56.440 you know, it hasn't happened to me, so I don't really think that exists. 00:18:56.440 --> 00:19:02.600 So by hearing individual experiences from people that they know that they work with, 00:19:02.600 --> 00:19:07.280 employees hopefully will gain greater appreciation and acceptance of different perspectives, 00:19:07.280 --> 00:19:12.720 different experiences, will be more empathetic and understanding, and will be able to work 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:17.520 together for greater access and inclusion. 00:19:17.520 --> 00:19:22.440 Then lastly is our employee panel conversations, which feature small groups of employees discussing 00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:28.360 personal experiences and insights into diversity topics and situations. 00:19:28.360 --> 00:19:34.200 We record these conversations, we post them on that resource page that I mentioned. 00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:38.880 And then finally, to put more focus and resources on this important cause, my position was changed 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:45.400 last month to Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, and I am incredibly humbled by this 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:49.320 opportunity that I'm really looking forward to working with our employees, working with 00:19:49.320 --> 00:19:53.840 city leadership, and working with the community to do some good. 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 00:19:58.200 --> 00:19:59.800 statement. 00:19:59.800 --> 00:20:04.760 In this statement, we identify three core values in our initiative, and these values 00:20:04.760 --> 00:20:10.780 are humanity, accountability, and willingness. 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 00:20:15.040 --> 00:20:20.080 about what we affirm, what we expect, and what we want. 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 00:20:24.200 --> 00:20:29.160 statement will serve as the foundation to our future efforts and be used as a guide 00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:34.680 to help us make decisions and create more safe, accessible, and an inclusive environment 00:20:34.680 --> 00:20:36.900 for everyone. 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 00:20:44.680 --> 00:20:46.320 focus areas. 00:20:46.320 --> 00:20:48.000 First up, education. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:52.600 And we recognize that so much gets derailed by misinformation and misunderstanding, and 00:20:52.600 --> 00:20:57.520 we want to increase communication, increase training, increase resources for all of our 00:20:57.520 --> 00:21:02.640 employees, the different departments, and our HR staff as well, make sure they're properly 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:03.640 trained. 00:21:03.640 --> 00:21:05.000 Engagement. 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. 00:21:09.280 --> 00:21:11.920 We'll be involving more people in the conversation. 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:17.040 We'll be conducting surveys, hosting meetings, creating opportunities for people to participate 00:21:17.040 --> 00:21:19.360 in this important work. 00:21:19.360 --> 00:21:24.160 Recruitment. Obviously, this has a huge impact on the diversity of our workforce, and we 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:29.360 want to enhance our recruiting efforts to develop a diverse talent pipeline. 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 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:41.400 that there are equitable opportunities for jobs, for mentorship, and career planning. 00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:42.680 The city as a workplace. 00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:47.560 We want to better track our diversity numbers, begin to establish consistent diversity metrics 00:21:47.560 --> 00:21:49.160 and reporting. 00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:54.640 We hope to examine policies, practices, a look at pay and positions to ensure that not 00:21:54.640 --> 00:22:00.280 only do we have a diverse workforce, but an equitable organization as well. 00:22:00.280 --> 00:22:01.400 And of course, community. 00:22:01.400 --> 00:22:04.020 We want to listen to those that we serve. 00:22:04.020 --> 00:22:09.280 We hope to partner with departments and community groups as we start this journey to create 00:22:09.280 --> 00:22:13.920 a safe and inclusive environment for all. 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 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, 00:22:26.520 --> 00:22:28.480 the minimum qualifications. 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 00:22:33.160 --> 00:22:34.160 to bring to the table. 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:40.100 And our purpose, our objective is to create a workplace where every single person knows 00:22:40.100 --> 00:22:43.600 that they're unique and individual contributions. 00:22:43.600 --> 00:22:47.700 They're welcomed and they're encouraged, you know, that's what we're working towards. 00:22:47.700 --> 00:22:50.520 And I am super excited to be part of this journey. 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 00:22:56.140 --> 00:22:57.740 first steps that we're taking. 00:22:57.740 --> 00:23:02.520 And I'm happy to answer any questions or take any feedback that you might have. 00:23:02.520 --> 00:23:14.600 Quick question, I know you mentioned the ADA amendments, are there any plans to do any 00:23:14.600 --> 00:23:21.920 type of more cultural competence trainings or discussions when it comes to disability? 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:35.280 So be more terminology, language, history, disability culture, that's not, that's not, 00:23:35.280 --> 00:23:41.560 it's more of a soft skill versus, you know, technical ADA training. 00:23:41.560 --> 00:23:42.560 Right. 00:23:42.560 --> 00:23:48.200 Yeah, there's the legal requirements, but then there's a day to day interactions for 00:23:48.200 --> 00:23:49.200 sure. 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:50.200 Correct. 00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:54.000 And that's something that we're definitely focusing on in the building of that resource 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:56.960 page is what are the terms? 00:23:56.960 --> 00:23:58.720 What are the definitions? 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:00.240 How do you take action? 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:03.680 How do you have conversations? 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:08.160 So that is definitely something that we're interested in building up as we go forward 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:15.160 for sure. 00:24:15.160 --> 00:24:20.920 Sonya? 00:24:20.920 --> 00:24:23.760 Hi, excited about this. 00:24:23.760 --> 00:24:30.120 This is awesome to see the city taking these steps for diversity, inclusion and social 00:24:30.120 --> 00:24:32.000 equity. 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 00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:44.160 were just what what is the current culture around diversity, inclusion and social equity 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 00:24:47.800 --> 00:24:55.120 any progress or any change. 00:24:55.120 --> 00:25:01.320 She's taking notes here. 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 00:25:06.680 --> 00:25:07.680 table. 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:10.760 And so I appreciate the feedback. 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 00:25:15.560 --> 00:25:18.600 level read on the organization. 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. 00:25:23.360 --> 00:25:24.360 Yeah. 00:25:24.360 --> 00:25:25.360 We have that. 00:25:25.360 --> 00:25:26.360 Yeah. 00:25:26.360 --> 00:25:27.360 Yeah. 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 00:25:32.800 --> 00:25:34.400 know, that's a great starting point. 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:36.080 But then, you know, what do you do with that? 00:25:36.080 --> 00:25:38.560 After you watch the video, are you all having conversations? 00:25:38.560 --> 00:25:41.920 Are they guided? 00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:44.980 Do people feel comfortable sharing their stories? 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. 00:25:48.520 --> 00:25:53.280 It's going to be hard to get volunteers and to share their experiences. 00:25:53.280 --> 00:25:57.400 And so there's a definitely a lot that can go into it. 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. 00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:05.600 But those are some of the things that I was that came to mind. 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. 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. 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 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? 00:26:34.260 --> 00:26:42.060 So not just race and ethnicity, but definitely taking into account abilities, taking into 00:26:42.060 --> 00:26:49.040 account religion and sexual identity and gender identity and all of those things. 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 00:26:55.760 --> 00:26:56.760 everything. 00:26:56.760 --> 00:27:01.120 But there are definitely some certain populations that I think need to be identified. 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 00:27:06.560 --> 00:27:08.860 for for the city of Denton. 00:27:08.860 --> 00:27:11.240 I appreciate that. 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 00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:17.400 committee. 00:27:17.400 --> 00:27:33.800 That is definitely one of the first things on our list. 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 00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:09.600 employee committee together, but we have not gotten to that community committee yet. 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. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:17.720 Great. 00:28:17.720 --> 00:28:25.080 Any other last questions or comments? 00:28:25.080 --> 00:28:34.360 Thank you, sir. 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 00:28:41.640 --> 00:28:49.800 staff direction regarding the implementation of the our way crossing at the downtown intersections 00:28:49.800 --> 00:28:56.840 of Oak and Elm, Oak and Locust, Hickory and Elm and Hickory and Locust. 00:28:56.840 --> 00:28:58.760 Good afternoon. 00:28:58.760 --> 00:29:01.640 Thank you, Chairman and the members of the committee. 00:29:01.640 --> 00:29:05.480 Brian Young, city traffic engineer here to talk to you today about the all way crossing. 00:29:05.480 --> 00:29:09.720 We've taken we've modified the term a little bit based on your recommendation. 00:29:09.720 --> 00:29:15.040 So we're let me pull up my presentation. 00:29:15.040 --> 00:29:20.120 All right, can you see the presentation? 00:29:20.120 --> 00:29:21.120 Yes. 00:29:21.120 --> 00:29:22.120 Okay. 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 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 00:29:33.800 --> 00:29:34.800 the square. 00:29:34.800 --> 00:29:41.240 If you remember, the all way crossing is a dedicated pedestrian interval where no vehicles 00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:42.240 are moving. 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:44.280 It's only pedestrian traffic. 00:29:44.280 --> 00:29:48.760 So it is push button activated. 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 00:29:54.800 --> 00:29:56.320 allowed to move at all. 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 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 00:30:08.440 --> 00:30:13.520 of the diagonal crossing so that you can go from corner to corner diagonally in addition 00:30:13.520 --> 00:30:18.360 to the traditional crossing one street and then crossing the other to get to that far 00:30:18.360 --> 00:30:19.360 corner. 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 00:30:26.600 --> 00:30:28.100 engineering firm. 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 00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:31.960 first. 00:30:31.960 --> 00:30:36.280 I want to look I want to show you a few slides. 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 00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:47.480 those downtown, those four signals, those four corners, those intersections, because 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 00:30:53.040 --> 00:30:57.320 to either have to work around or remove or replace or relocate something. 00:30:57.320 --> 00:31:00.160 So I'm just going to walk around the square. 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:04.600 This is this is Hickory at Locust. 00:31:04.600 --> 00:31:10.520 So on your left is looking north and on your right is looking south. 00:31:10.520 --> 00:31:17.300 And you'll notice adjacent to the courthouse where my cursor is moving, pretty easy corner. 00:31:17.300 --> 00:31:21.600 But if you look across, we've got the signal hardware, we've got landscaping. 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 00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:30.520 northeast corner to the southwest corner and from the northwest corner to the southeast 00:31:30.520 --> 00:31:36.840 corner in addition to the four crossing pathways that we currently have. 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 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 00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:51.000 got some of the signal hardware, not necessarily the signal hardware is not necessarily easiest 00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:52.000 thing to move. 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 00:31:57.000 --> 00:32:00.080 and real estate is very tight. 00:32:00.080 --> 00:32:03.640 And so it's hard to find a new place to put a hole that big. 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 00:32:07.760 --> 00:32:10.120 bit more forgiving. 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 00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:15.400 options. 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 00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:30.260 with a design that will serve the community most effectively. 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 00:32:39.400 --> 00:32:45.800 looking north, both of those corners are they have in some at some level some obstruction. 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 00:32:51.060 --> 00:32:52.440 configuration. 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 00:32:59.080 --> 00:33:04.320 and seemingly easy accessible, but you get you get across the street and then we start 00:33:04.320 --> 00:33:08.120 with the landscaping and the pavers and and some of the signal hardware. 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, 00:33:13.720 --> 00:33:17.120 the signal hardware seems to be a little further back in these locations. 00:33:17.120 --> 00:33:21.580 And then on the right hand side of your screen again, around the courthouse, not necessarily 00:33:21.580 --> 00:33:22.580 a problem. 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. 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 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 00:33:41.240 --> 00:33:42.240 option. 00:33:42.240 --> 00:33:51.480 In fact, I just attended a an all day ADA webinar with a group called Accessology. 00:33:51.480 --> 00:33:55.840 And this is some of these are from their presentation. 00:33:55.840 --> 00:34:01.740 Sometimes we just have to we have to use a solution that fits the problem. 00:34:01.740 --> 00:34:09.080 And so that blended transition, where we have basically laid down the entire corner, preserves 00:34:09.080 --> 00:34:15.640 our normal crossing locations, but also allows us and not necessarily in this slide. 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 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 00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:31.720 in three discrete locations instead of the what's shown here is basically the entire 00:34:31.720 --> 00:34:33.520 wrapping the entire corner. 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 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:40.600 where we need them. 00:34:40.600 --> 00:34:47.000 The other option is just basically if you look at this middle, you continue the sidewalk 00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:51.640 around the around the radius of the back of curb. 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 00:34:58.360 --> 00:34:59.360 point. 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, 00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:11.600 the landing area with the detectable surface, and then crossing diagonally across the intersection. 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 00:35:15.080 --> 00:35:18.200 what we have the column perpendicular, we call them directional. 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 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. 00:35:36.620 --> 00:35:45.040 So again, we would just create this pathway around the landscaping, we might have to all 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 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 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 00:36:02.120 --> 00:36:07.120 the middle, that might have to require some signal location, relocation, etc. 00:36:07.120 --> 00:36:10.720 So we have two options. 00:36:10.720 --> 00:36:16.560 Moving forward, we have we have three physical options, we can do a directional ramp that 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. 00:36:22.880 --> 00:36:31.240 But staff believes that we should select a single crossing type and have a consistent 00:36:31.240 --> 00:36:33.720 treatment at all four intersections. 00:36:33.720 --> 00:36:39.240 So you've got 16 corners that need to really, they need to function the same. 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 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 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. 00:36:58.560 --> 00:37:06.680 However, we can allow the design consultant to tailor the crossing location to each, at 00:37:06.680 --> 00:37:12.060 least to each intersection specifically, so that crossing type may be different at Elm 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. 00:37:19.400 --> 00:37:23.080 But it'll be the same for that for each intersection. 00:37:23.080 --> 00:37:28.120 So the intersection will be uniform, but the system may not. 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 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, 00:37:42.600 --> 00:37:43.760 and then move forward. 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 00:37:49.400 --> 00:37:50.400 your memory. 00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:55.640 Again, this blended transition where we would have, and they're showing detectable surface 00:37:55.640 --> 00:38:02.400 for the entire arc, and we would probably maintain just three different pad pads, and 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 00:38:09.120 --> 00:38:14.120 simply wrap the corner with a five, four or five foot sidewalk. 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, 00:38:20.840 --> 00:38:24.400 we'll have the landscaping behind that sidewalk area. 00:38:24.400 --> 00:38:28.600 So you'll have a ramp here, you got a ramp here and a ramp here. 00:38:28.600 --> 00:38:34.000 And basically, this, what is currently pavers will become a sidewalk area. 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 00:38:41.640 --> 00:38:42.640 out there. 00:38:42.640 --> 00:38:49.200 Again, the directional ramps, and then we just take all of the landscaping out. 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 00:38:52.840 --> 00:38:58.600 the courthouse, we would just simply put another directional ramp in addition to the two that 00:38:58.600 --> 00:38:59.720 are there. 00:38:59.720 --> 00:39:05.920 So with that, any other questions? 00:39:05.920 --> 00:39:27.960 - I don't like the parallel one, the parallel one. 00:39:27.960 --> 00:39:35.480 - You don't like, he doesn't like the parallel one? 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 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. 00:39:50.080 --> 00:39:54.520 - Okay, good feedback. 00:39:54.520 --> 00:40:01.240 - I like the idea of flattening out that whole area. 00:40:01.240 --> 00:40:04.360 - He likes the idea of flattening out the whole area. 00:40:04.360 --> 00:40:05.360 - Okay. 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 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. 00:40:31.120 --> 00:40:38.040 - My experience with the blended ramps is that they're too difficult for blind people 00:40:38.040 --> 00:40:42.560 to line up with. 00:40:42.560 --> 00:40:59.320 No, I'm not, I'm not a fan of the blended ramps. 00:40:59.320 --> 00:41:07.400 - Any other comments? 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 00:41:13.480 --> 00:41:14.480 from the committee. 00:41:14.480 --> 00:41:15.480 Let me go ahead. 00:41:15.480 --> 00:41:16.480 This is my last slide. 00:41:16.480 --> 00:41:19.080 I'll just give you a little quick update on next steps. 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 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 00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:34.880 for approval if we do add a month and then working through design. 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 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, 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 00:41:52.600 --> 00:41:57.900 or the signal hardware we have to relocate, but September, October of 2021. 00:41:57.900 --> 00:42:14.360 So with that, I will stop sharing and we can have a little bit more discussion. 00:42:14.360 --> 00:42:28.720 I don't mind there being a ramp right in the middle. 00:42:28.720 --> 00:42:47.240 That'll be easier than the sidewalks because if you put the sidewalks in, someone might 00:42:47.240 --> 00:42:51.880 tip over. 00:42:51.880 --> 00:42:57.720 So let me ask a question and this is just basically just come to mind. 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 00:43:04.640 --> 00:43:15.200 will require the removal of most or all of the landscaping and that becomes untenable 00:43:15.200 --> 00:43:19.880 because all the corners would look like the corners adjacent to the, to the courthouse. 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. 00:43:26.840 --> 00:43:30.160 How critical are the diagonal crossings? 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. 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. 00:43:54.240 --> 00:44:04.000 I don't really understand the point of doing diagonal crosswalks. 00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:07.520 I don't really understand the point of doing diagonal crosswalks. 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 00:44:14.240 --> 00:44:18.900 time of the pedestrian interval, because if you want to cross right now, we're trying 00:44:18.900 --> 00:44:23.280 to give you enough time to cross two streets. 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 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, 00:44:37.560 --> 00:44:39.440 they're sitting there waiting. 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, 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 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 00:44:54.760 --> 00:44:58.560 and the cyclists, then that's a win-win. 00:44:58.560 --> 00:45:01.500 And that's, that was a thinking behind the diagonals. 00:45:01.500 --> 00:45:02.600 It's just kind of a scramble. 00:45:02.600 --> 00:45:06.360 You can go whichever corner, whichever direction you want. 00:45:06.360 --> 00:45:07.360 It's working now. 00:45:07.360 --> 00:45:08.360 You're correct. 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 00:45:13.920 --> 00:45:20.160 of the intersection and we're not getting a whole lot of pushback from any group. 00:45:20.160 --> 00:45:26.920 So, but city council wanted us to investigate the opportunity to install the diagonal crossings 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 00:45:31.400 --> 00:45:34.500 to there. 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 00:45:39.400 --> 00:45:42.200 pedestrian interval, you can go anywhere you want to. 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 00:45:48.540 --> 00:45:52.140 of why I wanted to know how important that is to this group. 00:45:52.140 --> 00:45:53.420 It's a time saver. 00:45:53.420 --> 00:45:55.460 It's a convenience factor. 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 00:46:02.760 --> 00:46:05.400 people say, well, they're not really that important. 00:46:05.400 --> 00:46:07.840 We'd rather have the landscaping. 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 00:46:12.600 --> 00:46:15.280 and what are we willing to give up? 00:46:15.280 --> 00:46:39.980 He likes the landscaping better because it makes Denton look better and it makes the 00:46:39.980 --> 00:46:46.040 square look better and he doesn't have a problem crossing anywhere on the square. 00:46:46.040 --> 00:46:49.460 I think one of the, I'm sorry, Rex, let me say this real quick. 00:46:49.460 --> 00:46:56.540 I think one of the challenges with this with disabilities is you have two different inclusion 00:46:56.540 --> 00:46:57.540 needs. 00:46:57.540 --> 00:47:03.260 You have those of us who are, have mobility disabilities, wheelchairs, walkers, but then 00:47:03.260 --> 00:47:07.400 we also have those with blindness or no vision. 00:47:07.400 --> 00:47:11.920 So for me, the blended round corner, perfect. 00:47:11.920 --> 00:47:12.920 That's a wheelchair user. 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 00:47:19.420 --> 00:47:26.640 using a cane or a dog, you need that, that walkway, that narrow to guide you. 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 00:47:33.700 --> 00:47:35.740 line, even diagonal. 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 00:47:42.400 --> 00:47:44.540 those that actually work? 00:47:44.540 --> 00:47:45.540 Yeah. 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 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 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 00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:14.960 it was just way too difficult for blind people to use blended corners to cross. 00:48:14.960 --> 00:48:21.000 And I hear what you're saying about being a wheelchair user, it makes more sense. 00:48:21.000 --> 00:48:25.600 Rick, you have your hand up. 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 00:48:32.920 --> 00:48:42.360 and it's very crowded with pedestrians and the ability to diagonally cross has been, 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 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 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 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. 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 00:49:22.320 --> 00:49:28.920 parties concerned, it would really benefit the pedestrian traffic and the vehicular traffic 00:49:28.920 --> 00:49:29.920 down there. 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 00:49:39.000 --> 00:49:46.000 and suitable for blind and wheelchair bound and walker, you know, people use walkers and 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 00:49:53.200 --> 00:49:57.400 more crowded than the last time. 00:49:57.400 --> 00:49:59.400 Okay. 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 00:50:13.280 --> 00:50:19.640 where this is so needed, especially if you have to compromise landscaping, if we have 00:50:19.640 --> 00:50:26.400 to choose between excluding a certain part of the disability community. 00:50:26.400 --> 00:50:33.080 It just seems like whichever direction, if it stays with the diagonal and you have to 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. 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 00:50:47.200 --> 00:50:48.200 have you. 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 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 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, 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 00:51:17.120 --> 00:51:23.520 the safety and comfort of wheelchair users or those that are blind or vision impaired. 00:51:23.520 --> 00:51:28.160 That's kind of my thought, but... 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 00:51:40.280 --> 00:51:49.120 out there, and I never had a problem crossing. 00:51:49.120 --> 00:51:51.920 Even before COVID, he's never had a problem crossing. 00:51:51.920 --> 00:51:52.920 Okay. 00:51:52.920 --> 00:52:02.720 So the challenge we're having is making the diagonal crossings accessible for all the 00:52:02.720 --> 00:52:03.720 different groups. 00:52:03.720 --> 00:52:05.280 That's the challenge. 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. 00:52:11.800 --> 00:52:12.800 We've encouraged it. 00:52:12.800 --> 00:52:18.040 I mean, we've provided this discrete interval in the signal cycle where only pedestrians 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 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 00:52:31.220 --> 00:52:32.840 on the corner. 00:52:32.840 --> 00:52:37.400 You can still, that's legal, and we are providing enough time to do that currently. 00:52:37.400 --> 00:52:41.860 So really, the question is, is it really, really critical? 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 00:52:47.440 --> 00:52:50.120 approach? 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 00:52:54.360 --> 00:52:58.000 compromise for another group, we really, like you said, we really need to have a solution 00:52:58.000 --> 00:53:00.320 that works for all groups, all users. 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 00:53:06.760 --> 00:53:08.300 ramp in the middle of the corner. 00:53:08.300 --> 00:53:10.840 So we've got the two ramps, one on each side. 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 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 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 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 00:53:36.480 --> 00:53:40.040 council decide, is it worth the dollars to construct? 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 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, 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 00:53:53.400 --> 00:53:59.200 going to cost, and weigh that against what benefits we get, because like I say, right 00:53:59.200 --> 00:54:06.440 now, it's legal to cross diagonally, there's nothing that says you can't. 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 00:54:20.360 --> 00:54:27.520 more on what's the most accessible and inclusive for everyone in the disability community, 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 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 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 00:54:45.720 --> 00:54:50.960 you're speaking about, probably the one that fits that criteria. 00:54:50.960 --> 00:54:55.440 For clarification, what we're talking about is the third directional ramp in the middle 00:54:55.440 --> 00:55:03.000 of the arc of the corner, so that we have three discrete crossings with landings, detectable 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 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 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, 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 00:55:24.240 --> 00:55:27.920 your recommendation to city council for their approval as well. 00:55:27.920 --> 00:55:33.320 Where is that going to take away from that landscaping? 00:55:33.320 --> 00:55:39.160 Is that going to take away from the landscaping? 00:55:39.160 --> 00:55:40.160 I'm sorry, what? 00:55:40.160 --> 00:55:42.320 Is that going to take away from the landscaping? 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 00:55:46.520 --> 00:55:52.280 be able to relocate some or expand it in a different direction, still provide landscaping, 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 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 00:56:02.360 --> 00:56:08.040 know that, but that will certainly be part of the design process, and then the evaluation 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 00:56:14.000 --> 00:56:19.080 other people than this group will have something to say about it. 00:56:19.080 --> 00:56:29.280 Okay, Sally, would that option serve the blind vision of your community? 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 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 00:56:42.720 --> 00:56:48.520 that, you know, like when you can go down a ramp now and cross. 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 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 00:57:00.400 --> 00:57:06.460 really going to work that much for the blindness community, because they will have the other 00:57:06.460 --> 00:57:09.360 option of going just across one street. 00:57:09.360 --> 00:57:10.360 Right. 00:57:10.360 --> 00:57:18.280 Okay, so unless anyone has a different opinion, a stronger opinion, that seems like that's 00:57:18.280 --> 00:57:21.640 what the consensus of this committee is. 00:57:21.640 --> 00:57:22.640 Yes. 00:57:22.640 --> 00:57:28.000 Hands up, or a yay, or a finger, or, yeah. 00:57:28.000 --> 00:57:29.000 Okay. 00:57:29.000 --> 00:57:31.320 Okay, I think I have the direction I need and I appreciate it. 00:57:31.320 --> 00:57:32.320 Thank you very much. 00:57:32.320 --> 00:57:34.680 Thank you. 00:57:34.680 --> 00:57:36.440 Okay. 00:57:36.440 --> 00:57:46.800 We will move, put the agenda here, I'm sorry. 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 00:57:55.720 --> 00:58:09.280 regarding the use and funding of captioning for a certain city of their own public meetings. 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 00:58:25.040 --> 00:58:30.200 Adams, customer service and public affairs, so I'm switching over to the staff seat for 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 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. 00:58:43.360 --> 00:58:49.080 He's very intimately knowledgeable with the closed caption systems that are available. 00:58:49.080 --> 00:58:53.040 So let me share this with you guys. 00:58:53.040 --> 00:59:02.600 That is not the right one, bear with me. 00:59:02.600 --> 00:59:08.520 It's 16 hours. 00:59:08.520 --> 00:59:13.320 Let's try one more time. 00:59:13.320 --> 00:59:25.600 Okay, I think I got it. 00:59:25.600 --> 00:59:32.960 Can everybody see this? 00:59:32.960 --> 00:59:34.920 All right, great. 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 00:59:39.880 --> 00:59:45.380 discussed several times, I think probably from meeting one, you know, how to approach 00:59:45.380 --> 00:59:53.040 closed captioning, just to give a little bit of overview of what we'll discuss today. 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 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 01:00:03.380 --> 01:00:13.000 of what closed captioning options exist within our technological capabilities, some of the 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 01:00:19.560 --> 01:00:26.760 agenda item is created and crafted so that the committee can make a recommendation to 01:00:26.760 --> 01:00:29.980 the council regarding closed captioning. 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 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 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 01:00:47.400 --> 01:00:51.560 into that in a future slide. 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 01:00:57.640 --> 01:01:03.400 past meetings just as a desire on the part of the committee to have closed captioning 01:01:03.400 --> 01:01:10.200 for public meetings, so for instance, council meetings or for instance, this committee to 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 01:01:16.480 --> 01:01:23.400 not aware, we do broadcast these meetings and we do put them on Denton Television and 01:01:23.400 --> 01:01:28.520 they are also available for stream on our website and typically within 24 hours of the 01:01:28.520 --> 01:01:34.560 meeting, you can go on our website and you can view a recording of the meeting. 01:01:34.560 --> 01:01:42.560 Currently, the meetings are not closed caption on our website or on DTV, however, at the 01:01:42.560 --> 01:01:48.760 request of the committee in a previous meeting, we have started posting them to YouTube, our 01:01:48.760 --> 01:01:56.000 YouTube channel, where YouTube has a native closed captioning component and so if you 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 01:02:06.920 --> 01:02:18.080 meeting, you will be able to view the YouTube video and view the closed captionings there. 01:02:18.080 --> 01:02:23.160 So there are a couple different options with regard to closed captioning for public meetings. 01:02:23.160 --> 01:02:28.280 Option A is a live captioning component and that is actually real time captioning for 01:02:28.280 --> 01:02:34.960 live programming, so that assumes that most of your viewers are going to be watching in 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 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 01:02:48.720 --> 01:02:55.760 I would assume that we would likely revert to an evening schedule on a weekday. 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, 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 01:03:14.960 --> 01:03:18.480 how accurate the closed captioning is. 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 01:03:22.920 --> 01:03:29.440 and know sometimes it is good, sometimes it is not quite so good. 01:03:29.440 --> 01:03:32.640 Option B is a post meeting captioning. 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, 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 01:03:48.040 --> 01:03:54.120 three to four days later we would receive a very clear recording with captions that 01:03:54.120 --> 01:03:58.920 are very accurate and also a transcript that could be shared for anyone who would need 01:03:58.920 --> 01:04:02.140 it. 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 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 01:04:13.480 --> 01:04:17.000 recordings to YouTube in order to use their native captioning. 01:04:17.000 --> 01:04:21.560 So in a nutshell, these are the different high-level options that the committee has 01:04:21.560 --> 01:04:23.560 to weigh today. 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. 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 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. 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 01:04:49.680 --> 01:04:51.480 ongoing cost. 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 01:05:01.360 --> 01:05:04.600 for hardware to make that happen. 01:05:04.600 --> 01:05:08.440 And of course this is not something the City is currently budgeted for, and our current 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 01:05:14.280 --> 01:05:16.160 the economic front. 01:05:16.160 --> 01:05:19.240 So we did not include that in the current year budget. 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. 01:05:26.460 --> 01:05:27.500 And of course that's scalable. 01:05:27.500 --> 01:05:30.760 So if we do less than that, we might be able to recoup some annual savings. 01:05:30.760 --> 01:05:35.160 If we do more, it might be a little bit of an additional cost. 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 01:05:40.240 --> 01:05:46.160 of what meetings are priorities for the committee to have closed captions. 01:05:46.160 --> 01:05:49.160 We have 30 some odd boards and commissions. 01:05:49.160 --> 01:05:52.240 It may be the committee's desire to close caption all of them. 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 01:05:57.080 --> 01:06:01.320 for staff to build budget numbers around. 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, 01:06:08.000 --> 01:06:10.560 the cost is a little bit lower. 01:06:10.560 --> 01:06:15.560 There's no hardware that we have to purchase up front. 01:06:15.560 --> 01:06:21.280 We do have a just an annual cost based on the number of meetings. 01:06:21.280 --> 01:06:27.140 And I will say, bless their hearts, our council, they tend to have long meetings. 01:06:27.140 --> 01:06:31.800 And so the cost does go up as the length of the meeting goes up. 01:06:31.800 --> 01:06:36.500 So if meetings are over four hours, which council meetings typically are, that cost 01:06:36.500 --> 01:06:41.180 will increase accordingly. 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 01:06:48.400 --> 01:06:49.520 our committees. 01:06:49.520 --> 01:06:52.060 And Billy pulled this information. 01:06:52.060 --> 01:06:55.920 So and this will kind of weigh in as you consider these options. 01:06:55.920 --> 01:06:59.360 We don't have any information on how people view it live. 01:06:59.360 --> 01:07:00.640 We're not able to capture that. 01:07:00.640 --> 01:07:08.200 But in terms of on-demand views, on average, city council, we have about 750 views. 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, 01:07:14.920 --> 01:07:19.520 but 750 different views per council meeting on average. 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. 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 01:07:33.940 --> 01:07:39.400 anything I've misstated because he is much more knowledgeable about this. 01:07:39.400 --> 01:07:43.440 First of all, good afternoon committee and my pleasure to be here. 01:07:43.440 --> 01:07:47.000 Ryan, you hit all the nails on the head. 01:07:47.000 --> 01:07:53.360 There is no cost for the YouTube option. 01:07:53.360 --> 01:07:55.320 And if there's any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. 01:07:55.320 --> 01:07:58.800 But I think you've laid it out there pretty good. 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? 01:08:02.960 --> 01:08:05.480 I think we only have one or two slides left. 01:08:05.480 --> 01:08:10.200 I want to go ahead and finish and then we'll reach out into a discussion. 01:08:10.200 --> 01:08:12.000 Thank you. 01:08:12.000 --> 01:08:14.800 And so we're providing this information for context. 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 01:08:20.060 --> 01:08:23.920 and what meetings we do may cause that budget number to fluctuate. 01:08:23.920 --> 01:08:28.000 So I just want the committee to know that would be the reason why. 01:08:28.000 --> 01:08:32.240 Just the number of meetings, the length of the meetings, and then the option. 01:08:32.240 --> 01:08:37.240 So what we're asking the committee today, actually one more slide, that works out. 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 01:08:40.940 --> 01:08:48.140 to staff regarding closed captioning, but specifically to see if you can provide direction 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 01:08:56.400 --> 01:09:00.520 and what would meet the needs or what could you live with. 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. 01:09:06.320 --> 01:09:07.400 And then scale. 01:09:07.400 --> 01:09:13.000 So is it important to have closed captioning for all boards and commissions and council 01:09:13.000 --> 01:09:14.000 meetings? 01:09:14.000 --> 01:09:17.400 Is it just council and this committee? 01:09:17.400 --> 01:09:21.320 Is it another mixture of boards and commissions? 01:09:21.320 --> 01:09:24.840 I think that's an important thing for us to understand. 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. 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 01:09:39.900 --> 01:09:47.400 fund an option, A, B, or C, as it applies for closed captioning services. 01:09:47.400 --> 01:09:53.760 And we put in for all city council and committee on persons with disabilities public meetings. 01:09:53.760 --> 01:09:54.760 That could change. 01:09:54.760 --> 01:10:01.820 It could be whatever public meetings you feel need to be considered and included by council. 01:10:01.820 --> 01:10:06.480 And we put that it would be considered for the 2022 budget, which starts that process 01:10:06.480 --> 01:10:11.580 starts in April, May, or sooner if possible. 01:10:11.580 --> 01:10:18.400 And that gives staff flexibility to where if funding does become available, we would 01:10:18.400 --> 01:10:24.860 not be beholden to the 2022 process, neither would the council. 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 01:10:31.360 --> 01:10:37.160 an opportunity earlier than that, then we could explore that opportunity. 01:10:37.160 --> 01:10:41.800 And once you guys as a committee, once you make your recommendation to council, which 01:10:41.800 --> 01:10:47.520 I think is something that has been missing from previous conversations on this topic, 01:10:47.520 --> 01:10:50.620 we're going to communicate that recommendation to council. 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 01:10:56.320 --> 01:11:01.880 in about the April timeframe as a supplemental budget request. 01:11:01.880 --> 01:11:10.160 Or we a council member can request to have that be placed on a work session. 01:11:10.160 --> 01:11:14.520 And then there's a process to have items added for work session discussion. 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 01:11:19.540 --> 01:11:24.320 probably in more detail given the recommendation that we would have for the committee from 01:11:24.320 --> 01:11:25.840 the committee. 01:11:25.840 --> 01:11:35.400 And council would be able to provide direction, have a discussion, and give staff marching 01:11:35.400 --> 01:11:38.160 orders with regard to this issue. 01:11:38.160 --> 01:11:42.820 And of course, regardless of any of these events, staff is going to continue to evaluate 01:11:42.820 --> 01:11:48.000 future options and opportunities as far as closed captioning goes. 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. 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. 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, 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 01:12:32.200 --> 01:12:35.760 doesn't have to be just one, you could recommend a combination. 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. 01:12:42.840 --> 01:12:48.240 I think obviously we want to be as accessible and inclusive as possible. 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 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 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. 01:13:14.040 --> 01:13:21.880 I guess my question is, if that were to take place, obviously captioning is not accessible 01:13:21.880 --> 01:13:31.160 to anyone, so the understanding would be that there may still be individuals who have accommodation 01:13:31.160 --> 01:13:40.920 requests for sign language interpreters, because people who do ASL typically cannot read English, 01:13:40.920 --> 01:13:45.000 so captioning doesn't work, and vice versa. 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 01:13:51.320 --> 01:13:52.320 accommodations. 01:13:52.320 --> 01:13:53.320 Correct. 01:13:53.320 --> 01:13:56.240 Those other accommodation options would still be options. 01:13:56.240 --> 01:13:57.240 Right. 01:13:57.240 --> 01:13:58.240 As a request, right. 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 01:14:07.320 --> 01:14:19.560 the hardware, would that cost still be there if council agreed to just do captioning by 01:14:19.560 --> 01:14:20.560 request? 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 01:14:28.080 --> 01:14:34.520 it, we still need that hardware, that one-time cost, regardless. 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 01:14:39.120 --> 01:14:42.400 to pay that cost. 01:14:42.400 --> 01:14:49.760 The annual cost, again, that's dependent on the number of meetings, scalable to a point, 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 01:14:54.260 --> 01:14:56.080 it down very low. 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. 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 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 01:15:22.840 --> 01:15:26.160 of meetings. 01:15:26.160 --> 01:15:34.080 Yeah, I think my feeling, obviously, we're going to be as accessible and inclusive to 01:15:34.080 --> 01:15:35.080 everyone. 01:15:35.080 --> 01:15:42.120 And again, being in a virtual world right now and for the foreseeable future, individuals 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. 01:15:52.000 --> 01:15:59.120 And option A would be the most appropriate option. 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 01:16:04.520 --> 01:16:09.920 captions will not show up on recorded stream versions, is that correct? 01:16:09.920 --> 01:16:12.320 That's correct. 01:16:12.320 --> 01:16:18.320 That technology, the one-time cost, and then the annual cost depending on how many meetings 01:16:18.320 --> 01:16:19.460 would be live only. 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 01:16:23.200 --> 01:16:30.080 live stream on the website, but it's not getting captured and married with the file. 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 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, 01:16:44.360 --> 01:16:50.960 and then marry the corrected captions to the video file. 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, 01:16:55.840 --> 01:16:58.580 our council videos go back to 2009. 01:16:58.580 --> 01:17:04.080 So from now forward, those captions would be married with those meetings if anybody 01:17:04.080 --> 01:17:05.080 wanted to go back. 01:17:05.080 --> 01:17:08.800 But the live is live and then it's gone. 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. 01:17:19.680 --> 01:17:20.680 That's a great point. 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 01:17:26.120 --> 01:17:28.800 every week, much like some of the council meetings. 01:17:28.800 --> 01:17:32.100 So we do use the YouTube feature for the native captioning. 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 01:17:38.000 --> 01:17:40.440 option. 01:17:40.440 --> 01:17:56.520 Now, okay, thank you, Ryan on the stats that you gave regarding viewers for the meetings, 01:17:56.520 --> 01:18:05.160 are those meetings captioned, or they just replay of the meeting, Billy, were those numbers 01:18:05.160 --> 01:18:11.280 they came from, were those the YouTube numbers or were those from the website? 01:18:11.280 --> 01:18:20.120 Those meetings are from the public meeting area on the website, not the YouTube analytics. 01:18:20.120 --> 01:18:27.440 So those are non captioned copies of this meeting on average 25 a meeting. 01:18:27.440 --> 01:18:33.600 So do we have any numbers on the viewers who look at the YouTube captioned? 01:18:33.600 --> 01:18:36.680 I can effort those, we don't have those today. 01:18:36.680 --> 01:18:38.760 I'm sorry. 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 01:18:46.560 --> 01:18:48.380 the resource. 01:18:48.380 --> 01:18:58.260 So I'm just looking at utilization and resources invested, trying to figure it out. 01:18:58.260 --> 01:19:05.920 So if we could get those numbers on individuals who are looking at the captioned meeting, 01:19:05.920 --> 01:19:09.720 I think that would be, it would be more beneficial for me. 01:19:09.720 --> 01:19:13.200 We can absolutely get those numbers and email those to the committee. 01:19:13.200 --> 01:19:14.200 Absolutely. 01:19:14.200 --> 01:19:15.200 Thank you. 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. 01:19:25.380 --> 01:19:32.280 So if captioning is available, real people that need captioning start viewing and being 01:19:32.280 --> 01:19:33.280 more engaged. 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 01:19:41.080 --> 01:19:46.200 this meeting out there because I know it's not accessible to anyone, to everyone. 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 01:19:52.960 --> 01:19:59.960 need captioning, you're not going to get it, a certain population out. 01:19:59.960 --> 01:20:05.480 So has this committee's meetings been available on YouTube at all? 01:20:05.480 --> 01:20:07.240 Yes, ma'am. 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. 01:20:15.360 --> 01:20:21.000 As you scroll down, there's a section of to view past meetings with captioning. 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 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 01:20:32.440 --> 01:20:35.640 and this one will be by the end of the day tomorrow. 01:20:35.640 --> 01:20:36.640 Yeah. 01:20:36.640 --> 01:20:37.640 Thank you. 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 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 01:20:59.960 --> 01:21:09.200 utilization on the YouTube captioned access, how many have done that? 01:21:09.200 --> 01:21:15.320 That's just one person, and if the committee wants to proceed, proceed. 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. 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 01:21:27.600 --> 01:21:32.280 productive discussion on a heavy topic with the police chief. 01:21:32.280 --> 01:21:38.480 So how many people were not able to participate in that because captioning was not available? 01:21:38.480 --> 01:21:42.120 Or how many people would have if we had it? 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 01:21:48.760 --> 01:21:52.600 the meeting's already done, the discussion's already happened. 01:21:52.600 --> 01:22:02.560 So basically more of, okay, this is what I missed 24, 48 hours ago. 01:22:02.560 --> 01:22:11.520 That would be my perspective on because if this committee, if the committee on persons 01:22:11.520 --> 01:22:17.720 with disabilities, then we have to ensure that every disability is able to access it. 01:22:17.720 --> 01:22:31.640 So, and right now, that's not the case. 01:22:31.640 --> 01:22:39.760 If I can maybe ask a clarifying question of the committee, and this is not necessarily 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 01:22:44.200 --> 01:22:47.520 be interested. 01:22:47.520 --> 01:22:50.720 Do you feel like it would be better used? 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 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 01:23:03.680 --> 01:23:04.680 able to capture that. 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 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 01:23:19.000 --> 01:23:22.100 that's available to anyone? 01:23:22.100 --> 01:23:27.400 And I'm speaking for this committee, council meetings, any other public meeting. 01:23:27.400 --> 01:23:33.880 Does this committee have a preference? 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 01:23:46.600 --> 01:23:53.880 have more interaction, and of course, you know, with most disabilities, you have seniors 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 01:24:00.760 --> 01:24:09.320 that may not have considered themselves to be disabled, but yet would have more engagement 01:24:09.320 --> 01:24:13.440 with the city's committees if it was a live situation. 01:24:13.440 --> 01:24:21.640 But I agree with Val Morgan that getting those numbers and feedback would be very helpful 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, 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 01:24:35.720 --> 01:24:39.520 is very important, too. 01:24:39.520 --> 01:24:42.080 Chair, this is Billy Matthews. 01:24:42.080 --> 01:24:45.600 I've got an update on those YouTube statistics. 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. 01:24:52.280 --> 01:24:53.280 Please. 01:24:53.280 --> 01:24:58.520 Yeah, over the four videos that are available on YouTube, all of them are captioned. 01:24:58.520 --> 01:25:15.440 There's been six views total. 01:25:15.440 --> 01:25:17.600 For how many meetings? 01:25:17.600 --> 01:25:22.200 Across the four meetings, six views total. 01:25:22.200 --> 01:25:27.080 And so how was that publicized? 01:25:27.080 --> 01:25:28.800 And are we the ones looking at them? 01:25:28.800 --> 01:25:30.720 That'd be another question. 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. 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 01:25:47.480 --> 01:25:52.080 where the other meetings live, so they're not captioned live, and then where all of 01:25:52.080 --> 01:25:58.160 the other meetings, including this body's meetings, live in that space on the website. 01:25:58.160 --> 01:26:03.880 This is a separate space that I'm not certain has been publicized. 01:26:03.880 --> 01:26:05.840 We did publicize it. 01:26:05.840 --> 01:26:06.840 I apologize. 01:26:06.840 --> 01:26:09.480 I did not mean to interrupt you. 01:26:09.480 --> 01:26:11.200 I'm done. 01:26:11.200 --> 01:26:12.200 Okay. 01:26:12.200 --> 01:26:17.200 We did publicize it when we were many moons ago when we originally started doing it. 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. 01:26:25.680 --> 01:26:28.440 Tharnia. 01:26:28.440 --> 01:26:40.120 Trying not to be like Ryan and unmute myself. 01:26:40.120 --> 01:26:45.240 I said that with much, much love. 01:26:45.240 --> 01:26:49.000 So it's definitely a hefty cost, right? 01:26:49.000 --> 01:26:53.320 Like, no doubt, this is definitely an investment. 01:26:53.320 --> 01:27:02.960 But thinking about the previous presentation by the chief diversity and inclusion person, 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 01:27:10.120 --> 01:27:15.560 diversity and inclusion is important to me, that means this is part of that inclusion 01:27:15.560 --> 01:27:16.560 piece. 01:27:16.560 --> 01:27:19.200 It should be part of their inclusion statement. 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 01:27:27.480 --> 01:27:37.200 behind being an inclusive city, and that includes not only staff, but also the community members. 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 01:27:43.520 --> 01:27:48.240 should be the sole reason that we choose to do something. 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 01:27:53.040 --> 01:27:59.720 out to the community about the direction that we're moving. 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 01:28:07.440 --> 01:28:12.600 okay watching things after they've happened. 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 01:28:21.120 --> 01:28:26.160 to engage in the discussion that's happening. 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 01:28:32.320 --> 01:28:36.760 about, you know, I'm more engaged because I'm watching it live. 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 01:28:41.200 --> 01:28:52.280 it from a holistic perspective and not just on viewership and move forward from there. 01:28:52.280 --> 01:28:56.560 Those are my thoughts. 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 01:29:01.520 --> 01:29:02.520 members. 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 01:29:08.680 --> 01:29:09.680 need captioning. 01:29:09.680 --> 01:29:13.160 So when that happens, what do we do? 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 01:29:18.280 --> 01:29:23.200 of the committee, you can participate because there's captioning, so, or do we not have 01:29:23.200 --> 01:29:24.200 it? 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 01:29:31.680 --> 01:29:36.000 deaf or hard of hearing because we don't have that technology. 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. 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 01:29:50.620 --> 01:29:51.620 too much. 01:29:51.620 --> 01:29:55.620 And not so many wheelchair users come here anyway. 01:29:55.620 --> 01:29:57.840 So I think we need to be careful. 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 01:30:05.840 --> 01:30:10.920 sure that we're inclusive of everyone and then make those recommendations as such. 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. 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 01:30:25.240 --> 01:30:26.240 or a thought. 01:30:26.240 --> 01:30:30.360 Rex, do you have any thoughts or questions? 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 01:30:38.280 --> 01:30:41.280 four meetings. 01:30:41.280 --> 01:30:47.320 I'd like to see us advertise the YouTube more. 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? 01:30:56.680 --> 01:30:58.600 >> Is that not clear? 01:30:58.600 --> 01:30:59.600 >> It's just a little soft. 01:30:59.600 --> 01:31:00.600 >> All right. 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. 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 01:31:20.040 --> 01:31:21.040 it towards that. 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 01:31:30.480 --> 01:31:31.480 the meeting. 01:31:31.480 --> 01:31:38.220 Maybe if we could see a larger participation on the YouTube, that would generate some more 01:31:38.220 --> 01:31:41.520 people and justify the cost. 01:31:41.520 --> 01:31:42.520 That's my only comment. 01:31:42.520 --> 01:31:43.520 >> Okay. 01:31:43.520 --> 01:31:44.520 Thank you, Rex. 01:31:44.520 --> 01:31:48.440 Jo, do you have any thoughts or comments? 01:31:48.440 --> 01:31:49.440 >> No. 01:31:49.440 --> 01:31:50.440 >> Okay. 01:31:50.440 --> 01:31:53.440 Sonya, you're ready. 01:31:53.440 --> 01:31:57.520 Val, do you have any additional? 01:31:57.520 --> 01:32:03.600 >> Well, I think that Sonya made a very good point about diversity and inclusion and that 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 01:32:10.480 --> 01:32:17.040 the captioning because it's available now that we have that avenue that they need to 01:32:17.040 --> 01:32:22.560 make that group, make that information available as well. 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 01:32:30.280 --> 01:32:36.320 that we have that service available, I always -- bad point on my part. 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. 01:32:42.480 --> 01:32:50.640 However, we need to include everyone in all mediums for participating in city activities, 01:32:50.640 --> 01:32:54.640 not just for this committee, not just for the city council. 01:32:54.640 --> 01:32:56.600 There's a lot going on. 01:32:56.600 --> 01:33:01.560 The virtual parks and recreation event where they're trying to make a decision about a 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 01:33:06.640 --> 01:33:09.360 community specifically that's not there. 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 01:33:18.640 --> 01:33:21.640 and making it happen. 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 01:33:27.160 --> 01:33:28.160 cost. 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. 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 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. 01:33:53.280 --> 01:34:04.360 All I have to say -- >> Tamara, do you have any questions or thoughts? 01:34:04.360 --> 01:34:05.360 >> No. 01:34:05.360 --> 01:34:06.360 >> Sally? 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 01:34:12.360 --> 01:34:18.840 I think we should have the closed captioning live. 01:34:18.840 --> 01:34:22.160 >> And Ali, do you have any questions or thoughts? 01:34:22.160 --> 01:34:23.160 >> No. 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. 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 01:34:32.880 --> 01:34:33.880 have it. 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 01:34:38.520 --> 01:34:42.480 that would need these open opportunities to join our committee. 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 01:34:47.720 --> 01:34:49.040 captioning and be able to participate. 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 01:34:56.240 --> 01:35:00.520 to have that available in the real time personally. 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 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 01:35:07.480 --> 01:35:12.160 like even community discussion or community call-ins, then that's something that we would 01:35:12.160 --> 01:35:17.200 need to consider and have available to our community live. 01:35:17.200 --> 01:35:22.360 >> Brian, I have a question. 01:35:22.360 --> 01:35:29.280 With the captioning equipment and that availability, would that also include meetings that are like 01:35:29.280 --> 01:35:35.800 part of some meetings or other, or are we just talking boards and commissions and city 01:35:35.800 --> 01:35:36.800 council? 01:35:36.800 --> 01:35:40.440 >> Yeah, these would just be boards and commissions. 01:35:40.440 --> 01:35:45.400 So typically, when we're talking about this boards and commissions public meetings that 01:35:45.400 --> 01:35:53.780 are of advisory committees of the council, so boards, commissions, committees, they would 01:35:53.780 --> 01:35:59.440 and only those that are televised, currently all committees are televised, although when 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 01:36:08.320 --> 01:36:12.040 public meetings, not all of these meetings will be televised. 01:36:12.040 --> 01:36:19.120 So folks will return to coming back in person at some point in the future. 01:36:19.120 --> 01:36:24.800 Our community meetings that are right now virtual, we do those through Zoom and we do 01:36:24.800 --> 01:36:33.120 post those to our YouTube channel, where the native closed captioning is available. 01:36:33.120 --> 01:36:42.120 Although on the same token, when we revert to in-person meetings again, we'll probably 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 01:36:48.600 --> 01:36:49.600 as well. 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 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 01:37:06.320 --> 01:37:15.960 for people to view, which in case, again, it's not fully accessible to every member 01:37:15.960 --> 01:37:20.300 without captioning. 01:37:20.300 --> 01:37:29.000 >> I would like to make the recommendation, and I think I mentioned this earlier with 01:37:29.000 --> 01:37:37.760 Denton Library's discussion, with some of the other departments within the city, like 01:37:37.760 --> 01:37:42.040 Parks and Rec, who are holding virtual meetings to use the closed captioning function within 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 01:37:48.480 --> 01:37:50.460 in it, and it's pretty accurate. 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 01:37:58.800 --> 01:38:13.400 meetings more accessible in this format until we go back into more in-person settings. 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. 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 01:38:31.620 --> 01:38:34.560 a motion, Ryan? 01:38:34.560 --> 01:38:36.960 >> I don't think you're prohibited from doing that. 01:38:36.960 --> 01:38:37.960 >> Okay. 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. 01:38:50.360 --> 01:38:54.360 Does anyone second that? 01:38:54.360 --> 01:38:56.360 >> I second. 01:38:56.360 --> 01:39:01.520 >> Do we need to hear from everyone? 01:39:01.520 --> 01:39:11.720 >> When you vote, you will need to do a voice vote. 01:39:11.720 --> 01:39:17.800 Would you like to clarify, so that we can bring correct information to the council, 01:39:17.800 --> 01:39:28.260 which committees we'd like to use, and was the language in the proposed -- the example 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, 01:39:34.400 --> 01:39:35.560 or at the next opportunity? 01:39:35.560 --> 01:39:36.560 >> Yes. 01:39:36.560 --> 01:39:37.560 >> Okay. 01:39:37.560 --> 01:39:38.560 >> Yes. 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 01:39:44.560 --> 01:39:49.160 was option A, and then we would decide, okay, which committees would be the more appropriate 01:39:49.160 --> 01:39:53.040 to -- >> Since it's one action item, I think it would 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. 01:39:57.920 --> 01:39:58.920 >> Okay. 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 01:40:08.520 --> 01:40:13.520 that are captioned. 01:40:13.520 --> 01:40:16.520 >> I second. 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. 01:40:24.560 --> 01:40:25.560 >> Aye. 01:40:25.560 --> 01:40:26.560 >> Okay. 01:40:26.560 --> 01:40:28.560 Any opposed? 01:40:28.560 --> 01:40:35.160 >> I think Tammy wants to say something. 01:40:35.160 --> 01:40:36.160 >> Okay. 01:40:36.160 --> 01:40:37.160 I'm sorry, Tammy. 01:40:37.160 --> 01:40:42.200 I thought that was a raise for a vote. 01:40:42.200 --> 01:41:09.840 >> We would not be able to accomplish C for the council meetings due to their length. 01:41:09.840 --> 01:41:15.040 >> Okay. 01:41:15.040 --> 01:41:19.480 >> Likely would not be able to do that for any additional board and commission meetings 01:41:19.480 --> 01:41:30.280 in the future due to the sheer size and number of them. 01:41:30.280 --> 01:41:31.280 >> Okay. 01:41:31.280 --> 01:41:46.040 >> Becky, did we record everyone's vote? 01:41:46.040 --> 01:41:50.240 >> It needs to be by name, for the record, please. 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 01:41:57.920 --> 01:42:08.160 motion, and then the consensus vote individually. 01:42:08.160 --> 01:42:12.160 >> Was it Tamara that seconded the motion? 01:42:12.160 --> 01:42:13.160 No? 01:42:13.160 --> 01:42:14.160 >> It was Allison. 01:42:14.160 --> 01:42:15.160 >> Okay. 01:42:15.160 --> 01:42:16.160 Thank you. 01:42:16.160 --> 01:42:17.160 I'm sorry. 01:42:17.160 --> 01:42:18.160 >> Thank you. 01:42:18.160 --> 01:42:19.160 >> Okay. 01:42:19.160 --> 01:42:30.560 And I can -- I'll please have each individual just say your name and say, "Aye." 01:42:30.560 --> 01:42:32.840 >> Yes, please. 01:42:32.840 --> 01:42:36.960 >> Sunny Redwin, aye. 01:42:36.960 --> 01:42:41.960 >> Allison Kelly, aye. 01:42:41.960 --> 01:42:50.160 >> Emma Begum, aye. 01:42:50.160 --> 01:42:56.400 >> Tally Austin, aye. 01:42:56.400 --> 01:43:01.720 >> Val Morgan, aye. 01:43:01.720 --> 01:43:07.240 >> E.A. King, aye. 01:43:07.240 --> 01:43:14.760 >> Okay. 01:43:14.760 --> 01:43:15.760 That is everyone. 01:43:15.760 --> 01:43:16.760 Correct? 01:43:16.760 --> 01:43:17.760 Okay. 01:43:17.760 --> 01:43:18.760 Great. 01:43:18.760 --> 01:43:23.320 >> Thank you, committee, and as I mentioned in the presentation, we'll communicate this 01:43:23.320 --> 01:43:30.840 recommendation to the council, and at the very latest, this will be brought forward 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 01:43:36.640 --> 01:43:39.240 discuss that earlier at their committees. 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 01:43:46.320 --> 01:43:49.880 the spirit of diversity and inclusion and -- 01:43:49.880 --> 01:43:50.880 >> Yes. 01:43:50.880 --> 01:43:51.880 >> Okay. 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. 01:43:57.600 --> 01:43:58.600 >> Okay. 01:43:58.600 --> 01:43:59.600 All right. 01:43:59.600 --> 01:44:00.600 Thank you, everyone. 01:44:00.600 --> 01:44:14.600 We are at CPD '20 029 staff reports. 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 01:44:22.360 --> 01:44:23.360 items. 01:44:23.360 --> 01:44:28.920 I did just want to point out three particular things. 01:44:28.920 --> 01:44:34.640 So we have updated our ADA web page, and this is new information. 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 01:44:40.160 --> 01:44:45.560 Department of Justice in terms of notifications and notices, and also resources including 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 01:44:54.240 --> 01:44:56.640 to check it out, please do so. 01:44:56.640 --> 01:44:58.320 It does have committee information. 01:44:58.320 --> 01:45:03.280 You migrated information from the committee page to this page, knowing it would be a lot 01:45:03.280 --> 01:45:08.960 more accessible to people, and if you do have any questions or comments about it, please 01:45:08.960 --> 01:45:11.000 feel free to reach out to me and send me an e-mail. 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. 01:45:18.980 --> 01:45:24.000 The take me home program was a very deep and thorough discussion at the last meeting. 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 01:45:29.200 --> 01:45:33.840 materials and let you know that that's there. 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 01:45:40.600 --> 01:45:43.840 give a brief report on absences from the previous meeting. 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 01:45:50.320 --> 01:45:52.840 them off if you'd like. 01:45:52.840 --> 01:45:55.360 This is a requirement just for all of our boards and commissions. 01:45:55.360 --> 01:45:57.560 Would you like me to do that, Val? 01:45:57.560 --> 01:45:58.560 >> Please, thanks. 01:45:58.560 --> 01:45:59.560 I appreciate it. 01:45:59.560 --> 01:46:04.120 >> So we did have one absence from the July 17th meeting. 01:46:04.120 --> 01:46:09.560 That was Tamra, and that's being classified as an unexcused absence. 01:46:09.560 --> 01:46:13.680 We do have criteria that allow it to be an excused absence. 01:46:13.680 --> 01:46:17.400 Our previous meeting on September 17th, we had two absences. 01:46:17.400 --> 01:46:24.720 Mr. Sam Alphonse had an unexcused absence, and Beth Haswell-Kirkby had an excused absence. 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 01:46:30.960 --> 01:46:31.960 understand. 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 01:46:36.120 --> 01:46:38.340 record your absence. 01:46:38.340 --> 01:46:39.340 It does happen. 01:46:39.340 --> 01:46:43.600 So just make sure you reach out to Rose's team on that. 01:46:43.600 --> 01:46:51.280 >> I'm sorry, say that one more time? 01:46:51.280 --> 01:46:52.280 >> Okay. 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 01:47:01.480 --> 01:47:03.600 figure out how to classify that. 01:47:03.600 --> 01:47:04.600 >> Okay. 01:47:04.600 --> 01:47:13.800 Because I want a question on there, and I want an excuse. 01:47:13.800 --> 01:47:14.800 >> Oh. 01:47:14.800 --> 01:47:15.800 That will happen, though. 01:47:15.800 --> 01:47:16.800 >> Yeah. 01:47:16.800 --> 01:47:24.300 >> And the other final heads up I have is simply a reminder of the next meeting. 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. 01:47:34.440 --> 01:47:35.440 >> Thank you, Ryan. 01:47:35.440 --> 01:47:36.440 >> Yeah. 01:47:36.440 --> 01:47:38.720 >> And we are at our concluding items. 01:47:38.720 --> 01:47:45.640 If anyone has any announcements, thoughts, questions. 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, 01:47:54.040 --> 01:47:58.640 I encourage everyone to read that. 01:47:58.640 --> 01:48:00.480 There was significant change. 01:48:00.480 --> 01:48:09.460 And also, for those of you that participated in that discussion and did some research beforehand, 01:48:09.460 --> 01:48:11.460 I appreciate that. 01:48:11.460 --> 01:48:18.280 And I know the residents that were affected by the program appreciate that. 01:48:18.280 --> 01:48:26.280 And those of you out in the community who vocalized, thank you as well. 01:48:26.280 --> 01:48:32.560 And I don't have any final thoughts, announcements, questions. 01:48:32.560 --> 01:48:33.560 No? 01:48:33.560 --> 01:48:34.560 Okay. 01:48:34.560 --> 01:48:37.960 Well, this is our last meeting of this year. 01:48:37.960 --> 01:48:44.960 So of course, we want to thank everyone for treading through this very difficult time 01:48:44.960 --> 01:48:50.200 and doing this virtual thing for our last year for meetings. 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 01:48:56.840 --> 01:49:00.240 of the afternoon and serve our community. 01:49:00.240 --> 01:49:01.240 So thank you. 01:49:01.240 --> 01:49:07.160 And thank you for the one or two people out there that are watching this. 01:49:07.160 --> 01:49:13.200 Hopefully next year we'll be able to grow on that. 01:49:13.200 --> 01:49:16.600 So I will make a motion to end this. 01:49:16.600 --> 01:49:18.920 Oh, Beth, I'm sorry. 01:49:18.920 --> 01:49:22.560 I was just going to point out Val had her hand up, her electronic hand. 01:49:22.560 --> 01:49:26.360 I just want to make sure she didn't have anything else to say in closing. 01:49:26.360 --> 01:49:27.360 No. 01:49:27.360 --> 01:49:28.360 Okay. 01:49:28.360 --> 01:49:29.360 Okay. 01:49:29.360 --> 01:49:30.360 Thank you, Becky. 01:49:30.360 --> 01:49:31.360 All right. 01:49:31.360 --> 01:49:34.360 Unless there's something else, I'll make a motion to end our meeting. 01:49:34.360 --> 01:49:35.360 Second. 01:49:35.360 --> 01:49:36.360 Second, third. 01:49:36.360 --> 01:49:37.360 Everyone good with that? 01:49:37.360 --> 01:49:38.360 You need to record that. 01:49:38.360 --> 01:49:39.360 Sally, you're good with that? 01:49:39.360 --> 01:49:40.360 Charlie? 01:49:40.360 --> 01:50:03.600 Okay, well, then that concludes our meeting for November and I want to wish everyone happy 01:50:03.600 --> 01:50:06.920 holidays and we'll see you next year. 01:50:06.920 --> 01:50:07.920 Holidays. 01:50:07.920 --> 01:50:07.920 Happy holidays.