Audio Teleconference Meeting Chorus Call
Deb Arcoleo (P)
Cindy Duch (P)
William Frase (P)
Passle Helminski (P)
Michele Leahy (P)
Juliet Marsala (P)
Steve Pennington (P)
John Seeley (P)
Susan Soderberg (P)
Rob Wallington (P)
Koert Wehberg (NP)
William Del Toro Vargas (P)
Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) Staff Present: Shannon Austin, Ryan Hyde, John Miller, Cheryl Novak, Ralph Roach, Lee Ann Stewart, Bagwan Aggarwal, Rod Alcidonis, Kimberly Gerlach, Stephanie Perry, Jeremiah Underhill
Guest Speaker: There was no guest speaker
Project Staff Present: Michelle Gerrick, Katie Haley, Linda Williams
CART: Yvonne Keshner
Guests: Jeanette Alexander (PA Dept. of Special Ed), Julia Barol (PA APSE), James Martini (PA Workforce Development), Jaritza Nguyen (York Center of Independent Living), Tracey Turner (PA Workforce Development), Cory Cox, Stephanie Eichelberger, Ann Strollo
Convene the Meeting: Ms. Passle Helminski, Chair
AGENDA ADDITIONS
OLTL is putting in changes to their waiver program and in the 5 employment services they added and expanded their definition of who would be allowed and approved to run and perform those services.
APPROVAL OF TODAY'S AGENDA AND ADDITION
Ms. Juliet Marsala made a motion to approve today's agenda. Ms. Sue Soderberg seconded the motion. All were in favor.
OFFICE OF VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION (OVR) DIRECTOR'S REPORT - Ms. Shannon Austin, OVR Executive Director, provided the following update:
Michelle Leahy: is there a way to let OVR customers and parents know that some of the jobs the customers are working offer 401K benefits?
Shannon Austin: OVR is required to do benefits training and they are in the process of updating their training. OVR counselors are making sure the individuals are informed of benefits with all jobs they refer them for so they can make an informed choice for themselves.
William Del Toro Vargas: Shannon Austin what steps OVR is taking for pre employment services since the school will be starting?
Shannon Austin: OVR is reaching out to providers to see if they are up to speed on what is going on and able to serve at this time.
QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT ON THE STATE PLAN GOALS - Ms. Lee Ann Stewart, OVR Division Chief of Policy, Staff Development & Training provided the following report:
Updates from OVR - Mr. Ralph Roach, OVR Business Services & Outreach Division Chief: New Job Retention Services/Essential procedures policy update
Deb Arcoleo: How long the process was if someone needed the job retention services?
Ralph Roach: It would be the same day as the referral. They are hoping the whole process takes place in a few days.
Passle Helminski: Does the council have to vote on the new job retention services?
Lee Ann Stewart: Yes
Robert Wallington made a motion to approve the new job retention services. Deb Arcoleo seconded the motion. All were in favor.
CareerLink update
COMMITTEE REPORTS (NEW BUSINESS)
Executive - Ms. Passle Helminski, Chair, provided the following report:
William Del Toro Vargas: If the positions that are available from State Agencies, do the candidates have to be recommended by that agency?
Passle Helminski: Yes
Steve Pennington: Is there an update on the three recommendations sent to the Governor that were denied?
Shannon Austin: They were sent through the chain of command and they were not given any justification as to why they were not approved, but she will look into getting more information about it. We need to make sure there is a better process in place for informing applicants that they were not recommended for the position.
A motion was made to send the letter to the Governor by Juliet Marsala. Bill Frase seconded the motion. All were in favor.
Passle Helminski informed everyone the committee representation is very low and members can be on more than one committee.
William Del Toro Vargas brought up the Social Media Committee and it is low membership and how important this committee is.
Passle Helminski echoed the same about the CareerLink Committee.
CareerLink/WIOA - Ms. Juliet Marsala, Chair, provided the following report:
Steve Pennington: mentioned a policy recently received regarding the performance indicators for Title 1 and Title 3 of the WIOA and Title 1 includes CareerLink. Do you have any recommendations as to whether the council should provide comment?
Juliet Marsala: has not had time to read it yet but is very worth the CareerLink Committee's time to take a look at it and submit comments. Juliet asked if there was a specific time frame for the comment period?
Steve Pennington: thought the deadline for comments was August 4, 2020.
Juliet Marsala: Is there specific comments Steve had?
Steve Pennington: maybe a better understanding of OVR's performance indicators of Title 1 and Title 3 dealing within the workforce and Title 4, which is the Rehab Act, and trying to understand what the performance indicators were.
Shannon Austin: will follow up on this.
Lee Ann Stewart: WorkForce has been collecting and recording many of the WorkForce programs on those common performance measures. Up until July 1, 202, VR was just collecting benchmark information and will look into this and report back at the next meeting.
James Martini: he would work with Shannon Austin and Lee Ann Stewart with this process to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Legislative and Public Awareness - Mr. Koert Wehberg, Chair, was not present today
Passle Helminski mentioned a letter will be written to Federal Legislators for full funding for OVR.
OVR Policy/State Plan/Customer Satisfaction - Mr. William Del Toro Vargas, Chair, provided the following report:
A meeting will be scheduled this month to discuss COVID 19 guidance and policy and the surveys from the last few months.
Transition and Education - Ms. Cindy Duch, Chair, provided the following report:
William Del Toro Vargas: Are there any updates for Employment First?
Cindy Duch: she was unable to attend the meeting, but Steve Pennington could probably answer the question.
Steve Pennington: The top IT person from the Office of Administration provided an overview of Governor Wolf's
Executive order on open data. The Executive order focuses not only on the collection of data, but the cooperation between state agencies and establishing a way for the data to be shared with the public.
Social Media/Outreach - Ms. Passle Helminski provided the following report:
PaRC Fiscal report - Ms. Cindy Duch, Member at Large
PaRC Operating Budget Fiscal Report 2019 - 2020
Summary of YTD expenses by month (PaRC Operating Budget) - each month includes conference calls, website fees, trainings/conferences/meetings attended by members, travel reimbursements, etc.
July 2019 - $997.68 (includes conference calls, website fees, member travel reimbursements)
August 2019 - $1,360.35 (includes conference calls, website fees, member travel reimbursements)
September 2019 - $8,903.08 (includes expenses from August FC meeting)
October 2019 - $3,412.00 (includes some expenses from October FC meeting)
November 2019 - $7,679.36 (includes expenses from October FC meeting)
December 2019 - $3,227.95 (printing of Annual report, website, member's air travel to Feb. FC mtg., member reimb. to OVR State Bd. mtg.)
January 2020 - $956.53 (website fees, copier costs, member air travel to OVR State Bd. mtg. in March)
February 2020 - $7,050.00 (includes expenses for February FC, monthly website and conference call expenses, postage to mail resource materials to Rep Miller's disability summit, public notice ad for meeting)
March 2020 - $441.67 (member travel reimbs. to Feb. FC mtg., monthly website, and conference call bills, eFax bill, overnight room for chair to provide update at OVR Board mtg.)
April 2020 - $429.87 (Member reimbursements, website expenses, conference calls, eFax bill, overnight room for OVR State Bd. mtg. for chair to provide PaRC update)
May 2020 - $0 (no expenses)
June 2020 - $5,027.86 (PA Media Group/Public notice ad, website expenses, CART services, conference calls and June 24th mtg. expenses, Disability Pride/Celebration 2020 of the ADA/VR anniversaries outreach activity sponsorship)
Total for 12 months = $39,486.35
Vehicle Modification Policy Update - Ms. Kimberly Williams, OVR BJJS and Special Programs Rehabilitation Specialist
Juliet Marsala: Does the work group has any information on payor of last resort or multiple payors of last resort as it pertains to vehicle modification?
Ms. Kimberly Williams: they are looking at comparable benefits.
Michelle Leahy: the first couple of meetings they specifically worked on definitions and defining everything the policy talks about.
Juliet Marsala: Have they reached out to the Office of Developmental Programs, Bureau of Autism Services, or the Office of Long Term Living to have their insight on their interpretation of their own policies and how the 2 might interact?
Michelle Leahy: they have not talked about that yet but will at the meeting tomorrow.
Juliet Marsala: The office of Long Term Living Programs and their Home and Community Services, the Office of Developmental Programs, and the Bureau of Autism Services may all have Vehicle Modification services within their Home and Community Based services waiver. They are often the payor in the 3rd party questions. It would be a good idea to reach out to them to learn what their definitions are to get past potential roadblocks.
Kimberly Williams: there is already an MOU with the Office of Long Term Living. She will look at Developmental Programs and Autism Services.
Steve Pennington: look into a veteran, who may be a customer of OVR, because those services are provided through the VA.
APPROVAL OF THE CONSENT AGENDA
A motion was made by Rob Wallington to approve the consent agenda. William Del Toro Vargas seconded the motion. All were in favor.
PUBLIC COMMENT / Q & A
None were made
William Del Toro Vargas: Last year schools were shut down due to COVID 19 and OVR changed the way they communicated with schools and customers. Is there a team or someone from OVR working with the schools identifying students with disabilities to educate them or refer them for OVR services?
Shannon Austin: there was a directors meeting with OVR, Department of Education, OLTL, and ODP about graduating seniors to make sure they did not fall through the cracks. They are making sure those students are getting the necessary services.
Cindy Duch: It is the school who is responsible for reaching out to OVR to invite the counselors to the school.
Jeanette Alexander: It is part of the IEP process to invite interagencies to the IEP team meetings.
Shannon Austin: There is a liaison for almost every school district in the state.
Rob Alcidonis: Introduced himself, will be working on the ILOB work group.
Council Worktime - letter to legislators and Council bylaws/matrix
Passle Helminski: By Laws do not mesh with the Matrix at this time. The last time changes were made we were down to 6 members and that is the reason the vice chair could be chair of another committee.
Juliet Marsala: Discussing whether someone wants to take over as chair will be one of the agenda items at the next CareerLink/WIOA Committee meeting.
Steve Pennington: Should the Executive Committee be in charge of making the recommendation of applicants to the full council? When the application comes in, it should be reviewed by staff first, then to the Executive Committee for review to make sure the person fits into a category and meets the qualifications, then it should go to the full council.
Passle Helminski: There should not be a need for an Ad Hock Committee then.
Steve Pennington: This should be a closed part of the Rehab Council meeting.
Linda Williams: If approvals are made at this point, then things will move a lot faster. We need to revamp the wording under Section 2 duties A 1 2 3.
Steve Pennington: The question is whether or not it is the duty of the Executive Committee. I suggest there is another place in the By Laws that speak to the approval of applications by the Full Council or is it only contained in the Executive council section?
Linda Williams: There is something in Article 8 about membership.
Steve Pennington: Defer to the council as to whether or not the members believe this should be simplified as to whether or not the person meets the qualification requirements, if they submitted a complete application, and then send them to full council to be discussed in an Executive session.
Linda Williams: The next issue is under membership Section 1 C 3 that the Governor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs sent a memo stating that a member has completed their term has to wait 3 years to reapply.
Steve Pennington: Is a person allowed to be part of the council again after serving their 2 terms? The Governor's office says yes, after they wait 3 years. Of the 3 amendments in the By Laws, the 2nd and 3rd are fine. There needs to be further discussion on the application process.
Passle Helminski: We will talk about the Matrix on the next Executive call.
Steve Pennington: Before we look at the Matrix, we all need to have an understanding on what the duties and responsibilities of the Executive Committee are. I will work with Linda on the application process.
William Del Toro Vargas made a motion to adjourn today's meeting. Steve Pennington seconded the motion. All were in favor. Meeting adjourned at 12:33 PM.
Next Full Council Meeting to be held on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at the Harrisburg Hilton in Harrisburg, PA (tentative)
Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Council
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