NFB Rock County Meeting Minutes January 4, 2025

[Amy Snow]

Greetings,

The minutes from Saturday’s meeting are included below.

A friendly reminder that dues of $5 are now payable to the chapter. Also, elections will be taking place at the February meeting.

Thanks,

Amy

NFB of Rock County Meeting Minutes January 4, 2025

Officers Present:

Present Chelsea Dallin, Vice President Nikki Wolf, Secretary Amy Snow, Treasurer Ben Dallin 

Members Present:

Kim Alverson, Dave Hyde

Guests Present:
Lynzie Ashley

Meeting came to order at 10:15 AM. Minutes were read and approved. The treasurer’s report indicates a balance of $1,849.21 and was approved. Ben reports there is still some money from candy sales that needs to be deposited. The only withdrawals were the PAC contributions and costs associated with transportation to assist with a fundraiser for the guide dog division. Dave motioned that the funds raised from Red Robin be donated to the State Affiliate (the amount of which was $ 249.15). The motion was seconded and approved.  It then moved by Amy that $200 be allocated to supplement travel expense to Washington Seminar for our chapter’s only attendee. Nikki seconded and the motion carried.

As a reminder, 2025 dues are now payable to the chapter.

State Affiliate News and Committee Reports

State Affiliate News 

Please let Ben know if there is any last-minute interest in attending Washington Seminar, the dates of which are February 3-6. The state affiliate is paying for three nights lodging.

Lynzie Ashley will be coordinating the BELL Program this summer. Thank you Lynzie. Please monitor the listserv for information as the summer draws nearer.

Our state convention will be held on April 4-6 in Fond du Lac state convention. Updates will be shared as they become available. Please see “New Business” for details on a possible donation basket from our chapter.

State Advocacy Committee

An individual in Madison has expressed a desire to attend the Colorado center. The individual has brought the subject up to DVR,  who are still resistant to the idea. The next step may be an in person or virtual meeting the individual and the DVR councilor. Dave or Ben can attend as well. Dave suggested inviting Angie since she has attended a training center and can share more about the program. Ben will be checking in with this individual.

State Legislative

Nothing new to report

News from the National Office

Washington seminar will be taking place in early February. The legislative priorities this year are website and software accessibility standards, accessibility of at-home medical devices, and social security and disability earnings cliff. More information can be found on the Washington Seminar page of the NFB website.

There is an update regarding elimination of subminimum wage. The US Department of Labor has proposed phasing out Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Kandu has been advocating that this plan be opposed. WCLO aired interviews with both Kandu and Ben, who naturally opposed this viewpoint and upheld the idea of eliminating subminimum wage.

Rock County Committee Reports

Rock County Advocacy Committee

Nothing new to report  

Rock County Membership Committee

Those present will be meeting for lunch following the conclusion of the meeting. Location to be determined.

Rock County Fundraising Committee

1.    Candy sales will continue now that the holiday season has concluded. Chelsea will be contacting them to arrange for more product as needed.

2.    Proceeds from Mac’s and Scentsy will be calculated and deposited in the next month or so.

3.    The bowl-a-thon and Red Robin fundraising totals will be cashed in and sent to the state affiliate.

Old Business

BioLife

Tina reports that she and a guide dog user again visited BioLife and there was not a repeat of the incident in October (where the guide dog user was asked to leave). She further reports that she did meet with a nurse to confidentially fill out the needed paperwork, but has yet to get a response about why the forms/questions are not presented in a way that allows an individua to fill out paperwork independently. At Dave’s suggestion, Ben will send a note to the State President’s listserv asking if other states have encountered this issue. A call to the National Office on this topic may also be needed. 

Audio Description

Chelsea reports that there are now working audio description headsets at the Janesville movie theater, but there was one film they went to that did not have description (whether this is due to the production company or theater is unknown). Ben would like to propose a resolution at the national level  to call on movie producers to make the description available in an app in an effort to reduce burden on independently owned theaters who may not be able to keep equipment functional and available. There was general agreement from the members.

New Business 

Basket Donation for State Convention

A discussion was held on what basket theme we could have for our chapter’s donation to the auction at State Convention. Lynzie suggested an “accessible game” theme. Members liked the idea and Ben suggested we bring suggestions to the February meeting. Some ideas are to purchase “kits” to make games accessible from 64 Ounce Games or other retailers.

National Convention

The 2025 National Convention will be held in New Orleans July 8-13. Our state affiliate will be offering a $1,500 scholarship to those wishing to attend. Information on how to apply for the scholarship will be available in the near future. For more information on the convention, please visit the National Convention page of the NFB website.

JTS Updates

At this time, automatic stop announcements and GPS live locations are not working. Until JTS is able to contract with another vendor, drivers are announcing stops as required by the ADA. More information will be shared as it becomes available. In the meantime, Chelsea will invite Beca to a future meeting, possibly in March. Dave brought up that in previous years our organization has been involved in new driver training and suggested that, since there are so many new drivers, this idea be revisited with JTS.

Elections

Election of officers will be held at our February meeting. Dues paying members may choose to run for a board position or vote for someone who is.

New Members

Lynzie expressed interest in joining the chapter and give some information about herself. Dave proposed

Presidential Releases: 

The Presidential Release was played and is also linked below. In addition, there are also links to past releases and the Braille Monitor.

·       Presidential Release #545, January 2025 (Audio for Chapters)

·       Braille Monitor - January 2025

If you have missed prior releases or publications, please visit the links below.

·       Recent Presidential Releases

·       Braille Monitor – Information and Past Issues

·       NFB Pledge

Meeting adjourned 11:15 AM

Respectfully submitted,

Amy Snow, Secretary