2026-10-15 - Commission on Disabilities

All right. All right. Good evening uh everybody and um Millbury uh land. Uh today is uh Thursday, October 15th at 7 um at 6:47 uh p.m. And um we are uh the commission on uh disabilities and I am going

to uh now call the meeting to order. Um we'll start with introductions. Uh my name is uh Mike Kennedy. I uh serve as the uh chair for the um commission on disability. To my right, I'm Debbie Demick.

Jim Clifford. Dan Jakes, co-chair. All right. Um so, uh we have uh two uh people who are absent. U Georgia uh Moir um who is the um our secretary and uh Kent Stowe who is our treasurer. Uh but we do

have uh enough for a quorum. So we will we do uh have a meeting. So, uh, first on the agenda is, uh, or are the approval of the August 13th and the, uh, September, uh, September 10th, uh, meeting

minutes. Um, seeing that we don't have them, um, we shall, uh, table them. Next on the agenda is certificate of uh organization. Um I um I don't believe I know that uh their certificate of

organization was with uh Georgia uh secretary. So um again that will be tabled. Well, I think we went through that last month and we just agreed everyone just take the same slate of officers. You know

what? I I uh wholeheartedly agree. Uh but the clerk's office is saying they don't have it. They don't have them. Well, she has to fill out the form and bring it to town hall. Yeah. Um I could have I

don't know. Maybe it was just deja vu, but I could have sworn not very long ago we had um done those and I we you know I put our signed minutes and our certificate of organization in the uh town

clerk's uh mailbox. Mhm. Well, this or certificate of organization came comes once a year. So, that year goes by fast and you think, gee, I think we just did that, but it was a year ago. So, um but

Georgia has to fill out that uh organization form and bring it in to town hall. Yep. Um so the um senior center sidewalk that was to be corrected last summer that was not on that was not at the

correct width. Um to my knowledge um there's uh nothing else has uh happened with that. Who would you contact Mike to find out, you know, updated information? You know what? Um, public works the um uh

town planner. Okay. Contact Yeah. Yeah. contact town planner and just get a updated information about that. Yeah. As the town planner that was involved in that is not here anymore, right? Yeah. Well,

the last I saw and I've been working with uh Victor uh Panak. Mhm. All right. Crossing signals at Main and Elm. Um well um and this is a good well uh on my way here today. Mhm. Um the um no turn on uh

red sign was illuminated in all its glory. That functions that functions. We're referring to the push buttons, the Yeah. The uh way finder. Yeah. The locators and to tell you whi-which way you're

walking. Yeah. Um yep. I uh you know when I talked to uh Matt said that um they were going to uh take care of that. Yep. I heard the same story when I called him and that was like three months ago.

Yeah. And he told me the the same story. Oh, they come every couple of weeks. And I said, "All you have to do is crank it up a little. Get the voice a little louder. It doesn't have to be blasting to

interfere with people living there that they're complaining about. It's too loud. That's why they turned it down because everybody was complaining it was too loud." Well, don't turn it up so loud.

Just crank it up just a little. Just a smidge. That's all that's all I'm asking. Yeah. It's a safety issue. They, you know, the people don't in that building don't don't consider it, you know, don't

consider the safety issue. They just want to get rid of the noise. And uh it hasn't, you know, he says, "Oh, they'll be here in a couple of weeks." Well, that was three months ago. And I know you've

been asking for at least a year or two. So in that time it still hasn't been um there's no results. Yeah. But I I just just got to say, you know, because uh you know, with it being uh dusk, it it was

like uh it woke you up, huh? It it was like being at the uh at the drive-in. It was like, "Wow, this is so this is so cool." Um, so next is uh no turn on red signage at Main and Canal. So, let me let

me uh go to my I have all my uh emails uh between uh myself and Matt. So, you know, about uh installing uh the no turn on red um signage. Mhm. So, so you know, I made the ask. Yep. just uh following

up on the no turn on red signage at the corner of Main and Elm uh you know uh Millbury Credit Union and Sam's Gas on the corners. Um and uh he uh he uh uh replied uh "Mike, sorry for the uh delay. We

would be the guys who put up the sign, but we are not the ones to decide. I believe someone would petition the selectmen and they would likely ask me, the police and fire chiefs and town engineer. It

may require a study. I'm not making this up. I would suggest waiting until the new uh town manager gets here, but that's up to you." Okay. So, uh it continues. Mhm. So, I replied back, um "thanks for

getting back to me. uh really regarding putting up a no turn on red signage out the corner of uh Main and Canal." Um uh I I I was like come on for for real and he said wrote back "I can ask the uh

police chief but that is what I found. searching the laws regarding no turn on reds." "Okay, please do. Thanks Matt." And that's me. Mhm. And um "Hi, Mike. Just spoke to Brian. He said it is a uh

Board of Selectman approval. So So that was nice. Uh you know, I'm not going to uh shoot the messenger. Mhm. And I asked that please don't shoot this messenger. But um so um I guess what I can uh I I

can I can do um if you guys want to uh make a motion and uh and uh have me uh contact the uh chief of police on I'll absolutely make a motion because there was one time and this is what brought up the

issue was Jim and I were crossing at that corner from Sam's over to the credit union and there was what was it? There was a no a red light. Yeah. Yeah, there was a red light. Crossing light. Yeah, we

had the crossing light and the car right there at the crosswalk. We were just ready to step off the sidewalk and Jim held me back and that car took off like a bad out of hell. Right. We were crossing

from Sam's to MCU. Yeah. And uh when we were stopping out, person coming from Canal Street onto onto Main, taking the right hand turn uh just zipped right by us. Just zipped right by us. And I was

just ready to step out. Ready to step on the on the crosswalk. Yep. And that's a safety issue right there if they don't want to believe it. Not only that, but we also heard somebody's a white cane got

broke doing the same thing. Doing the same thing. Yeah. a guy using a white cane. The guy ran over the white cane and just kept on going. Geez. Wow. Wow. It's a good thing we're on the air because I

would uh be using colorful uh metaphors right now. I'll second your motion to Okay. All right. Thank you, Dan. Dan seconds the motion to uh contact the uh police chief of police on uh signage. Take us

have people to be killed on that street to get signed. An accident to happen before they do it. Oh, yeah. Maybe we should have done that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. Uh so yeah, safety issue. Uh uh

any other uh discussion? No. All right. Hearing none. All those in favor? I I All right. Um All right. That will uh that passes uh unanimous. That's right. Another thing, we had the chirper. We had

the chirper signal to walk. Yep. And that's when I was just ready to step on the sidewalk. Yeah. Yep. I have Yeah, there is a chirper there, which it was functioning, but yep, that whoever was driving

that car just zipped on by. Didn't care about pedestrians, didn't care about the-the chirper, he just took off. Yeah. No, no. I uh that's why we need that. No. Right on red. Yeah. A couple weeks ago,

I uh made my uh way uh down to um um uh Walgreens. I wanted to get my uh get my shots and I tested I uh used the uh crosswalk and the uh pedestrian signals just to make sure that they uh worked. The

other thing too is those um the lights that show the pedestrian can walk really are not visible to anybody coming out of Canal Street. They're not visible to them to see that they are they got a

walking signal. They don't face the uh anywhere near Canal Street so they can see it. Yeah. So that needs repositioning. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, like I say, a uh you know, signage, you know, no turn

on red would uh I mean, it should be a slam dunk, but um but it isn't because how many cars do you see going right through that? They pay no attention to these signs, which they they should no right

on red. How many times have we you said up well he just went through that sign? Yep. Yep. So even today uh on that uh going down how a towards uh Route 20 at side street uh where the intersection is.

They have a yield sign that goes by the old uh um sewer department. I saw a car come out of there. Not even slow down. super super right through just ignored the yield sign. And that's not the first

time either we've seen that. Oh yeah, they ignore that yield sign. Oh yeah. No, no, I mean um they're there's so much uh distracted uh driving now. Uh I'm I'm not making up I'm not making any excuses

for him, but it's a uh you know, harsh reality. I mean I've almost been uh picked off uh myself because of uh distracted uh driving. Mhm. Uh, and you know, I can um, and you know, I have my, uh, you

know, vision and I can, um, motor pretty fast, but you know, I mean, uh, I'm not about I'm not in any position to take on a, uh, you know, 3 4,000, you know, pound uh, uh, you know, automobile. Mhm.

So, um, Dunkin and Millbury. So, um I've been working with uh Jason uh uh Shalinsky. He's the uh uh you know like the assistant uh building inspector. And uh he actually went to uh Duncan uh about the

uh about the automatic door opener. Mhm. Evidently, uh there was a uh broken piece and they uh ordered a new uh piece and uh it arrived and it should it should be um installed by now and functioning.

that that entire store approximately 8-10 months ago was refurbished. As you all know, they changed the they you know the floor for plan of the whole facility and I'm surprised they didn't catch it

then but if they're waiting for a piece then we probably asked them to check it again within the next month. Oh, okay. So, it it's still work in progress. It's still work in progress. There's it's not

working. I tried it this morning. Okay. All right. And what I can do, I'll uh I'll talk to Jason uh again. Mhm. Yeah. Just remind them, you know, can you go and check? Yeah. That's all. Yeah. because

they might have it and they and they're not doing anything with it. Mhm. Um subway parking ramp. Um you know, I'm I'm really uh sorry. I think I spoke to Jason, but I don't re- even though we talk

about it all the time. Um, my head's like a civ. Uh, what what are the uh issues? The whole porch, the stairs. The stairs need a railing. They don't have railings. All right. That's safety right

there. And the ramp. And the ramp. And the whole thing needs a remodeling, you know, redone. All right. So, they have what? Uh either no or just one railing. No railings. No railings. They need

railings. They got with the steps. Yeah. They got to fix the steps, fix the porch, fix the ramp, the whole thing. All right. Yep. Stairs and ramp has no compliant railings should be updated. Oh,

definitely. Yeah. Um the whole thing. All right. So, no railing. Um anything else? The whole porch, that whole porch, the railing, the ramp, everything has should be redone. It's really deteriorated.

Yeah, it has. You know, somebody's going to step one of these days. So, fall through ramp is rotting away. You're right. Have you seen it? Yeah. That'll be next. Yeah, it all has to be refurbished.

[sighs and gasps] All right. So, uh I'm kind of jumping around here. Um so crosswalk on uh Canal Street heading toward Goretti's Supermarket. Well, I uh after the uh last month's meeting, I uh took uh

the scenic uh way home and drove there. Mhm. And to my disappointment in uh chagrin, it's it's not possible. No, because there is a sidewalk on the bridge. Unfortunately, it's on the wrong side. So,

the scenario for someone that is uh visually impaired um on the uh Spark apartment side of Canal Street, you're going to have to cross Riverlin Street. Then at that intersection, cross Canal Street to

access the sidewalk. Um the um side the bridge sidewalk will dump you um into onto the uh dirt parking lot that I'm boldly assuming is for Goretti's uh staff. And there is a midblock crosswalk with

absolutely no no uh signal signalization. Uh that would uh just dump you uh right smack uh into the uh parking lot. Had that crosswalk been on the other side of the street um you know uh the Goretti's

side as opposed to the uh dirt parking lot side at least the um person uh could uh cross um Canal street there. Now, to my knowledge, I don't think there's not a pedestrian um there's not a a

signalizer there, right? I don't believe so. Yeah, I don't think so. But at least it's on a um safer side. So, uh, on the opposite side of Canal, it would be good to have even a carriage walk or

something because people can't walk on that side of the road because it's all dirt and mud and potholes. So, if they had some type of a sidewalk or something, go right by the bridge and all the way

down Canal. Because when I was first taught mobility, I wanted to go to CVS. Well, I got taken down Main Street, took the corner at MCU and then crossed at those lights further down going to to Howe

Ave. I crossed at that signal and then I was taught to go down all the way to CVS. Well, in the meantime, the sidewalk is like at an angle. It's all broken up and as you walk down, then you go by

subways. It's all um dirt and rocks. It's It's not a good It's not even a sidewalk. I wouldn't even call it a sidewalk. It's not paved. No, not at all. So, that whole stretch on Canal Street should be

redone and maybe it would help. I don't know. I know many of the residents over at the Cordis Mills or Spark utilize Goretti's. So they cross that street over there by the bridge. They'll cross even

prior to the bridge. That's where they have all the rock and Yep. Yep. the holes and those type of things area should be and then make a right-hand turn to cross over the bridge on the nonsidewalk

side. Yeah. You know, if they clean that up somewhat. Uh so it is it does create a hazard. Yes, it Yes, it does. All the way down canal all the way to Goretti's, correct? It should be paved. And

something maybe public works can put it in their future project. Is this Yeah. phase phase three, phase four, phase five, whatever phase it comes into. Yeah, it should be. No, that that sidewalk has

to be redone. And even on the other side, but that I believe the the left side is worse than the right. Yeah, because Canal Street's kind of weird. It's uh you know, I mean, it starts at uh you know,

Main Street, then it uh you know, uh goes um like McLaughlin's I think is what one Elm Street. Yeah, I think so. and between um you know Window field um subway I think that's still Canal Street. Yep.

Um Spock and CVS are off uh Canal Street. Yep. Yeah. Now I don't know when uh Canal Street ends and when Grafton Street begins. I know Grafton Street uh turns to Millbury Street when you enter

Grafton. Now we're going away from Millbury, correct? Yeah, right. It does turn into Millbury Street. Yeah. So maybe at that um intersection uh you know when you cross um Riverlin Street um maybe

after that intersection it becomes um Grafton Street. I don't know. I'll have to um have my uh compass on in my uh van cuz it has a when I uh have it on compass, it um it'll actually tell me what um

street I'm on. Mhm. Which Oh, it it's great for people with no sense of direction. Uh you know, like myself. So, um so yeah. So unfortunately uh so we can't think that that project is um maybe it

needs to be whole that whole area needs to be redesigned to make it possible. Yeah. But we can't pay for that. That has to be a town issue. Yeah. Yeah. That that would be a um that would be a massive

uh project. Um, it was mainland. I don't know. I don't um try to find other things. I know um you know like that Butler uh you know uh Farm. I I mean um Bark Park Yeah. No way in hell are we No, we're

not touching that. We're not touching that um that that pavilion uh because like say that was um in ro rogue I don't know if "rougely" is a um real word but it was uh roguely uh installed. Now,

according to uh Karyn uh Karyn Clark, um Paul actually signed off on it and his uh vehicle was probably running. He probably signed off and jumped in his car and uh went home and uh retired. Yeah.

Love town. [gasps] Yeah. Yeah. because no one in their right mind would have um but but no that that that's on them. Yeah. No. Well, maybe we just let the money accumulate and then we keep our eyes

open for some other kind of a project. That's all. Yeah. Yeah. Um to the only the only other thing I could think of is the actual Bark Park But um again I-I-I-I mean um uh what we we want um we want

something that the public can use. That's like a limited limited people and and dogs. That's we want something that the public Yeah. can benefit by. So, I think we just keep our eyes open and uh see

what else is out there and let the the money's just accumulate. Yep. Yep. I'll um I'll do a quote that I know uh uh Jim will know where it's coming from and you probably will too, uh Debbie, but The

needs of many outweigh the needs of the of uh the few. Yep. That's right. Exactly. Yeah. From Spock. Mr. Spock. Yeah. So, um Yeah. All right. So, like I say, we'll um so I'm just writing a note on it.

Uh so, um you know, uh crosswalk on Canal heading to uh Goretti's impossibility. Yeah. Yeah. accumulate till when uh something when when uh all All right. All right. So, um kind of getting near the

end. Uh um I know um Dan, you were uh talking you were talking about list of accomplishments so far this year. Um that's usually in the yearly report, correct? Don't they'll have a booklet? Yes. about

the accomplishments in each department that goes into the the town um town report. Town report. Yeah. What what is what is the um I'll just call it a plan year from uh uh when I worked in group

pensions. Um uh do we know what um what Millbury's um you know fiscal year is? Is it like 7/1 to 6/30? Is it Yeah, it starts in July. July 1st. So So we're talking what? 7/1/25-6/30/26. Yep. what um I

can't break, you know, like right now my uh my mind's racing with all sorts of sorts of uh stuff, but maybe um I I know we got Um, we got the right on red. That's one. Yeah. Um, but that's all I can

think of. Well, that update on the um the crosswalk there, the the curb cuts by A&D's, that was last year. So, didn't we do something by St. Brigid's Didn't we put a curb cut there? I think the town

did that. I don't think we did. We didn't put any monies into St. Brigid's. No, but we came up with the information, the ideas, I believe, and then we give it to the town. Somebody did it, but not us.

We didn't take the monies out of our copies to correct. But I think it I think the subject matter initiated from this commission. Could be. I'm not sure. I think so. I don't know. I can't say a

definite. Um, I I was writing uh, you know, the no turn on red signs at Main and Elm. Um, what were you guys saying? I I'm thinking of uh, yeah, you know, the, uh, booklets, the, uh, uh, Oh, yeah, the

the resource guides. Resource guides. Resource guides. Resource guides. Yeah. Um so maybe between now and next uh meeting, you know, we can um you know, we uh you know, kind of look through and uh see

what else uh we've been able to uh have accomplished. I I I I know uh there's been a few things And then you submit that to town clerk and they put it in the book, the town meeting book? Uh, wherever

they put it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, write that up and Yeah. The next meeting would be November the 12th. November 12th? Yeah. All right. Is there any kind of deadline for uh for when to send to the

town clerk? I'm not sure because I don't know. I knew about it, but I don't think we ever submitted anything like that. No, we haven't. Okay. So, maybe just check with her and say, "Yeah, we got a few

listings, but I don't I would say like January because then they start putting those books together." Yeah. And we do and we have a new town clerk who haven't uh met yet. Mhm. Yeah. That would be

another introduction if she could come in and we can introduce ourselves and she can tell us a little about herself. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. can do that in in introduce her. All right. Cuz we

only have that uh meeting in November and then we're off. So, yeah, unless we want to meet in December cause um I think we're going to need to because usually we take uh January and February off. I

think we're going to need to because of all these What's that? I think we're going to need to because of all this catching up that we got to do. Yeah, we got to we do a lot of catching up. Have to

Yeah. So, uh meeting Well, we we we could talk more in uh November. Yeah. Yeah. Let's Let's get her in cuz I know sometimes in December they had I know I had to cancel once because the uh the town

hall Christmas party was that day. So I got notified about that. So that's why I had to um cancel the the meeting. However, the if we did a meeting on December the 10th, we not we won't make it

because we're we're on a trip. Oh, I know. We're going to be away on that on that 10th. Yes. Yeah. So, you won't count on us. Yeah. Don't count us on us in December. Yeah. I know that that's uh that's

that's kind of scary. Yeah. Well, you know what? We'll talk about it in uh you know, November. Uhhuh. Yeah. I'd like to get her in and find out what she's all about, you know. Okay. Introduce

ourselves. Yeah. All right. So, uh so work on having uh the town clerk meet us in uh November. Is that what you talked about? Yeah. because, you know, like I said, we can't make it in December if you

have one or not have one. And uh so yeah, maybe if we um just ask her to if she wouldn't mind stop in and talk a little about herself. Yeah. Yeah. November would be good because December I think would

be out and then that's going to linger until March of next year. So, and nothing says we can't call a meeting if uh enough stuff comes up. Mhm. Cuz you know, uh I don't uh um you know, I'm I'm I'll

just say it. I mean um I um I'm a firm believer that uh you know people value their time and I don't want to uh have uh meetings just for the uh sake of having a meeting you know and not uh and not

accomplish anything. So, all right. So, that'll uh All right. So, um so when is uh the next meeting? Uh the 12th. November 12th. Okay. November 12th. Just as a suggestion, we may want to get the

password to the copier so next time we can make copies of either our minutes or the agenda. Mhm. Say that again again. We need the password to the printer. Oh, we need Maybe if you if you contact the

uh town clerk, ask her at the same time for the password. I can't believe the printer needs a password. I know. I know when um if I want to uh download a website or you know uh you know for something

uh you know uh quick and interesting and you have to sign up and uh do a username and password. It's all right. No, no. You know how many passwords I I have? I know. I mean, we all do. I mean, it's

it's ridiculous. Password. Yeah. I hate passwords. Like the old days better. Hard paper. Yeah, I know. Old school. Oh, yeah. Believe me. Old school. That's the best way. All right. All right. Um, any

announcements? Um, so, um, what are all the places that were sold? So, so A&D. Yep. So, that means Mykonos, too, right? No, that's owned by her. But I thought she I heard she moved to Greece. I don't

know. Oh, okay. All right. So A&D, Goretti's McLaughlin's my god that cake shop whatever the name is whatever that name is cake shop and Wheelock- the what shop cake oh cake oh that's all and Wheelock

and that was something Dan brought up because Wheelock's going to get renovated. So, they would have to have all the up andcoming ADA regulations like bathrooms that uh a bathroom like a unisex

bathroom that's up to code. Um all this stuff up to code and if we're not um involved in it, I don't know what's going to town planner should know all of this. Yeah. Yep. And know the rules. Yeah.

Make sure it's followed through cuz we know that's going to be renovated. We don't know about it any place else. Yeah. No, honestly, I've never I've never been in there. I've been in town like 37

years and I've never been in there. Even when you know whether it was uh Karin's uh anchor lounge, we lock in Um I I know um I don't know if it's the case now. Well, even it Well, it doesn't matter

because it got sold again, but um at first when it became Wheelock Inn uh the guy that uh bought it uh used to uh own and run Squire Weights on um Greenwood Street. Okay. And Yeah. Oh my god. We used

to love that place because um I I'm talking back in the 90s now. Um it was uh they had like triple lobsters for $19.99. Holy macker. It was Oh my god. All right. So, um any other announcements? Uh

actually, I want to make a mention. has nothing to do with the commissioner or anything, but um our our barber Bob Carol on uh Main Street um is extremely sick from what I understand and he won't be

coming back to be a uh a barber. So, I want to wish him well u from Debbie and I uh hopefully he'll hear it and he'll hear it from somebody. I know he's probably not watching the program. Okay. We'll

miss him. Yeah, we will miss him and we sent him all our good wishes. Oh, okay. All right, cool. All right. Nope. That's a good thing. It's uh always a uh you know, good to end on a positive. Mhm. All

right. So, seeing that no other uh businesses to be had, uh can I have a motion to adjourn? Make a motion to adjourn. All right. Dan makes a motion to adjourn. Second by Jim. Um I don't know what the

protocol is. So uh we will uh consider this uh uh meeting adjourned.