October 3, Kitti Barth, Chief, ODEP Cecilia Colling, Chief, Operations Bill Hamilton, Staff to Council Libby Jones, Deputy Director

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1 GOVERNOR S COUNCIL ON REHABILITATION AND EMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AUDIO VISUAL MEETING MINUTES Grant Sawyer Bldg., 555 E. Washington, Room 4412, Las Vegas, NV State Legislature, Room 3143, Carson City, NV MEMBERS PRESENT Bruce Berman Joe Buckley Barbara Cegavske Gary Cottino Robert Desruisseaux John Giefer Ed Guthrie Elaine Kochevar Oi Lemon Denyse Lizer Karla McComb, Vice Chair Jean Peyton Jim Skaggs, Vice Chair Dr. Tom Venardos Gillian Wells Myrn Wiebe Veronica Wilson MEMBERS ABSENT Bill Murphy Charlott Serline STAFF PRESENT Kitti Barth, Chief, ODEP Cecilia Colling, Chief, Operations Bill Hamilton, Staff to Council Libby Jones, Deputy Director Donna Sanders, Admin.Asst.III Kraig Schutte, Administrator, VR GUESTS PRESENT Paul Haugen, Department of HR, Ofc of Disability Services Anita Puentes, NDALC EXHIBITS Federal Register, Vol 66, No. 11, Wednesday, 1/17/2001 ODEP Vision Statement Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 GCREPD ByLaws UNLV Survey of Employers Proposed Contract with Cannon Center Budget Review Reports Administrator s Performance Indicators Projected Meeting Schedule

2 Governor s Council on Rehabilitation and Employment Page 2 of 7 Of People with Disabilities CALL TO ORDER, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE AND ROLL CALL Jim Skaggs, Vice Chair, called the meeting to order at 9:05 am. A quorum was present. VERIFICATION OF POSTING Kitti Barth verified that the notices had been posted on the web site and sent to all of the relevant agencies. INTRODUCTIONS AND WELCOME Jim Skaggs welcomed everyone and reminded the committee members to review the committee roster for additions, changes or deletions and to send their biographies in to Kitti Barth. PURPOSE OF THE NEW COUNCIL Karla McComb gave an overview of the newly formed council, which consists of representatives of the former Governor s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities and the former Vocational Rehabilitation Council. ADOPTION OF THE BYLAWS Karla McComb and Jim Skaggs conducted the review of the new bylaws. After discussion and a few changes, a motion was made by Elaine Kochevar and seconded by Robert Desruisseaux to approve the bylaws as presented. All were in favor. ESTABLISH NOMINATION COMMITTEE Karla McComb asked Tom Venardos to serve on the nomination committee. Dr. Venardos agreed. Ed Guthrie recommended Gillian Wells serve and Ms. Wells accepted. Kitti Barth suggested Ronnie Wilson and Jim Skaggs serve on the nomination committee. Ed Guthrie made a motion to appoint the recommended individuals to the nomination committee. Elaine Kochevar seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. BUDGET REVIEW/REPORT Cecilia Colling reviewed the budget for FY 2003 and the proposed budget for FY For FY 2004, the following was noted: In-State Travel, $2913; Operating expenses, $4494. Printing and Copying, $789; Insurance $267; Needs satisfaction survey $15,100; Training

3 $1178; Advertising $3441; Postage $864; Phone $368; Court Reporting, $1500; ADA accommodations, $200; Transition Forum $2,619. Ms Colling referred to the Governor s Council on Employment and Rehabilitation Page 3 of 7 Of People with Disabilities footnote in the previous fiscal year where $4450 was allocated to the transition forum. $1, has been expended with a remaining balance of $2,619. $222 was expended in August for travel with a new remaining balance of $2,397. Ms. Colling stated the unallocated monies as a reserve was $4467. $900 has been allocated from another budget account that supports ODEP for a total allocation of $39,100 for the year. Jean Peyton questioned the increase in operating expenses as it was three times the amount from FY 03 to FY 04. Libby Jones explained the increase and requested Cecilia Colling to adjust the amount. Cecilia Colling gave an explanation of the gift account from the former Governor s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities with the balance forward being $27,286. Ms. Colling stated $2,124 was transferred to the ODEP budget and $900 was transferred to the travel expenditures for board members for the Governor s Council. In addition, there are some restricted funds in the total amount of $1,695 and these funds have not allocated. Kitti Barth informed the Council that the gifts and grants account was reviewed by the Attorney General s office as to how the funds could be spent. Per the Attorney General s office, the funds can be spent at the discretion of the Administration of the Governor s Council on Rehabilitation and Employment of People with Disabilities in keeping with the mission of the GCREPD. Libby Jones suggested the gifts and grants fund remain available, less the designated restricted funds. REPORT ON UNLV/CANNON CENTER CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY Pam Gallion gave an overview of the UNLV/Cannon Center Customer Satisfaction Survey. There were interviews with 86 employers, 93 percent reporting having some job openings this year. The job openings represented 4,298 available jobs. One major hotel in the Las Vegas area had 1,000 job openings last year. Ms. Gallion sated there was an average of 57 openings per employer and 9 employers in the group. Of the nine employers, there were 100 job openings, and 49 percent of the employers either contacted or were contacted by BVR BSBVI for job placement. Last year, the figure was 36 percent. Thirteen percent of the employers in the group did not call because they were contacted by BSBVI or BVR to place a candidate.

4 This put the percentage way up to nearly half that had some contact with BVR or BSBVI for their job placement. Governor s Committee on Rehabilitation and Employment Page 4 of 7 Of People with Disabilities Pam Gallion said when the question was asked, have you ever referred an employee to BVR or BSBVI, 34 percent reported yes. This is twice the number that reported the same last year. This means that 48 percent of the same is accounted for. Twenty four percent reported they had no need to do so. Seventy Nine percent of those that did refer an employee to BVR or BSBVI received service that enabled them to retain the employee. And all but two employers retained the employee. Ms. Gallion remarked that 30 percent did not refer an employee to BVR or BSBVI due to not knowing about the agencies. Regarding what the applicant wants most, Ms. Gallion stated that 37 percent of the applicants want classes or some kind of vocational rehabilitation program or school program, 29 percent wanted job training, 16 percent wanted vocational counseling, 11 percent wanted a job referral, and 8 percent wanted technology and equipment. Pam Gallion stated there were 3 things that came out of the survey. One there needs to be more vocational rehabilitation counselors, Secondly, better communication between the parties involved, meaning the parents, the counselors, the students and the schools, and there needs to be more money for funding of transition programs. Ms. Gallion remarked the schools need to take more responsibility for getting students into vocational rehabilitation and the students need to advocate for themselves. Often the parents or the students have to seek out services on their own. Transition students and parents think that their rehab counselors don t call them often enough, do not find jobs for the students, and if they do find jobs the jobs do not suit their needs, but rather the counselor s needs. Parents think when their child turns 18, the counselor is no longer obligated to talk to them. Continuing, Ms. Gallion stated that transitional parents and students also understand that the counselors are restricted by what they can do by program guidelines and funding restrictions. She indicated the vocational rehabilitation people are understaffed and under funded and have to spread themselves thin. Gary Cottino asked whether when capturing the data that s coming in for the report, there are any affirmative action plan responsibilities of any of the employers. He queried whether the

5 employers report their affirmative action to Ms. Gallion. Pam Gallion replied, No. Mr. Cottino stated that in terms of affirmative action plan employers, and he is one, there is a responsibility to do outreach into the community. He requested Governor s Council on Employment and Rehabilitation Page 5 of 7 of People with Disabilities there be another column added to the report for affirmative action and to find out who of these employers is an affirmative action employer because they do have some other outreach requirements that private employers who are not affirmative action plan employers would not have. Continuing, Mr. Cottino stated there are a lot of employers in our communities within this state who should be affirmative action employers, and they are probably not aware that they should be. Ms. Gallion replied, Okay. Karla McComb thanked Pam Gallion for her presentation and remarked she would appreciate some kind of formal feed back from vocational rehabilitation. Kraig Schutte stated the results of the survey will be reviewed with the management team and will report back to the Council. CONTRACT FOR THE CANNON CENTER Jim Skaggs referred the Council to the contract for the Cannon Center, stating there needed to be a recommendation of option A or B or a combination thereof. Ed Guthrie made a motion to approve option A, and Gillian Wells seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. ADMINISTRATOR S REPORT Kraig Schutte, Rehabilitation Administrator, introduced himself and gave an overview of the performance indicator results. He indicated there is a new software program being introduced called RAISON which will help automate the case management procedures for the counselors, take away some manual work from the accounting staff and aid the technical staff. Ed Guthrie asked how the placement goals are set. Kraig Schutte answered the placement goals are set on historical experience and this year there are 29 to 31 closures per counselor. IDENTIFYING REQUESTED COMMITTEE REPORTS Jim Skaggs opened the discussion of how will the council report, what will be reported and when it will be done. Gillian Wells recommended that the transition forum be one of the committee reports that are requested to be presented at the different meetings and on the agenda.

6 Ed Guthrie made a motion to move all the required reports as outlined by Kitti Barth and include the transition forum report as regular items on the agenda. Dr. Tom Venardos seconded the motion. The ayes unanimously passed the motion. Governor s Council on Rehabilitation and Employment Page 6 of 7 Of People with Disabilities PROJECTED MEETING SCHEDULE Jim Skaggs referred to the projected meeting schedule. A motion was made by Jean Peyton and seconded by Ed Guthrie to have the meetings start at 9 AM until 12 Noon on the dates indicated on the projected meeting schedule. The motion passed unanimously. Jean Peyton made a motion to excuse Ed Guthrie from the November 14 th and December 5 th meetings based on extenuating circumstances. Gillian Wells seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. ITEMS FOR NEXT AGENDA Kitti Barth remarked that at the next meeting minutes from the last vocational rehabilitation meeting held on June 13, 2003, and the last Governor s Committee meeting held on June 11, 2003, would be included on the agenda. Gillian Wells requested items that were requested from vocational rehabilitation at the last meeting. Ms. Wells also asked that there be some sort of discussion as far as making everybody aware of the transition forum and to discuss the recommendations that were given to the committee in May Jim Skaggs said he would like to see on the agenda award programs like the Governor s Committee had planned to see what might be planned for the future. Ed Guthrie referred to the RSA review and asked about the individual plan for employment and how it works, and adaptive equipment evaluations for employers and how it works. Kraig Schutte answered stating the division is waiting for a formal report of the monitoring review that RSA did. Libby Jones indicated there would be an orientation meeting in the future to go over some of the items. PUBLIC COMMENTS Elaine Kochevar addressed the council with a problem in Northern Nevada. The Northern Nevada Transit Coalition, which is a network of public transportation for the communities, is about to be stopped due to lack of funding. The Transition Coalition provides over 20,000 necessary rides per month in rural Nevada. Ms. Kochevar gave the name and address of the Executive Director. Jim Skaggs asked for a copy of the letter that was sent out. Kitti Barth stated she would send a copy of the letter to everyone.

7 Bill Hamilton indicated other counties are in need as well. He stated the key person at the State level is Sandy McGrew Stanyo with the Nevada Department of Transportation. Governor s Council on Rehabilitation and Employment Page 7 of 7 Of People with Disability Bill Hamilton introduced Paul Haugan who could give the council ideas regarding the cutbacks. Anita Puentes of the Disability Advocacy and Law Center in Las Vegas asked about the grant that was applied for. Kitti Barth replied the grant was submitted through the state workforce investment board-utilizing intermediaries to improve transition services for students and to date there has been no information on the award selection. Anita Puentes asked about the David Foote Scholarship Fund and how individuals are made aware of the scholarship. Kitti Barth answered the David Foote Scholarship was far back in the history and the only information available was that it was a one time donation of $497 for training a person with a disability. To date the funds have not been expended. ADJOURNMENT Ed Guthrie made a motion to adjourn and Jim Skaggs seconded the motion. The ayes were in favor. The meeting adjourned at 11:32 am. Recorded by: Denise Phipps, Captions Unlimited of Nevada Edited by: Kitti Barth, Chief, Office of Disability Employment Policy Approved by: Jim Skaggs, Vice Chairman

8 Karla McComb, Vice Chairman